Code of Conduct for Contemporary Art Collectors (Part 1 of the Preamble)

Why do we need a code of conduct for contemporary art collectors? Collectors have been an integral part of the art world since its inception. For centuries, they have played the role of supporting and encouraging artists and their ecosystems. Collectors have made and continue to make a positive contribution to what art is today.

Over the past few decades, the world of art (and not only) has undergone significant changes, during which more and more ethical issues related to the role of art and artists are discussed. In particular, there is a growing awareness that the art sector has historically worked with a certain level of isolation from some basics of professional ethics. Consequently, opacity and power/dependence are often a standard, even though transparency, accountability, honesty and justice are necessary in any such large-scale market.

As collectors of contemporary art, we may have avoided some of these fundamental issues, perhaps thanks to our powerful economic position in this sector. Now there is an urgent need to question some of our practices and make our role in the world of art flourish. We believe that art is a major public interest with significant potential for social and political influence. This means that those who own works of art bear a number of ethical responsibilities towards works of art, their authors and their professional environment. We propose the Code of Conduct for Contemporary Art Collectors (Code) as the first but firm step in this direction.

What is the Code? The Codex is a voluntary set of principles and standards designed to inspire and guide the behaviour of contemporary art collectors, encouraging us to ask ourselves important questions in order to better cope with the challenges of today and tomorrow and become active guides of a more socially just art world. Each individual collector has the right to decide whether he adheres to it (Code) or not. In other words, the Code is not an attempt to moralize or tell anyone how to collect. There are as many ways of collecting as collectors, and this variety is priceless. No one will ensure compliance with the Code, it will be based on mutual accountability. Nevertheless, we believe that at the moment a bold discussion on these topics among collectors is necessary to start raising the right questions. The Code is conceived as an open live document, a collective project that will be regularly updated as its implementation creates opportunities for improvement. To strengthen it as a tool for an increasingly just world of art, everyone is invited to comment on the Code to improve it in future versions, and they can do so by sending suggestions to www.ethicsofcollecting.org. Who is the Code addressed? The code is addressed to collectors of contemporary art (the definition is given below). Contributing to specific changes in behaviour, the Code defends the role of collectors as those who honestly and transparently help the artistic, and creative process, working in dialogue with artists and artists. In accordance with the Code, collectors respect the autonomy of all professionals in the art world and jointly strive to ensure the well-being and right to work for all parties. We strive to abandon collecting to be a secret activity, net purchasing power, a means of achieving social status or a whim, and sometimes a destructive personal passion; to change the stereotype of us as collectors and, to some extent, to provide us with guidance on changing our own perception of ourselves. In other words, the Code defines the role of collectors as accountable and transparent agents in the art world, thereby rightly recognizing the important role that we have played and continue to play in the history of art. How can we challenge the burden of "patronage"?

How can we rethink a word that shares the same root as the paternalist patriarchal "patron" and "patroling"? How can we bring a "team" to collecting by recognizing our privileged position and re-profiling it to make a positive contribution to multiple dominant narratives? How can our support no longer perpetuate the dependence and vulnerability of artists and artists? In short, the Codex invites us to collectively rethink and redistribute, with rolled sleeves, the role of collectors of contemporary art as socially fair, accountable and transparent agents in the world of art. Who wrote the Codex? The Code of Conduct for Collectors would only make sense if it came from the collectors themselves in an act of self-regulation and as a gesture of responsibility. Accordingly, the Code has been discussed and drafted for more than a year as a reflection-based, consensus-based creative work of a collective of collectors operating at both the local and international levels. We are based in Europe, South and North America, and about half of us identify ourselves as women and half as men (team: Pedro Barbosa, Aro Kumbusian, Jordanis Kerenidis, Evrim Oralkan, Jessica Oralkan, Piergiorgio Pepe, Sandra Terjman, Andre Zhivanari). We sent out the Code as a draft for consultation to several professionals, including other collectors, artists, media, curators and dealers, this time with wider geographical coverage and more diverse experience; their comments and suggestions were discussed and included in the Code to reflect collective and multiple opinions on these issues. Call to action. As a call to action, we hope that the Codex will be widely used as a tool for collectors and as a text that gives food for thought to professionals in the art world and beyond. We hope that many others will adhere to the letter of the Code, become defenders of its spirit and make such an obligation a central and prominent element of their debt collection practice. Only through this common and embodied obligation can the Code have a real impact. DEFINITIONS Collector: any individual, organization or collective that acquires modern works of art or materials related to art, except for commercial resale. Dealer: galleries, auction houses, fairs and other dealers of contemporary art. Governing body: any governing body with advisory or decision-making authority, such as an institutional council or committee, prize, award or acquisition committee, agency "cartridge" management committee; or advisory board. Institution: a non-profit organization or organization associated with contemporary art, public or private, regardless of its size. Support: financial donations (e.g. cash grants or donations), art donations, art loans, financial support for the creation of an exhibition or works of art or any other transfer of values. This definition does not include modest contributions paid for joining institutional "patrons" or similar associations unless they provide for advisory or decision-making authority. Source: www.ethicsofcollecting.org