The phenomenon of brands positioning themselves as patrons of creative culture has accelerated in recent years, driven, it seems, by the rise of visual-centric social media and the merging of contemporary art with mainstream pop culture. For a brand, being involved in the art world is not only about showcasing corporate responsibility. In fact, a much-appreciated side effect of cultural engagement is getting access to sub-cultures, intellectual leaders, high-end consumers, or the so-called creative class. Buying your way into these realms is easy. Just slap the brand‘s logo on a cultural initiative or pay a bunch of influencers x amount of money in exchange for some quick attention and call it a day. However, if you want truly influential people to take you seriously, you need to do a little more than that.

Having worked with brands that now play a significant role in arts and culture, we have come to understand that to achieve real impact it’s essential to create bespoke formats that are unique and groundbreaking. Projects that both sides benefit from and relationships that make each participant completely unexchangeable.

“Facebook for Aesthetics” is how the German newspaper ZEIT described our private community INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS three years after we had launched it in June 2008. Not only did we find the description misleading (we never set out to create a network for millions of people!), but the comparison simply didn't age well. From the very beginning, it wasn't elitism we were after, but a new form of exclusiveness. We replaced quantity – the secret behind every successful social network – with the quality of an individually verified community. Today, we are proud to say that INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS is the world's leading platform for privately owned art. With the help of our trusted network of 7 000 collectors across 98 countries, our dedicated goal is to be a long-lasting invitation to be intellectually seduced and challenged by contemporary art.