Interview with VASTARI founder, Bernadine Bröcker
VASTARI is an online platform which connects private collectors with museums, in order to facilitate loans and make art in private collections more accessible to the public. It launched in January 2013 and wants to simplify the art lending process through a simple and secure website which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for museum exhibitions.
Artspotter met Vastari founder, Bernadine Bröcker, to find out more about their project, the team behind it and its relevance in the current art world.
Bernadine, you are the founder of Vastari. What was your training, and what made you realise there was a need for this project?
I started my professional life as an artist at a small art school called Altos de Chavón in the Dominican Republic. It was a training that has stayed with me the rest of my life, immersing myself completely in the world of colour, composition, line and an appreciation of beauty I could have never learned in a city.
My journey took many turns since then, both in New York and London, but it was while I was managing a Mayfair gallery that I realised that there was a need for a project like Vastari. We were working with distinguished collectors of Modern and Impressionist art who were constantly missing opportunities to share their works at museum exhibitions. There was just no way – anywhere in the world – for a collector to initiate communication.
That fact made me sit down and write a business plan.
Give us a bit of background on how museum loans from private collectors function – who are the facilitators, what are the mutual interests – make us understand how this works.
At the moment, research is completely one-sided. Curators decide on a subject for a show years in advance, the museum has to spend a very long amount of time finding pieces that work for the theme. If the curator wished to contact private collectors, they would resort to communication through third parties such as auction houses. Consequently, curators borrow art, artefacts and antiques from other public institutions, as they are well documented and more accessible, even if a more relevant piece exists in private hands.
The process benefits both the borrower and the lender: the museum benefits from exhibiting works that may not have been seen by the public before while the collector’s items benefit the value-add of showing a work within a prestigious institution.
Vastari is about to publish an article on the top things that you should look out for when lending a work for museums, so check back on our website if you have any questions or concerns, or get in touch with our team!
What does Vastari change in this process, and how does your intervention work?
Vastari acts as a non-partisan introducer online. Where previously it has all been about finding out who owns what secretly, Vastari is a straightforward way to communicate away from the mysteries and elitism.
Our system is also very secure: we don’t hold personal details about any of the collectors and our team verifies every curator that is on the site.
Vastari prides itself in its confidentiality. If I got this correctly, objects which appear in your online database cannot be traced to any individuals or collections. However, provenance and prestige are essential to any arts trades of this calibre, so how do you make up for that?
The objects on Vastari are not traced to individuals or collections; that is correct. Only curators are able to view the objects, and when they appear in search results they will not be linked to other objects in the same collection. Provenance can be described in the object’s detailed entry, but we do not require the name of the current owner on the object’s record.
This is done for security and confidentiality reasons. If there is a successful collaboration opportunity with a museum, the collector can disclose his name at his own discretion.
How big is your team, and what kind of people do you have on board?
Our team has 6 people with various more assisting us on a part-time basis. We have a fantastic team in London: four young ladies with a variety of backgrounds, from more legal to more art historical. The team speaks a total of ten languages, and boasts a very impressive network worldwide. This team works with the clients on a one-on-one basis to ensure they understand Vastari and are using it to its full potential.
We also have a very competent lead developer who has been working in the industry for a decade. He has developed a variety of online projects, and has enjoyed applying his technical skills to a new application. Lastly, we have a fantastic graphic designer helping us map the user experiences and ensure all our new developments work well graphically.
Can I post something on Vastari if I just have a few pieces in a collection?
Yes, you can definitely post smaller collections on Vastari. Many collectors have uploaded 1-2 items to try out the system, and will upload more items in due course.
Once our subscription plan is in place in 2013, members will always be able to still upload one object for free.
Is there any museum in London where we can see a piece facilitated by Vastari at the moment?
We launched the site in January 2013, and though we have facilitated loans for the next 2 years we don’t anything on display yet. As I mentioned, curators plan exhibitions years in advance so it will take a while. We will let ArtSpotter readers know as soon as one is available!
