Far-Flung Art Destinations and Queue Jumping with The Cultivist

Far-Flung Art Destinations and Queue Jumping with The Cultivist


Five hotels you’d stay in based on their art collections…

Château la Coste in the South of France;
Wanås Restaurant Hotel in
Sweden;
The Fife Arms
in Scotland; Le Sirenuse in Italy; Casa Malca in Mexico.

Where’s your next adventure?

We are off to Arkansas, Berlin and

Tel Aviv
this autumn. We manage to get real insider access
wherever we go and will be able to visit some of the city’s best
private collections, leading artists’ studios and behind-the-scenes
access at major art institutions. Food and music are always big on
our agenda too.

Finish this sentence. To really appreciate the culture of a
place you need to…

Understand it’s history, whether that be political, social,
architectural, literary or artistic.

Great artist studios to visit in the UK…

Annie Morris and Idris Khan (they work in adjoining studios),
Gavin Turk, Conrad Shawcross, Maggi Hambling, Christopher Le Brun
and Mark Wallinger.

Take us on a fictive art-based road trip. Where do we need to
visit? (geographical obstacles do not apply).

We could forever spend our lives on a art-based road trip and
not get tired of it. It’s almost impossible to narrow down. If we
were only allowed five stops on an around-the-world ticket, it
would have to be Naoshima island in Japan, Gibbs Farm sculpture
park in New Zealand, land art sites across Texas, Indochine in
Brazil and then preferably a full week at the end to spend properly
exploring the Louvre.


What are you reading at the moment?

The Art of Love: The Romantic and
Explosive Stories Behind Art’s Greatest Couples
by Kate
Bryan

Your favourite apps…

We’re about to launch our own app listing all our favourite
exhibitions, art spaces and commercial galleries – as well as our
global events and trips. So it’ll be jumping to the top of our list
as soon as it’s launched. In the meantime, we enjoy My Art
Guides
, Headspace, TripCase and The Infatuation.

One piece of travel advice…

Pace yourself, leave yourself time to take in every little
bit.

And finally, what’s in your SUITCASE?

Our Cultivist museum
card
, a portable phone charger and a reusable water bottle.

Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat, co-founders of
The Cultivist – a members-only, global arts club –
take us on a tour of the art world.

Since launching The Cultivist in 2015, it’s well-travelled
founders, Marlies Verhoeven and Daisy Peat – who previously formed
Sotheby’s Preferred program (an all-access pass to the world’s best
museums) – have attained quite the international (you might even
say “cult”) following. Members include artists, curators and
established collectors keen to embark on curated art trips to
destinations including
Tel Aviv
, Marfa
and Beirut.

Similarly occupied, we ventured on a fictive world tour with the
pair, beginning in the Rothko room at MOCA in
LA
. From here we swept past Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic
Mountains outside of
Las Vegas
, skipped the queue at the Setouchi Triennale in
Setouchi, Japan,
and busted into private art collections in Lisbon before spending
an afternoon in a handful of fêted, UK-based artist’s studios.

While our runaround may have been notional, the places listed
are all accessible – with a swipe of your The Cultivist membership
card that is.


How can we become members?

We have an application process. Our community is quite diverse
and includes artists, curators and collectors but also fashion
designers, interior decorators, bankers, lawyers and tech
entrepreneurs. The common denominator is that all our members are
collectors or are simply passionate about the arts. Anyone who is
truly interested in art will fit in nicely.

What are some of the perks of a Cultivist membership?

On average, we organise around ten events each month all over
the world, each offering exclusive access to the home of a
collector, an artist’s studio, behind the scenes of a major
exhibition and more. We also provide easy and exclusive access to
global exhibitions and art fairs and as well as bespoke art travel
guides and curated art trips to destinations such as
Lisbon
, Tel Aviv, Marfa and
Beirut
. Our curated overview of the best exhibitions, art fairs
and openings are extremely valuable for our members – especially
from an unbiased source.

For seasoned collectors who are focused on building their
collection, and have a lot of access on their own, our bespoke
concierge service and travel helps to save them valuable time.
Knowledge is one of the reasons people join our community.
Everything we do is designed to enrich and elevate because we
believe that the more you know, the more you like, understand, see
and feel.

Tell us about the tour guides Cultivist members can
access…

We work with the best guides and have arranged private tours in
more than 50 cities to date. With 24 hours’ notice, we can tailor
an art tour in a destination of your choice, including arranging
private tours at almost any museum you can think of.


Tell us some secret spots in the world’s best-known
museums…

We work with every single art fair and art museum in the world
and we love them all but some of our favourites have to be the
Garden Court at The Frick Collection where you can sit, listen
to the water from the fountain and draw. There’s also an
underground bowling alley. The Rothko room at MOCA in

LA
is almost spiritual, you could spend hours in there.
The New Museum in New
York
has a stairwell between the third and fourth floors that
leads to a wide horizontal window with great views over Soho.
The shop at Tate Modern,
London
, is where we find the best birthday presents.

Six public art works to stop us in our tracks (by city)…

1. Dan Flavin’s light installation at Santa Maria Annunciata in
Chiesa Rossa, Milan.

2. Leandro Elrich’s Maison Fond in Paris.

3. Richard Serra’s East-West/West-East in Qatar.

4. Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains outside of Las
Vegas
.

5. Torres de Satélite in Mexico
City
.

6. James Turrell’s Celestial Vault in The Hague,
Netherlands
.


In your opinion, how does travel inform artistic practice…

Being immersed in an environment and culture that is outside of
your own routine creates a sense of displacement that forces you to
see and look at things in a different way. It’s incredibly
regenerative for the creative process.

Art-related travel dates to put in our diary…

The Venice Biennale, which happens every other year,
and Manifesta, which happens in a different European
location every two years. The Setouchi Triennale is worth travelling for. In
Paris this autumn, there will be a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition
that has been 100 years in the making. If you’re looking to build
your art collection, visit one of the world’s many art fairs –
larger cities put on great exhibitions and events when the fairs
come to town. We would recommend travelling for Zona
Maco
in Mexico, Frieze London, FIAC in Paris, the Armory Show in New York, Art
Basel
in Miami and Hong Kong (add on a trip to Japan) and
Basel. For something different, we would also recommend travelling
to
Shanghai
for its November art fairs.

Design hotels worth the journey…

Hôtel
Les Roches Rouges
, Côte d’Azur; El Fenn, Marrakech; Verana, Mexico; The Siren Hotel, Detroit.

Discover More
LA’s Six Best Art Spots for Modern Creatives