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As 100 collectors launches 100 + 1 = 101, founder Pauline Foessel talks about why digital art still feels difficult to enter, who the collectors of tomorrow might be, and why sometimes all you need is somewhere to start.

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‍After three years of 100 collectors, what have you learned about people who are curious about digital art but aren't collecting it yet?

I meet them all the time. When we tell people we run a community, a club for collectors, they're genuinely interested. Collecting is still something quite mysterious, when really, it shouldn't be. For a lot of people, it feels like this far-away, interesting, cool thing to do. Then we add digital art and you can see the interrogation in their eyes. What do you mean by digital art? Like NFTs? A video? AI? And that's actually wonderful for us because most of these questions come from curiosity. People want to know more. Once you have that conversation, there is an open door. The problem is that they have no idea where that door is. And many don't even ask themselves whether they could collect. Collecting belongs to other people. It's not for them. Except… it totally could be.

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What do people actually mean when they say, “I don't understand digital art”?

I think the first confusion is simply: What qualifies? A painting is a painting. A drawing is a drawing. Street art is art in the street. Digital art is harder to grasp because it can be so many different things. Once you start explaining that, then all the other questions arrive. What am I buying? What do I own? How does the technology work? How do I collect it? And these are good questions.

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‍Who are the people asking them?

Honestly, I meet them every day. They're curious people. They're already interested in culture, or technology, or both. They have that sensitivity. Collecting would make sense with their values, but they may never have thought about doing it themselves. Then there are contemporary art collectors. That's a different conversation. For some of them digital art is harder. They want to live with an artwork and they don't necessarily feel the same emotion towards something digital. Some are intrigued, some already collect it, but it's still a niche. What interests me a lot are all the others who aren't collecting yet but totally could: financially, emotionally, culturally. Sometimes nobody has ever told them: You can do this. Look. It's not that hard. And it can bring something amazing into your life.

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Why does digital art matter to you now?

Because the digital is everywhere in our lives. It would be crazy to think it isn't also part of artists' worlds and their creation. Artists are talking about the world we're living in now. And for me, collecting today also means archiving the present. That's important. We're also still very early, at least for the broader public. We don't know yet which of the experiments and practices we're looking at today will become important tomorrow. Being there now means participating in that history while it is still being written.

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Has all the noise around NFTs made digital art harder to understand?

Of course. What reached the broader public were the big headlines and the speculative side. People remember NFTs as a scam because that's largely the story they were told. The media pushed it to the top and then killed it. But we should know better than to stop at the headline. There were the big sales, speculation, communities, technology, all of that happened. But behind it were artists with real practices and real careers. And now that a lot of the noise has disappeared, what remains is the art. I actually think that's a very interesting moment to start looking.

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Is the traditional art world still resistant to digital art?

I don't think it's that simple. If we're talking about the art market, the market goes where collectors go. Galleries and fairs need to show art that sells. Digital art isn't always easy to sell because many of today's collectors still don't understand how to collect it or how to live with it. But we are seeing more digital art at fairs. There are dedicated sectors and experiments. Institutions are slowly but surely asking the right questions, exhibiting it and collecting it. For me, the bigger question is: where are the other collectors? The people who could collect but don't necessarily see themselves in the traditional art market yet. How do we bring art to them in a way that feels more accessible, in every sense of that word? How do we build a new base of collectors further away from the elitism that has surrounded collecting for so long? That's much more interesting to me.

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So why wasn't 100 collectors already the answer?

Because our community today is very knowledgeable. Many of our members have collected digital art for years. They understand the mechanics, they know how to buy, they know the artists. They have their own references and opinions. At the same time, 100 collectors has become more visible. We're doing more events, working with more partners, participating in fairs, meeting many more people. And we started seeing this gap. We can't assume everybody is already at the level of our members. We don't want to assume it. We needed to create a ladder to get there.

That's where 100 + 1 = 101 came from.

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What are you trying to give people through 101?

First, I want them to understand that collecting is not for other people. You can come knowing very little. We're not here to teach. We're not a school. We're not trying to make you an expert in digital art in two months. What we want to give you is a toolbox. Where do I go? Who do I ask? How do I look? What should I pay attention to? And then confidence. Enough confidence to go out there, trust your own eye a little more and, when the right work comes, feel comfortable spending your money on a piece of digital art.

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‍Why do it with 20 people rather than individually?

Because we're a community. We really believe in doing things together. One of the things we've learned from 100 collectors is that collecting is about sharing. Our members write to each other: What do you think about this artist? Have you seen this work? I'm thinking about this one, what do you think? It's genuine. We don't want people entering collecting thinking it's a solo endeavour. Twenty feels like a good number. It's enough to create a small community and have different perspectives, but not so many that we lose the human side of it. A lot will happen online because people will join from different places in the world. But we'll be doing it together.

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Why not simply turn everything you know into an online course?

Because we're not here to teach. And we've learned from our members that collectors don't collect because they watched six hours of videos. They collect through experiences. They read something. They meet an artist. They see a work. They talk to another collector. Something clicks. That's what we want to recreate. A toolbox, yes. But also experiences.

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And every 101 cohort will be different?

Yes. We'll repeat parts of the toolbox, of course. But the program will be built alongside what's actually happening in the art world. The artists we meet, the articles we share, the events people can access — all of that will change. Fall 2026 won't be Winter 2027. The art world is never the same, and we want people to experience that pace as well.

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Each participant will also be able to join a 100 collectors event. Why?

Because art has to be lived. Ideally, everyone will join us for one eligible event during their two months, depending on where they are in the world. Meet people from the community. Go to the fair. See the work. Ask questions. You have to learn the ropes a little. You can understand a lot online, especially with digital art, but at some point you need to enter the ecosystem and experience it for yourself.

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Do you ultimately want someone to buy a digital artwork after 101?

Yes, of course. We're giving a hand to people who are serious about collecting or starting to collect. So eventually, yes, I would love for them to collect a digital artwork. But at the right time and for the right reasons. The goal isn't to get someone to buy something because we told them to. It's for them to feel confident enough to make that decision themselves.

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What would you love someone to tell you after the two months?

Very simply: Before 101, I didn't know anything about digital art. Now I think I could even collect a piece. That would be great.

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Why do you care so much about getting more people there?

I care about people understanding art in general. Art gives value to our society. It's meant to shake things up, challenge us, make us ask questions, investigate, think more and think better. Digital art is part of the art being made today because digital technology is part of the world we're living in today. And there's something else I love about it: it can be incredibly accessible. You can experience it at home, online, in a museum, at a fair, without even owning it. The door is already there. We just need more people to feel they can walk through it.

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100 + 1 = 101

Digital art collecting starts here.

Fall 2026 · October–November · 20 participants · €250
Enrollment closes September 30.