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We need people like Fanny Lakoubay to demystify the digital space. The Crypto and NFT world has been turned into an almost inaccessible subject, and the digital art advisor and curator sets the record straight. For her, collecting is not just buying, documentation on digital art as a cultural movement is scarce, and women collectors are still underrepresented. A collector herself and founder of LAL Art Advisory, this French-born Buenos Aires-based guest opens minds and decentralises knowledge.
The NFT space generated more noise than clarity. Fanny Lakoubay became one of its most reliable signal sources - not by cheerleading, but by insisting on rigour. As a digital art advisor, curator, and collector, she has spent years translating a genuinely complex ecosystem for people who don't have time to be misled. This conversation is where the mythology gets set aside.
Fanny Lakoubay is a French-born, Buenos Aires-based digital art advisor, curator, and collector. She is the founder of LAL Art Advisory and an active voice in conversations about what collecting digital art actually means - beyond the hype cycles. As a collector herself, her perspective comes from practice, not theory. She has been particularly outspoken about two areas the space tends to avoid: the underrepresentation of women collectors, and the importance of documentation in building a lasting digital art collection.
Fanny Lakoubay's central argument is that collecting is not buying. Acquiring a digital work is a starting point - understanding its context, its history, its significance within a broader cultural movement is the actual work of collecting. This conversation addresses the gap between the transactional energy of the NFT market and the deeper practice that serious collectors need to develop. It also takes on the structural issues: why women collectors remain underrepresented, and why documentation of digital art as a cultural movement is still dangerously scarce.
Collecting vs. buying
The distinction is fundamental to Lakoubay's practice. Buying is a transaction. Collecting involves research, context, relationships with artists, and a long-term perspective on what you're building. The NFT market made buying extremely easy and collecting harder to prioritise.
Documentation as cultural preservation
One of the most urgent issues in digital art collecting is the lack of documentation - historical records that capture who made what, when, and why. Lakoubay has pushed for more rigorous archiving as a form of cultural stewardship that benefits the entire ecosystem.
Women collectors in digital art
Lakoubay points to a persistent gap between the visibility of women in digital art communities and their recognition as serious collectors. Addressing this requires both awareness and structural change in how collecting networks are built.
Decentralising knowledge
Her role as an advisor is partly about making the digital art space less opaque - helping people who don't have insider access understand the tools, the history, and the decisions. This is a form of cultural work, not just service.
If you're building a digital art collection - or thinking about starting - this is the episode that resets your assumptions. Lakoubay's framing of what collecting actually requires is both more demanding and more rewarding than the transactional picture most people start with. She makes the case for seriousness without making it feel inaccessible.
Unlocked is the podcast by 100 collectors - the global network for digital art collectors. Each episode, we speak with artists, curators, collectors, and builders shaping the digital art world. No market speculation. No hype. Just honest, substantive conversations about art, practice, and what it means to collect today. New episodes release throughout the year. Find Unlocked on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 100 collectors is a membership network. [Explore membership →]
