駐紐約藝術家Jeremy Couillard原本是一名高中西班牙文教師，但在課堂之外，他投入大量時間創作複雜精細的漫畫和墨水畫。後來，他進入哥倫比亞大學攻讀藝術碩士，專心學習繪畫。但他很快感到厭倦：「我發現自己花在螢幕前的時間比在現實中的時間還多，因此科技話題越來越吸引我。甚至在畫畫時，我也大多是盯著電腦螢幕。」

因此，Couillard自學了程式設計，並開始嘗試動畫和3D遊戲創作工具虛幻引擎（Unreal Engine）。如今，他以創作敘事荒誕且帶有超現實主義風格的遊戲而聞名，比如《Escape from Lavender Island》（2023）。這款遊戲也在他目前於麻省理工學院李斯特視覺藝術中心（MIT List Visual Arts Center）舉辦的個展中佔據核心位置。觀眾可以坐在豆袋沙發上，化身遊戲主角Zede Aksis。這個綠色的雙足生物在監獄牢房中醒來，發現自己的反烏托邦城市夢境變成了現實。玩家的任務是逃離這個霓虹閃爍的恐怖都市。在逃亡中，他們追隨愛慕的物件，為舞蹈駐足，甚至可以戴上向路人噴射藥物的面具。Couillard談到這款帶有達達主義色彩的遊戲時說：「它關乎在城市中作為人類的生存體驗。遊戲很荒謬，但也的確非常悲涼。我想通過這款遊戲捕捉生存在當今社會的狀態。」

此次展覽還展示了一部隱隱透著詭秘氣息的視頻裝置，鏡頭掃過「Lavender Island」（薰衣草島）上奇異社區，伴隨著城市居民的旁白。不遠處，數碼繪製的木質花朵沿著地面綻放，牆上是幾幅色彩斑斕的畫作，猶如從遊戲中直接擷取的畫面。牆上還掛著一件滑稽的超大號螢光黃衛衣，上面印著「Depression」（抑鬱）。

展覽詼諧地批判了科技在社會中造成的疏離與隔閡。Couillard表示：「這種現象令人沮喪，但也讓人啼笑皆非，因為我們正在構建一個幾乎無人嚮往的科技世界，卻仍然義無反顧地向前推進。這個遊戲叫做《Escape from Lavender Island》（逃離薰衣草島），但在某種意義上，我們無法逃離現代生活。無論是福是禍，我們註定相伴。但我相信這終究是件好事，只要我們學會和彼此相處。」

Donation or Loan

Artworks and collectibles that have been passed to the next generation may also be donated or loaned. Depending on the jurisdiction in question, donations can allow a collection’s new owners to significantly improve their inheritance tax position. As this survey indicated, 47% of collectors reported that their motivation to sell or donate inherited works was to pay estate taxes, and this motivation was as high as 72% in Japan, which also has one of the highest rates of inheritance tax globally. Different jurisdictions’ inheritance tax (IHT) thresholds naturally vary, but this is not the only consideration when comparing jurisdictions. Besides the threshold, there is also a variety of different IHT exemptions and reliefs to encourage art considered to be cultural heritage or of high artistic and historical value to be donated to the state for public enjoyment.

Donating a collection can also achieve its preservation as a collection, rather than risking the collector's project to be broken up into many pieces. Collectors can make donations with certain conditions attached to them, such as that all objects have to be exhibited together and/or making it difficult for a receiving institution to deaccession one or more objects at all. It may also be possible to name the collection after the collector and thereby serve to record his or her collecting activities for posterity.

Loaning artworks for exhibitions can add to the exhibited objects' desirability and while the objects are on loan, the lender may not be liable for insurance and other costs that can often amount to significant outgoings. The latter consideration can be particularly relevant for long-term loans. This can be an attractive option for heirs who lack storage space or wish to maintain the legacy of the collection but have found that it does not suit their own tastes. However, there are a number of issues that can arise in making a loan that collectors need to be aware of, even when it is a contemporary artwork.

Where the artworks in question are contemporary objects, the lender may have to consider any applicable artist’s rights that can be relevant to a loan. Generally, the law of the country where the exhibition takes place will govern any applicable copyright issue, for example, where the borrower of the artwork wishes to reproduce a contemporary work in a catalogue or on merchandise it plans to sell at the exhibition venue. Even where a transfer of ownership of the original work is affected by a transaction, this does not in and by itself include the transfer of the copyright of the artwork. In addition to intellectual property and depending on applicable law, an artist will typically retain inalienable ‘moral rights’ as to an artwork created by them.

Potentially adverse situations can easily arise. Sometimes a living artist is not directly involved in organizing his or her international exhibitions, for example. It is thus possible that an exhibition fails to take account of any plans the artist may have made (or is in the process of making) to organize an exhibition, such as a very first exhibition in a particular location. The degree to which an artist may be able to have a say on an exhibition of works created by them and loaned by an owner-collector, again, will depend on the applicable legal regime and jurisdiction.

Sometimes an artist or an artist’s representative may have stipulated the artist’s wishes, which the collector ought to respect. Often, no such express agreements exist. To what extent the artist’s plans, wishes, or instructions may be enforceable against third parties depends on the particular facts and the choice of law underlying the dispute in hand. However, beyond purely legal considerations, it is important to bear in mind that ignoring an artist’s wishes may have reputational ramifications for all involved: the collector, the artwork, the exhibiting institution, and the artist.

Legacy and Preservation

Applicable law is crucial to estate planning in an international context, that is to say, where a collector who is a national or ordinarily resident in one country has assets, for example, real property containing artworks, in one or more other countries. As a matter of English law, for example, testamentary succession is governed by the law of the deceased's domicile at the time of death. Consider a collector, originally from the UK, who dies while having his main residence in Italy or France. Leaving aside inheritance tax considerations, where the collector leaves assets in England, probate will be taken out in England and his assets will be administered under English law. Any applicable issues relating to beneficial succession will be decided according to the law of domicile, in this case Italy or France.

The artworks forming part of the collection will be distributed among the beneficiaries, with reference to the applicable law of succession depending on whether the estate consists of movables or immovables and whether the deceased died intestate or left a will. The law that governs intestate succession and questions such as validity of a will or testamentary capacity may depend on (i) where the deceased was domiciled, (ii) his or her habitual residence, or (iii) their nationality.

There are also European harmonization rules to simplify cross-border estate administration, determining which law applies to succession. However, these rules do not determine how such succession is to be taxed. The UK did not opt in to the harmonization rules, so English common law continues to apply. Nevertheless, the rules have universal application, meaning that they can assist British nationals who are habitually resident in an EU member state and hold assets in the EU, even after Brexit.

Thanks to the EU Succession Regulation, British nationals who are EU residents may choose English law to be applicable, and not the law of the given EU country. That can be essential, as several EU countries such as France or Italy have rules that prescribe that certain persons must benefit from the estate, whose rights cannot generally be disapplied by way of a will. For example, they grant a prescribed part of the estate to specific heirs, such as a deceased's spouse, children, or parents. English law, on the other hand, allows for testamentary freedom.

Applicable law is also an important consideration for matrimonial property. The rights of a spouse whose husband or wife predeceases them may depend on the participation of acquired property during the marriage or separation of property. Community of acquisition, i.e. jointly acquired assets used to build a collection during marriage, can thus lead to the dispersal of a collection. Regimes vary from country to country, including within the EU.

One way of protecting the integrity of a collection over generations is by way of substituting a direct ownership structure with a structure based on one or more entities, such as trusts, foundations, charities, or private companies. The relevant requirements and tax implications flowing from such ownership structures of course need to be considered carefully and complied with.

The choice of vehicle will depend on the purpose that it is to serve. Some collectors may seek to take advantage of more favorable tax rules, others may seek the long-term protection and management of family art collections. Others again may focus on charitable purposes, or the preservation of wealth. One additional important aspect tends to be the required level of confidentiality that is to be achieved.

For any tax consideration, the commercial value of the collection is an important baseline. However, valuations will differ depending on their purpose. Obtaining a valuation for insurance or inheritance purposes will often be different from auction sale estimates, where inducing buyers to bid and other marketing considerations are more important. In divorce proceedings, where one side remains ‘married’ to the art collection, it will often seek to argue the collection is commercially at a lower value than the other side seeking to maximize the value of assets that are in dispute between the parties. Collectors should be clear what their valuations have been or are going to be obtained for. Over the last 30 years or so, another critical consideration has evolved concerning the ‘moral’ and reputational aspects of the collection. If artworks that form part of a collection are found to have been looted during conflict or in a context of violence against a former owner, for example, often, such objects will become unsalable using the established channels for the sale and purchase of artworks. In other words, the major auction houses and galleries will not get involved in transactions concerning such objects, unless the red flag attached to such an artwork can be removed.

As a result, the market value of the artwork can fall dramatically and the reputation of the collection and collector may suffer tremendously. It is therefore a good idea to ensure that the collection is audited and any red flags are dealt with before the collection passes from one generation to the next. Indeed, even for the purposes of making donations and/or loans to public collections, the absence of red flag artworks is generally an obligatory precondition.

A heightened sensitivity to due diligence is particularly important in an environment in which documentation concerning proper import, export, provenance, and authenticity is becoming more and more stringent. These elements are essential to uphold the tradability and therefore value of an artwork and indeed the entire collection. To put it succinctly, the increase in due diligence requirements over recent years means that any past due diligence applied before previous transactions may not be sufficient in today’s world. Given the number of complex pitfalls, depending on the value thresholds involved, it would certainly seem to be sensible to seek advice from relevant specialists to ensure that as much documentation and paperwork around the collection as possible is available as and when needed. Otherwise, the recipient of the collection may be left with the unenviable task of having to regularize aspects of the collection that may not have been problematic when the collection was put together, but that are absolutely crucial today.

Philanthropy

To encourage the making of gifts and donations of artworks to institutions, such gifts typically come with a tax benefit to the donor. Beneficial tax regimes in various jurisdictions are designed to incentivize private and corporate collectors alike to contribute vital financial support to the cultural sphere. However, the causes eligible for such support and the institutions that may benefit from it may differ from country to country, depending on the cultural policy pursued by the government in question.

Collectors and collections are often not based in one country alone, however. Donations to non-profit organizations and charities abroad have grown partly as a result of cultural cross-border activities and an increased awareness and accessibility of the world's cultural heritage sites. Likewise, touring exhibitions of important cultural goods have accelerated this trend further.

Notwithstanding these trends, tax benefits tend to be available first and foremost to ‘local’ benefactors. Conversely, it is not self-evident that ‘foreign’ benefactors can obtain such tax benefits. However, there are some supranational approaches to this issue: for example, within the European Union, member states are required to treat donations to eligible public institutions in other member states in a way that is equivalent to domestic donations. This means that, where tax incentives are available for domestic donations, these would need to be applied also in relation to donations made to eligible collections in other EU member states.

More broadly, however, the benefit of a donation from one jurisdiction to another will depend on the legislation of the jurisdiction in which the donor is a tax resident. Some countries apply tax incentives in the same way to donations made to extraterritorial eligible institutions as they do to domestic eligible institutions. Other countries limit such benefits to domestic donations only.

Keep Calm and Collect

While there is clearly a plethora of potential issues collectors should be aware of – both those intending to donate works and the beneficiaries of a donation – any collector who has put in place the right plans and structures can once again focus on his or her passion: the gathering together of a very personal selection of highly desirable artworks that reflects their own personality and taste.