Artist Pension Trust

History

In 2004, a company named MutualArt launched the Artist Pension Trust as the first pension program for visual contemporary artists. It was founded by businessman Moti Shniberg, Hebrew University business professor and leading academic and writer in business administration and finance, Dan Galai, and David A. Ross, former director of the Whitney Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. APT started with eight regional trusts and subsequently launched a global trust, APT Global One, with a total of 628 artists. APT Global One was designed for optimal risk diversification.

After the first year, Artist Pension Trust owned the collection of approximately 65 artworks created by artists in the New York branch, including Jules de Balincourt, William Cordova, Anthony Goicolea, and Aida Ruilova.

In 2012, APT accelerated expansion into Asia in partnership with Simon Murray & Company, a pan-Asian investment fund management firm. By 2013, APT had trust locations in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, Dubai, Beijing, Mumbai, Mexico City, as well as APT Global One.

Management

APT's Chairman and co-founder is the high-tech entrepreneur and art collector Moti Shniberg. The Advisory Board include Professor Dan Galai, an authority in risk diversification theory, David Ross, Chair of the MFA Art Practice Program at the School of Visual Arts and former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMOMA and ICA Boston, Elena Foster, founder of Ivory Press, John Baldessari, American conceptual artist, and Raymond McGuire, Head of Global Banking at Citigroup, a collector of contemporary art and member of several boards including The International Center of Photography, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Artwork distribution

The artworks in the trust are gradually sold over the course of 20 years for the benefit of the artists. The funds from the net proceeds of each artwork sold are distributed in the following manner: 72% are distributed to the artists in the trust, with 40% to the individual artist and 32% among the artists in that trust based on the number of artworks they have deposited. The remaining 28% is used to cover the operational costs of the trusts.

Exhibitions

In June 2013, Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy, included 26 artists who are also a part of the global Artist Pension Trust.

In 2013, artworks from the APT collection were displayed in over 100 exhibitions worldwide, including at Tate Modern in London, the Seoul Museum of Art, and Göteborgs Konsthall.

APT Institute

In July 2013, Artist Pension Trust announced establishment of APT Institute, a non-profit organization whose task is to facilitate exhibitions and loans for curators, museums, and art organizations, as well as to promote contemporary art and artists worldwide. Recent loans arranged through the APT Institute include Jean Shin’s installation of neckties and a chain link fence named "Untied", which featured in the solo show "Jean Shin: Common Threads", at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Sherif El Azma’s "Powerchord Skateboard", a two-screen DVD installation that was part of the Tate Modern’s recent show "Project Space: Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear".

Awards

APT artists have won awards and prizes including the Turner Prize, the William H. Johnson Prize, the Hugo Boss Prize and the Future Generation Art Prize. Some of the APT's most prominent artists include Douglas Gordon (winner Turner Prize 1996), Yael Bartana (winner Artist Mundi Prize 2010), Richard Wright (winner Turner Prize 2009), Martin Boyce (winner Turner Prize 2011), Richard Aldrich, Jeremy Deller (winner Turner Prize 2004), Beth Campbell, Gert & Uwe Tobias, Charles Avery, Gelitin, Alicia Paz, Jean Shin, and David Shrigley.