How did you start collecting?

I started 15 years ago with African art, and then about 8 years ago my wife and I began collecting contemporary artists. Soon we didn’t have enough room to show what we have — 80 percent was in storage, and it was never intended to be in storage. We said we’d take a big place and show the art in a space that would be like a living room, someplace where we could socialize with friends. Eventually we decided to use an almost 15,000-square-foot building in the east of Paris with an inexpensive lease on it. In addition to the galleries, there will be a big library with sofas, a dinner table, computers, TVs, a sound system, and a kitchen.

You will mount changing exhibitions there?

Yes. The first exhibition, "Born in Dystopia," will be very tough, very political. For example, Christoph Büchel has made a bomb from an Al-Qaeda manual. I started the collection with a theme, art after 9/11, and the work we collect tends to be either abstract or political. "Born in Dystopia" focuses mainly on young artists, 30 to 45, but not exclusively. This generation is part of a global culture. It was very different for someone born 60 years ago, who experienced World War II, Vietnam in America — he has an American-centered viewpoint. It’s the same with a Frenchman — he’s very centered on French things. But the younger generation partakes of a worldwide culture: We live in the same world with the same problems. The exhibition tells this story, a history of the new generation. So there are lots of things about the Middle East, terrorism, oil, how the world is driven by finance and oil.

Why is the foundation called Rosenblum Collection & Friends?

The idea is that the world is changing. We are fully influenced by the Internet and social networking. The Friends, for me, is like friends on Facebook, people you get to know through nodes, points of common interest. Today if you share an interest, let’s say in the artist Simon English, that’s enough to be friends or possible friends. Ours is a network-centered collection 2.0. So, for example, we’ve asked the artists we show, who are also Friends, to contribute to the library. Each artist will have his own section with the books he has recommended and also DVDs, CDs, movies, and video games. So when you come to see the exhibition, you can go to the library and look at books, listen to music, and watch movies the artists have selected. And by doing this you can learn more about the artists and their work. It’s a living library. There’s a kids room too, and we’ll do a family guide. It could be a page with a picture of the piece shown in the exhibition with a simple explanation that parents can read to their children. Also the space will be open to the Friends, who will each have a key. It’s their space. If they want to go without us, have a breakfast or organize a dinner with other friends, they can do it. Because we trust our friends.

"Collector: Steven Rosenblum" originally appeared in the October 2010 issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' October 2010 Table of Contents.