Remember the times when you were able to stroll through a gallery on a whim, surrounded by others peering at the same works, potentially bumping shoulders with someone while you both read the artists statement, not worried that you might wind up testing positive for COVID-19 because you shared the same air? Us too.

The year is 2020 and a portion of the world isn't able to go to galleries anymore, which is a rather bleak statement if you ask me. Thankfully, Guest Club is an innovative new membership platform devoted to bringing artistic experiences to people despite the current circumstances.

Guest Club offers members a string of exclusive virtual tours and events hosted by the platform, which functions as a unique art advisory and membership network for emerging collectors and art lovers. Founded with real-life experiences in mind, The platform serves as an extension of Guest Work Agency—an art law and curatorial practice founded by Alana Kushnir—Guest Club is said to offer members exclusive access to bespoke events that enable members to build relationships with artists, galleries, art fairs and a global network of fellow members.

Based in Melbourne, where lockdown restrictions are still in force, the initiative was founded to fill a gap for many missing gallery and art experiences. “In a time of isolation, boredom and fatigue, we’re seeing more and more new members joining who are looking for ways of engaging with the world of art at a time when so many options are closed to them. Think of the Guest Club as a single network through which to engage with myriad galleries, artists, curators and fellow enthusiasts,” Kushnir explains. “Guest Club was borne out of a desire to network with a collective of like-minded, curious art lovers. We’re really delighted that we can continue to create experiences that bring our members together while also transporting them to all corners of the globe, with art events that provide both insight and a sense of escapism,” she says.

For now, we'll miss exhibitions with plastic cups filled with a questionable red and the mingling of old and new friends, but to us, it feels as though Guest Club will function as a new wave of connecting through art and culture.

Feature image: Oliver Beer, Recomposition (Domino), 2020. Fragments of the artist's grandmother's piano, coloured pencils, glasses, chess pieces, domino pieces, a book about music, tobacco pipe, violin fragments, metronome fragments. Courtesy the artist and gallery Thaddaeus Ropac, London.