ARTWEB: Bringing art to the multi-media industry

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 97.0387

Key words (English)

Cultural heritrage management; IPR trading; multimedia content

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: INFMM1037

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 4. Frame Research Programme - 15.1 Ausserhalb Rahmenprogramm

Short description (English)

See abstract

Partners and International Organizations (English)

Coordinator: The Bridgeman Art Library Ltd. (UK)

Abstract (English)

ArtWeb creates an electronic trading platform for archives, collections and cultural organisations. It offers them a gateway to the global trading network for visual assets (Intellectual Property Rights on visual material). ArtWeb provides a hub that links the services of Europe's leading sources for art reproductions.

Report on Final Presentation / Conclusion of Project ArtWeb
The completed ArtWeb project was presented to the EC's experts/reviewers on March 13th 2000 in Luxembourg. Via the joint web site and links to the Bridgeman and RMN sites access to more than 150'000 documented images was demonstrated. The Final Report was presented in the form of a printed document (approx. 250 pages). The official reviewers demanded minor alterations that are currently edited by the respective parties.
The consortium presented the commission its plan to reshape ArtWeb for long-term commercial exploitation: During the project partners realised that there are numerous legal/contractual constraints and distinctive differences of interests between public cultural institutions and private stock agencies. This forced the consortium to drop its initially devised business model and opt for a looser co-operation scheme. The ArtWeb site presents the partners stock together with limited information. It acts as hub that guides interested visitors/art buyers to the comprehensive offerings on the sites of the individual partners. Order processing and delivery of layout or high resolution data is managed by the individual archives.
Some of the ArtWeb partners and associated collections wish to develop a service model that goes beyond this minimal level - they wish to link their archives with a central logistic/fulfilment service. They have agreed to explore this option beyond the termination of the official project.
The newly emerging PictureHub in Zurich will serve as experimental platform for technical trials. The same structure will be used to explore service options for a pool of six Swiss archives with cultural content. Experimental operations will start in autumn 2000.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 97.0387