Publishing a digital catalogue raisonné or digital archive can be a big undertaking. From their experience, the Navigating.art team knows that good planning right from the start is essential. Here are our five tips for a smooth start.
#1 Commitment
There must be a strong commitment towards the project. The creation of digital archives and catalogues raisonnés is a comprehensive project, which may take years of even decades until completion. Dedication to the objective at hand is critical to stay on track with long-term commitments.
#2 Assemble a strong team
There is a need for dedicated project staff on your end, such as a researcher familiar with the archive or artist. Depending on the size of your project, you will need to assign 1-4 people to the project, in addition to our support. Additionally, all pre-existing materials need to be recognized, organized, and digitized. If you are in the possession of an analogue Catalogue Raisonné, this has to be digitized, the data extracted, and uploaded as well.
#3 Seek external expertise
To manage your project effectively it is important to know the limits of your team's capabilities and when to seek external support. A Navigating.art Digital Humanities Expert will guide you to understand the platform and help you chose a workflow suitable to your needs. From data entry over archival digitization or large-scale import, our team has gained expertise in a wide variety of topics to support your project with confidence. Our support team is available in case you run into any issues.
#4 Discover all sources
Be aware of any recent discoveries and known discrepancies within the art world. All additional information from external archives, libraries, auction houses etc. must be compiled, reviewed, digitized, and entered on the platform. On the Navigating.art all this source material can be linked to the artwork entries to document every detail and make the most of the discovered materials.
#5 Clarify the intellectual property
You need to obtain the intellectual property (IP) and usage rights for publishing content. If you are uncertain about the legal status of your content, we are happy to share learnings we have created as part of other projects.
Bonus tip: Establish an advisory board
The larger the project the more important it is to have a reliable supervisory body. A group of trusted experts can give direction on bigger project questions. After all, there are many critical decision to be made when assembling works for a catalogue raisonné. An advisory board or committee as a dedicated vetting authority is able to deliver reasoned decisions for any request of inclusion.
Last updated: July 17, 2023