The Transformative Role of Digital Databases for Provenance Research and Due Diligence
- When
- Tuesday, 3 November, 16:00
- Where
- Sprengel Museum Hannover, Auditorium
- Panel
- Panel 2: Current Shifts and Transformations in Provenance Research
The presentation offers a taxonomy of cultural property digital and AI-driven databases developed by public and private entities to support provenance research and due diligence practices. It examines how these tools may facilitate a shift in law, policy, and markets.
Beginning with the Digital Benin project, the presentation surveys four categories: (1) international and national crime-detection databases, such as INTERPOL’s Stolen Works of Art Database and the AI-powered S.W.O.A.D.S.; (2) private due diligence services such as the Art Loss Register; (3) thematic databases on Nazi-looted assets and colonial contexts; and (4) academic and professional provenance research databases such as the Louvre’s open-access database and the GPI.
The presentation demonstrates how such databases can facilitate fact-finding, serve as professional and legal benchmarks for due diligence, enable information-sharing toward “just and fair solutions”, and promote transparency in a field previously shaped by opacity and secrecy.