Service Overview
A catalogue raisonné data artifact is a permanent, archival system designed to represent the complete record of an artist’s career as structured, source-controlled data. Rather than treating the catalogue as a website or publication, I treat it as an enduring body of truth that exists independently of any interface.
This work is grounded in the belief that cultural records should outlive platforms, tools, and software trends. By modeling the data itself as the primary artifact, the catalogue remains stable, inspectable, and extensible over time.
Data as the Primary Artifact
In this approach, the catalogue is not embedded inside a CMS or proprietary system. Instead, it exists as pure data—carefully structured, human-readable, and versioned through source control. This allows every change to be tracked, reviewed, and preserved with full historical context.
Comprehensive Career Modeling
The data model captures artworks, exhibitions, publications, collectors, institutions, provenance, critical writing, and personal relationships. These elements are treated as interconnected records rather than isolated entries, preserving the full context of an artist’s career.
Archival Integrity and Longevity
By prioritizing clarity, normalization, and explicit relationships, the system avoids ambiguity and data drift. Backups, redundancy, and controlled evolution ensure that the archive remains trustworthy and intact over decades, not just project timelines.
Beyond Fine Art
While designed specifically for catalogue raisonnés, this methodology applies to any domain where a complete, relational record must be preserved over time. Careers, bodies of work, institutional histories, and cultural archives can all be represented using the same principles.
A Source of Truth for the Future
The resulting data artifact can support websites, books, exhibitions, research, and future reinterpretation without requiring rework or migration. It is a foundation for scholarship, continuity, and historical accountability.
