Introducing the Artclear Platform
When we talk about Artclear, we tend to focus on Certificates, the digital records that link facts about an artwork from a verified source to its digital Fingerprint, secured on the blockchain. We also discuss scanning and the process of generating Artclear Fingerprints. What we don’t mention so often is our Platform. Yet, this is an integral part of Artclear’s service and, frankly, we think it is pretty good. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to blog about it!
Integrating Artclear's Services
The Role of the Platform
The Artclear Platform is the software system that knits all the elements of our service together. It provides a user interface for people to interact with Artclear’s services. It also manages all the data flows between clients, scanners and the blockchain, providing a seamless user experience.
When you log on to the Artclear Platform, what you see looks in many ways like a collection or inventory management system. You can record details of artists and artworks of interest to you, even if you have no-intention of “Artclearing” them, which is what we call the process of scanning a work, generating a fingerprint and issuing a certificate.
API Driven and Modular
Easy Integration with Existing Inventory Systems
We built it this way because we need information about an artwork in order to issue a certificate and it made sense to open up the functionality to manage this information to our clients, to use in whatever way suited them. So, a gallery that Artcleared works by just one of its artists could choose to use the Platform to manage its entire inventory and, if it did so, would find it provided a very powerful solution. However, we also recognise that, in the real world, most galleries already have inventory systems in place and have no wish to migrate to another one. For this reason, the Platform’s architecture is API driven, open and modular, making it easy to interface to a client’s other systems so that the data needed by Artclear can flow in automatically with no extra work for the client.
Enhancing Artist-Gallery Relationships
The Platform as a Collaboration Tool
The Platform is designed so that we can tailor it to meet the needs of different types of clients. For example, galleries can keep track of their relationships with artists whom they sponsor to use Artclear. Artists can use the system to store details of their portfolios, upload notes and documents as they go and then share relevant information that they select with their gallery ahead of a show.
The Scanning Process
Streamlined Integration with the Artclear Platform
While the platform can act as an inventory system, its real purpose is to enable users to interact with Artclear’s services. To support this, it is fully integrated with Artclear scanners and the scanning process. Users can schedule scans with Artclear or, in the future, other scanner operators such as fine art shippers and select the artworks to be scanned and this information passes seamlessly to the technician carrying out the work.
Once scans are complete, the data collected flows back to the Platform, and the fingerprints that are generated are automatically made available for incorporation into certificates for each artwork that was scanned. And artists can cryptographically sign the certificates with an identity that is unique to them, authenticating their works and indelibly recording this data onto the blockchain, all at the click of a button.
Looking Ahead
Of course, the current features of the platform are just the start and, in the future, we will add many more. The roadmap includes a user interface targeted at the needs of collectors, tools to help manage the transfer of Certificates when artworks are sold, and facilities to allow people other than artists, such as third-party authenticators of existing works, to add verified data to an artwork’s certificate.
And so, with an ever-expanding array of features on the horizon, the Artclear Platform is poised to empower artists, galleries, and collectors alike with seamless interactions, enhanced security, and exciting new possibilities for the future.