Technology and Art Authentication Project

Aris, the leader in title insurance for artworks has recently announced a project to blend technology and art authentication.  The 18 month project will look to develop new technology in order to authenticate and document new works. Some of the ideas are to use nano technologies to mark and identify works of arts.  Once a piece has been authenticated and identified, the marking technology will stay with the piece.

Judith Pearson, President and Co-Founder, ARIS Companies will be speaking at the ISA conference in Kansas City in April.  Click HERE for more info.

Aris reports on the project

ARIS Title Insurance Corporation, a member of Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (Nasdaq: AGII), announced today that it has launched an eighteen-month project aimed at establishing a framework for implementing technologies intended to address the issue of authenticity of works of fine art and other objects in the global art market. Working through U.S. and international standards organizations, the project will also draw on the expertise of leading academic and scientific experts.

“Once appropriate third-party efficacy standards for prospectively-applied marking or identification technologies are established, we will actively work with and support each technology that meets those standards. We expect to structure our keystone art title insurance to incorporate these identification solutions at no added cost to the market”

“A significant number of firms are developing various technologies to address the issue of authenticity in the art industry. Given the broad range of media in which works are created and the environmental exposures of art and important collectibles on a global basis, no one technology can address the entire industry need,” said ARIS Chairman Lawrence M. Shindell. “Most critical to creating an effective authenticity solution is the establishment of standards against which the efficacy of both current and future authentication marking technologies can be measured. ARIS, as the world’s leading art title insurer, is in a unique position to assist the market in delivering these solutions because clear legal title is the keystone to all other activity around this asset class.”

“Advancements in technology – from botanical DNA-based marking technologies to nano-technologies – can now be used to mark or identify a new work of art or an existing work whose authenticity has already been established by conventional standards. This will eventually eliminate the question of authenticity from the art industry as well as the frictional costs that this issue creates,” explained Mr. Shindell. “However, the existence of independently established, authoritative standards that will govern the indelibility, permanency, non-alterability, implementation protocols and other complex issues are necessary to anchor the legal-scientific efficacy of each technology. Otherwise, an overall market solution will not be possible,” explained Mr. Shindell.

ARIS is already working with the world-leading Authentication in Art Foundation established at The Hague, which will convene a Congress in May 2014 to address conventional authentication standards for never-before marked or identified works.

“Once appropriate third-party efficacy standards for prospectively-applied marking or identification technologies are established, we will actively work with and support each technology that meets those standards. We expect to structure our keystone art title insurance to incorporate these identification solutions at no added cost to the market,” said Mr. Shindell.

Source: Aris/Business Wire