About Us - Aims & Objectives

Since first conceiving the idea of A Database, our principle objective has been to bring a new dimension to the archiving and recording of contemporary art and visual culture.

To this end we aim to:

• increase the visibility of contemporary art and its production
• establish an effective, creative framework within which artists and arts organizations can maintain and grow an archival resource
• provide training and documentation about best practice principles, methods and skills for the objective capture of works
• create a robust data structure specifically designed for the recording of information about contemporary works
• respect the integrity of intellectual property ownership status of works
• enable cross-collection searching
• contribute to the discourse among arts and creative organisations on making themselves, and the knowledge that they hold, more accessible

The future with A Database looks something like this:

• AD will democratise contemporary art by making it visible and available to a global public
• create a global community of artists
• become the primary resource for contemporary art research and public access
• become an integrated part of the art education process: artists will become responsible for recording and archiving their work as they produce it
• allow artists to display and sell image reproduction rights directly on-line
• facilitate on-line submissions to exhibitions, prizes etc. Digital submission will democratise the field by encouraging a wider range of artists and easing the task of juries
• provide a locally downloadable archive and collection management tool for collections and artists with a more substantial back catalogue
• enlarge the scope of art education image providers globally by licensing use of the AD to them
• provide cost-effective and financially accessible print-on-demand image surrogates for the public with direct payment to the artists
• create an information centre for research into contemporary visual material and its production
• provide affordable virtual studio and storage space
• provide digitisation services for arts and visual culture

A Database puts that future within your reach.

As André Breton said in the ground-breaking Surrealist Manifesto as long ago as 1924:

‘In this realm as in any other, we believe in the pure joy of the person who refuses to admit defeat, sets off from whatever point he chooses and arrives wherever he can.’

Come with us.