Art Authentication Technology to Increase Indigenous Employment
Art Authentication Technology to Increase Indigenous Employment
March 2, 2007: Indigenous art fraud is a serious problem for many of Australia’s indigenous artists. While tourists are willing to spend big on original artworks and limited edition prints, fake art has diverted much needed funds away from outback communities such as Weipa.
The problem for artists is that to authenticate an artwork, an expert is required to analyse and verify it. With this being an expensive task, ultimately this has meant that indigenous artwork has remained exposed to fraud. However, as part of initiative to increase employment opportunities for indigenous communities, The Department of Education and Workplace Training approached J. Esterby-Wood, CEO of Identeart to design a system to protect the intellectual property of artists.
Utilising a tagging system created by DatatraceDNA and the CSIRO, as of the 3^rd of April, indigenous communities will be empowered with tools to tag artworks. Consumers will pay a $25 fee for tagged works of art; ten to twelve dollars will be returned the community.
IdenteArt utilises DataDotDNA as the primary authentication layer that can be easily read with a simple microscope. DataDotDNA are microdots about the size of a grain of sand that are uniquely encrypted with multiple lines of thei r own DNA code.
The tagging system will be operated through various museums and art dealerships and money raised will provide funding support for such groups as Weipa’s Westcape Artists Group.
Once a piece has been tagged - anything from a boomerang to a canvass - the system will generate a unique identity number after which an image of it is uploaded to the portal www.identityart.com
Esterby-Wood says that Identeart already has $250,000 worth of pre-sales orders and interest from overseas, in particular from the Canadian Government for its indigenous artists but also from the US, Europe and South America.
For the Northern Territory, says Esterby-Wood, current sales of artworks stand at 300,000 unit per year. "That amounts to 25 full-time positions."
Ultimately the system has been designed to be handed back to the communities that create and rely on art for income. He says, “51 percent of the organisation has been quarantined for purchase by an indigenous investment group.” Ex-Labor Party minister, Dr Peter Toyne will be opening the new system on the 3^rd April 2007.