Forgeries and Networks – The “Mittheilungen des Museen-Verbandes” and counterfeiting networks in the twentieth Century (ForNet)

该项目将使用数字化工具和方法，以评估在“国际博物馆官员防止伪造和不正当商业行为协会”1899年至1939年出版的期刊“博物馆伪造."中实施的针对伪造艺术品的侦查和预防战略。在这里，来自欧洲和北美当时主要博物馆、收藏馆和销售机构的艺术史学家、艺术品经销商和博物馆工作人员出版了《古代艺术品到现代艺术品的暴露》，目的是通过迅速的国际侦察，尽早制止销售，并通过揭露伪造者和伪造者的作坊，制止这种伪造品的生产。该杂志可以被视为当代伪造检测和预防尝试的先驱，例如2005年在德国建立的“关键作品数据库”。该项目的一个目的是检查奋进的效率：它是否达到了目标？由于“联合会”和“Mittheilungen”的主要特点之一是它们的国际网络结构，因此将借助数字网络分析来分析它们。这也有助于进一步了解“Verein”的功能和组织结构的变化，其期刊中讨论的对象的路径和未来命运，以及它们作为原件，伪造品，复制品或再创作的变化状态。在这个过程中，档案研究和数字分析将相互促进，相互区分。该项目的数字部分有几个不同但相互关联的目标。首先，在“Mittheilungen”中的每个条目中的相关信息将被捕获在XML中。在此数据集的基础上，创建和分析网络。最初，网络分析侧重于揭示将主要参与者、机构和对象相互联系在一起的关系网。然而，网络分析不是静态的，而是由支撑这个项目的艺术史研究问题有机地塑造和引导的。与此同时，网络分析发现的特定模式可能会揭示并建议该项目中进行的档案研究的新途径。除了服务于ForNet的研究问题外，所产生的数据集也具有更广泛的应用。ForNet设想创建一个在线研究环境，一个提供所有数据的专用网站，包括该项目生成的XML传输和网络可视化。此外，XML transform中的数据被摄取到一个专门设计的图形数据库中，该数据库为该网站提供动力，并使其能够以动态的方式查询数据。因此，ForNet还提供了一个资源，为学者和更广泛的（学术）社区成员服务。

The project will use digital tools and methods in order to assess the detecting and preventive strategies against art forgeries, as implemented in the journal “Mittheilungen des Museen-Verbandes…”, published between 1899 and 1939 by the “International Association of Museum Officials for the Prevention of Forgeries and Improper Business Practices”. Here, art historians, art dealers and museum employees from the leading museums, collections and sale institutions of their time in Europe and North America published exposed forgeries of ancient to modern art. The aim was to put an early stop to the sale – and: by exposing forgers and forger's workshops – also to the production of such counterfeits through rapid international reconnaissance. The journal can be seen as a kind of forerunner of contemporary attempts at forgery detection and prevention, such as the “Database of Critical Works”, set up in 2005 in Germany. One aim of the project is to examine the efficiency of the endeavor: Did it live up to its goals? Since one of the main traits of the “Verein” and of the “Mittheilungen” was their international network structure, they will be analyzed with the help of a digital network analysis. This is also helpful when it comes to further questions about the changes in the function and organizational structure of the “Verein”, about the path and further fate of the objects, discussed in its journal, as well as about their changing status as originals, forgeries, copies or re-creations. In the process, archival research and digital analysis will mutually motivate and differentiate each other. The project’s digital component has several distinct but interlinking goals. First of all, the relevant information in each of the entries in the “Mittheilungen” will be captured in XML. On the basis of this dataset, networks are created and analyzed. Initially, the network analysis focuses on revealing that web of relationships that tied the main actors, institutions, and objects to each other. However, rather than being static, the network analysis is organically shaped and guided by the art historical research questions that underpin this project. At the same time, particular patterns detected by the network analysis are likely to reveal and suggest new avenues for the archival research undertaken in the project. Apart from serving the research questions of ForNet, the resulting dataset has a broader application as well. ForNet envisages the creation of an online research environment, a dedicated website that provides all the data, including the XML transcriptions and network visualizations, generated by the project. Moreover, the data in the XML transcriptions are ingested in a specifically-designed graph database that powers this website and makes it possible to query the data in a dynamic way. As such, ForNet provides also a resource that serves scholars and members of the wider (academic) community.