COPY CULTURE Edited by Brendan Cormier Brendan by Edited CULTURE COPY Copy Culture: Sharing in the Age of Digital Reproduction explores how digital tools are revolutionizing the cultural COPY CULTURE heritage landscape through copies. Every day, museums, institutions and individuals alike are digitizing more and more of our global cultural heritage, resulting in vast databases of high-resolution images, 3D models and Sharing in the Age Edited by other forms of digital reproductions. These copies are of Digital Reproduction Brendan Cormier being shared like never before, reaching new audiences around the world, inspiring creativity, enabling learning and aiding preservation. Through essays, interviews and project profiles, the book draws from a cross-disciplinary group of experts to better understand the challenges and opportunities for making, storing, sharing and using digital reproductions, in museums and in everyday life. Copy Culture is a result of ReACH (Reproductions of Art and Cultural Heritage), an initiative spearheaded by the Victoria and Albert Museum with the Peri Foundation, to bring museums and cultural heritage practitioners together to collectively draw a roadmap for the future production and use of digital copies. Contributions by Anaïs Aguerre, Eugene Ch’ng, Chance Coughenour, Marion Crick, Abraham Drassinower, David Gissen, Laura Jones, Mari Lending, Adam Lowe, Mark Mudge, Wim Pijbes, Vernon Rapley, Loic Tallon, Merete Sanderhoff, Carla Schroer, Sandra L. López Varela and Diane Zorich. ReACH 2017 Declaration A ● ● ● ● VISION The text herein is the result of an This declaration promotes the vision that works of art and cultural extensive global consultation on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of heritage should be preserved and shared as widely as possible the 1867 Henry Cole Convention for Promoting Universally Reproductions throughout the world. of Works of Art for the Benefit of Museums of All Countries. The Convention, inspiring in its clarity, practicality and openness Through advances in technology and connectivity, we now have to the creation and sharing of reproductions, served as the basis a revolutionary opportunity to enhance learning, creativity and for the establishment of this new ReACH Declaration. The ReACH innovation, and to reach new audiences worldwide, through the Declaration for Promoting Universally the Reproduction, Storage and reproduction and sharing of works of art and cultural heritage Sharing of Works of Art and Cultural Heritage Through Digital Technology (‘Works’). Furthermore, digital technologies can enable us to was adopted at the final ReACH roundtable held at the Victoria and record, document and, in some instances, recreate Works that are Albert Museum in London on 8 December 2017. threatened by environmental hazards, conflicts, terrorism, rapid DEFINITIONS economic development, mass tourism, thefts and other natural ReACH stands for Reproduction and human-made disasters (‘Endangered Works’) or that have of Art and Cultural Heritage. been lost. Work means a work of art or other cultural item. The term Work is intended to be broadly construed For cultural institutions that hold collections for the benefit of the and includes, but is not limited to, works of art in all media and eras, e.g. public, the opportunity to provide open access now or in the future paintings, works on paper, sculptures, murals, antiquities, monuments, to Works in a digital format is an exciting new frontier in their architecture and architectural elements, and archaeological sites. mission to preserve and transmit knowledge, culture and history Endangered Work means Work for present and future generations. Such opportunities also present threatened by environmental hazards, conflicts, terrorism, mass responsibilities. Digital Records need to be responsibly created and tourism and other natural and human- made disasters. safeguarded for the long term to ensure integrity as well as retrieval Steward means any governmental or and reuse by future generations. Furthermore, as the means private entity that owns or possesses Works held for the benefit of the and skills required to use and access digital technology are not public. The term Steward is intended to be broadly construed and includes, distributed evenly around the world, it is incumbent on those with but is not limited to, museums, sites, monuments, libraries, repositories, the capacity to do so to provide support and training to those with archives, places of worship, whether governmental, sovereign or private. fewer resources. Record means a digital recording or reproduction of a Work and the This Declaration is intended for both institutions and individuals data generated in the process of faithfully capturing images and data to promote the production, sharing and preservation of digital of the Work so as to create a high quality digital or physical reproduction records and reproductions (‘Records’). Owners and Stewards of of the Work. Works and others involved in the process of generating these High quality means a level of quality sufficient to constitute a Records are encouraged to disseminate and use the ReACH representation of a Work as faithful as possible. Declaration as widely as possible. B C D REPRODUCTION STORAGE SHARING Art. 1 Stewards of Works are Art. 6 Digital Records should Art. 10 Stewards of Works are Art. 16 Stewards of Works and other encouraged, for the benefit of the public be contemporaneously archived and encouraged to make Records freely parties engaged in making Records are of today and future generations, to take maintained by the Steward of the Work. available to the public for personal use encouraged to work collaboratively to advantage of technological advances to The Works should be recorded in a and enjoyment and for non-commercial develop compatible systems to enable create Records of Works entrusted to manner that renders them likely to be research, educational, scientific and the exchange of recorded data and their care, for purposes of documenting retrievable and reproducible even if scholarly uses. metadata on a global scale. A set of and preserving all Works but in particular technology changes. Enabling the data specific technological standards and Endangered Works. migration on a continuous basis is of Art. 11 Stewards of Works and practical guidelines will be produced by paramount importance. other parties involved in the process of a ReACH technical committee. These Art. 2 Those involved in the process documenting and producing Records standards and guidelines will be revised of documenting and producing digital Art. 7 The Steward of the Work are encouraged to share those Records as technology evolves. Records are encouraged to work to then- should own or, at a minimum, retain of Works as widely as possible, but current accepted standards that will unrestricted and perpetual rights to use, in particular to reach new audiences, Art. 17 In light of the major support academic study and monitoring reproduce and share the Records, unless especially people with special needs. infrastructure requirements to ensure the condition of the original object. applicable law or a contractual agreement This includes, where possible, proactively long-term preservation and migration requires otherwise. addressing issues of equal access to of digital Records, public–private Art. 3 The process of documenting digital technology on a global scale. partnerships should be encouraged as and producing Records should be non- Art. 8 Digital Records should be well as collaborations between countries. invasive for the Works involved. The linked to metadata that enriches the Art. 12 Stewards of Works and preservation of the Work itself remains of digital asset for research, education and other parties involved in the process of paramount importance. Digital Records preservation. documenting and producing Records of are a tool that can support preservation Works are encouraged to use established but are not a substitute for preservation. Art. 9 Digital and Physical Records and standardized licensing schemes and should be marked or otherwise identified symbols that convey to the public the Art. 4 The process used to produce as copies using methods that are manner in which the Records of Works Records as well as the intended purpose sustainable and, to the extent feasible, do may be shared and reused, including open for each specific Record should be not rely on technologies that may become access content. documented to enable better usage and obsolete. Those involved in the process interpretation of such Records today and of making these Records are encouraged Art. 13 When Records are shared for future generations. to develop an international system to and disseminated, Stewards of Works identify copies. involved should provide attribution to Art. 5 Before making and sharing the original author of the Works and, Records, the historic context of and where practicable, provide credit to those possible cultural and national sensitivities involved in the process of documenting about the Works should be considered, and producing Records of Works. as well as applicable legal and ethical constraints, and the rights of donors and third parties. Transparency and participation by communities or cultural groups with ties to the Works should TRISTRAM HUNT AMY MEYERS MAX HOLLEIN MERETE be encouraged. Victoria and Yale Center Fine Arts Museums SANDERHOFF Albert Museum for British Art of San Francisco Statens Museum for Kunst JEAN-LUC TONY