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In this two sides article on both ICOM's and ANCHISE's websites, Hélène Ventimiglia (ICOM) reviews ICOM's involvement in cultural goods protection through ANCHISE project.
Why museums as an area of experimentation?
The ANCHISE project is characterised by its unique approach to tool development and testing. Specifically, ANCHISE involves the evaluation of six tools in realistic settings to ensure their alignment with professional requirements and to explore their potential for replication in similar contexts. One of the areas selected for experimentation in the ANCHISE project is museums, due to the sector's strong involvement in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods, which stems both from the expertise of their professionals and the vulnerability of museum’s collections and storage rooms to theft.
ICOM’s role in ANCHISE
ICOM, through its Heritage Protection Department within the Secretariat, is one of the 15 partner organisations composing the ANCHISE consortium. More specifically, ICOM serves as a “practitioner” in ANCHISE, in the sense that the organisation represents the museum professionals who are testing the ANCHISE tools. Consequently, ICOM is responsible for facilitating demonstrations of ANCHISE tools in museums across selected countries and for serving as a liaison between technology partners and museum professionals to address the needs of the museum community. To achieve this goal, ICOM relies on its long-standing commitment to the fight against illicit trafficking and its extensive network of museum professionals, including ICOM national committees.
Some close-ups on the ANCHISE tools in action © ANCHISE Project
Why is it important to work with museum professionals?
Museum professionals play a vital role in combating illicit trafficking through their in-depth knowledge of artefacts, including their provenance, as well as the threat of theft and trafficking. Their expertise is essential because technological tools alone cannot effectively address the complex challenges of fighting cultural goods trafficking. For technology to be truly effective, it must be developed with a deep understanding of cultural heritage, integrating the expertise of museum professionals. This is the aim of the ANCHISE project, which takes a multidisciplinary approach to tackling the trafficking of cultural property, recognizing that academic research in humanities and the production of scholarly knowledge are fundamental to understanding cultural contexts, establishing provenance, and developing effective protection strategies alongside technological solutions.
How are museum professionals involved in ANCHISE?
Looking back at the first demonstration sessions in Greece (September 2024)
The involvement of museum professionals in the project is of particular significance. Firstly, they are responsible for providing a setting that is as close to reality as possible. This is achieved by allowing demonstrations to take place in museums, as was the case with the first demonstration in the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki and the Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis.
As the first demonstration of the tools took place in Greece, ICOM Greece was involved and provided significant support in the preparation and implementation of this event, notably supporting the cooperation with the staff of the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki and in particular its General Director, Dr. Agathoniki Tsilipakou. ICOM Greece also facilitated the connection between the ICOM Secretariat, and the museum professionals based in Greece who participated in the first demonstration to test the tools and give their feedback.
The selection of objects from different collections of the museum was carried out with the aim of ensuring that the tools were tested on a variety of objects. The Greek Ministry of Culture helped meet this aim by facilitating access to a database of several thousands of cultural artefacts.
In this context, museum professionals tested a set of tools designed to support their efforts to combat illicit trafficking. These included image recognition tools such as Arte-fact (PARCS), a mobile application designed to help identify looted and stolen artefacts using photographs and databases of cultural objects, and Kiku-Mon (FHG), designed to track cultural heritage objects on online sales platforms using photographs and brief descriptions of the objects. With the use of image matching technology, these tools can contribute to streamline the process of identifying and tracking potentially trafficked objects, allowing for a faster response. In addition, as both tools are also intended for law enforcement professionals, they foster a spirit of cooperation between different fields.
Museum professionals also explored database optimisation tools such as the Guardian-CH database (CYI), designed to improve data sharing between stakeholders and access to resources to combat illicit trafficking, and the ART-CH database (ICCS), offering advanced data analysis, predictive insights and secure, segmented online access for collaboration between museum professionals and other stakeholders involved in cultural heritage protection. Additionally, they also examined a spectroscopy-based tool (INOV) to analyse the material composition of manuscripts, aiding in authentication, preservation, and forgery detection.
Throughout this process, museum professionals were able to share their knowledge and expertise on the objects, particularly with individuals who were not heritage professionals, such as tech partners and law enforcement professionals (police and customs).
With further testing phases ahead, ICOM will continue to ensure that museum professionals play a central role in shaping and refining these technological tools, thereby strengthening their ability to protect cultural heritage worldwide, and at the same time bringing museum professionals closer to the use of new technologies, making museums catalysts for innovative solutions to cultural heritage protection.
Hélène Ventimiglia (ICOM Secreteriat)
Useful ressources :
ICOM's side article on the matter : https://icom.museum/en/news/icom-at-the-forefront-of-tech-innovation-against-illicit-trafficking-through-anchise/
ICOM Red List page: https://icom.museum/en/red-lists/
ICOM Code of Ethics: https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/code-of-ethics/
ICOM Object ID: https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/objectid/
Link to the ICOM’s News “ICOM & the fight against the traffic of cultural goods: between tradition and innovation” published on 14 November 2024: https://icom.museum/en/news/icom-the-fight-against-the-traffic-of-cultural-goods-between-tradition-and-innovation/