A way of asking a physical object what it is. You hold a phone up to a work, or
to a signature, or to a tag fixed to the piece, and the platform tells you who
made it, whether its certificate is genuine, and what is recorded about it.
Anyone standing in front of a work: a visitor at a show, a buyer at a fair, a
dealer checking a consignment, a registrar receiving a crate.
Recognise a work by looking at it. Framing the piece, or the artist's
signature, brings up what the platform knows about it, without needing a label or
a catalogue number.
Read a tag on the work. A small tag attached to the piece can be read by
holding a phone close to it, which is faster and harder to fake than reading a
printed code.
Register a work from home. A guided procedure walks you through photographing
and describing a work, attaching its certificate, and fitting a tag to it, so you
do not have to send the piece anywhere or wait for someone to visit.
Replace a tag when you have to. Tags come off, get damaged, or need changing
when a work is reframed. The procedure for fitting a new one without breaking the
link to the certificate is part of the same tool.
Go somewhere and be helped. For anyone who would rather not do it alone,
staffed collection points can carry out the same work on your behalf.
Know where things are. For storage spaces and galleries, the same technology
is intended to show where works physically are, and to follow them in and out.
Certainty in the room where the work is, rather than back at a desk. The question
"is this what it claims to be" gets answered in front of the piece.