The edcat mission

edcat wants to augment visibility for artists’ publications and create a source and tool for exploring and engaging with the fields of art and publishing.

edcat’s mission is to

- collect and preserve information about art publications from diverse sources in one place and make it freely available to the interested public in an ever-growing database.

- create and provide tools for collaborative organizing, contextualizing and preserving cultural information

- bridge the gap between all actors and spheres in the art publication field: artists, publishers and galleries, distributors and sellers, libraries and archives, collectors, researchers and the general public.

- establish more diverse cataloging and categorization possibilities and systems for art publications.

- encourage and support the discovery of art for an expanding field of artists.

- bring more art to more people.

 

The edcat tools

Database
The data on edcat is provided from users and imported from libraries, publishers and distributors. Any submission to the database is checked by a team of editors and then added to the browsable information. The database is structure is developed specifically for art books and editions and provides over 100 fields to describe specifications. The edcat website provides browsing, searching and filtering as well as managing collections and lists.

Marketplace
The edcat marketplace provides an infrastructure to sell and buy art publications. All items in the database can be listed for sale. To offer items for sale, users can set up seller profiles and set shipping costs and payment options.

Stories
Users can create lists and selections of publications and provide more information, context and text as well as images and videos related to a certain topic or exhibition.

Webshop
With the edcat system, it is easy to set up custom websites for shops, galleries and publishers or artists with an integrated webshop, to sell and present art publications parallel on the website and edcat all with one back end. Please contact us for further information.

Library and collection catalog
The edcat system is tailored for art publications and provides perfect tools to manage a collection or library. Please contact us for further information.

 

More information

Read the Docs / Get Help

How to support edcat

Feedback Forum

 

Images on edcat

Images are handled with great respect to the owners of the images. Therefore it is only allowed upload
- images from sources that granted the permission to use these images on edcat
- images that were directly produced by the users
- images that were made available through a CC0 "No Rights Reserved" license. 
- images that fall under the fair use right for product images.
If you discover images on edcat that don’t follow these rules, violate any copyrights or are showing your artworks and you don’t want to allow the use of them then please report them to us immediatlely.

 

About

edcat was started as a research project by Jan Steinbach and is operated from Zurich, Switzerland.

Current Team: Jan Steinbach, Tilman Schlevogt

Strategic advisor: Evangelos Kleiman

Technical advisor and engineering: Sandro Nardi

Development and Design: Jan Steinbach, PARAT.cc

Collaborators, supporters and advisors (present and past, among others): Marlene Obermayer, Anne-Laure Franchette, Christoph Schifferli, Tarek Issaoui, Benjamin Sommerhalder, Hubert Kretschmer, Antoine Lefebvre, Kasper Andreasen, Sveinn Fannar Jóhannsson, Evangelos Kleimann, Kristin Brüggemann, Adriana Lara, Pedro Ramos.

Supporting institutions: Artphilein Foundation, Kunsthalle Zürich, abC – Art Book in China, Bibliothek Andreas Züst, Verein Das Kunstbuch.

Websites using the edcat system:
Artphilein Library
Edition Taube
MATERIAL
Argobooks
SKA Library

 

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