How to participate
You can take part by recording an artwork you own, by following artworks you like, or by helping the archive last.
If you own an artwork
Record it, and know from the first day that it can go on to somebody else. Keep it as long as you want; the rest is here for when that changes.
Add art
Photograph the artwork and write down what you know. It receives a permanent number, a QR code and a public record anyone can find in the archive. Each record holds up to 12 photographs; extended documentation, up to 30, is €5 once per record. Until one of your records has been approved, a person looks at each record you make public before it appears in the archive; after that, your records appear as soon as you save them.
Freeas many artworks as you own
Rehome it
Give the artwork, for nothing, to someone who will look after it. People apply; you read what they write and choose. Its record goes with it.
Free for youthe new custodian pays a €20 transfer fee
Make it private
A record keeps what you know about an artwork, so its story goes with the artwork to a new home, and with the record to your successor. If you would rather not show what you own, make the record private: everything is kept, but it leaves the archive and its address and QR code show nothing to anyone else. You can make it public again, and at a handover a private record still passes to your successor.
€5a private record, once
Name a successor
Name one person who may take over your records on Philoteknia if you die or can no longer decide. It is not a will, and gives control over the records here, not ownership of the artworks. Nothing moves until a person at Philoteknia has checked. On each record you can also leave a private wish for the artwork's future, which no other person reads until a handover, unless a check for misuse holds the note for a person at Philoteknia.
Freethe successor pays a €50 handover fee, once
If it is lost
If an artwork is destroyed or lost, its record says so and stays. What it holds is what remains of the artwork, which is what a permanent record is for.
Free
Sell it Not open yet
An artwork becomes eligible for sale through Philoteknia after three years continuously on record. It is never offered for sale unless you decide to offer it. Offering it costs a fixed fee, once, whether or not it sells and whatever it sells for. It stays on offer for 12 months; to keep it on offer after that, you offer it again. Withdrawing it is free at any time, and nothing is refunded for time left unused.
€25once, for 12 months on offer
If you like an artwork
You do not need to own art to take part.
Follow it
Follow any public artwork in the archive. We write to you only if its status changes, for instance when it looks for a new home. Following never contacts the custodian.
Free
Give it a new home
Apply to become the next custodian of an artwork that is looking for a new home. If its custodian chooses you, and you confirm and pay the transfer fee, you arrange the handover together, and its record and story pass to you once the artwork has changed hands. Transport, packing and insurance are yours to arrange.
€20transfer fee, paid when you confirm
If you work with art
For dealers, exhibitors and curators, researchers, and anyone else who works with art: one professional account, and a person reads every application. A custodian's contact details are never shared without their agreement.
Apply for a professional account
Say what you do (dealer, exhibitor or curator, researcher, or other), the name you work under and where you work; a dealer also gives a company number. A person at Philoteknia reads every application.
Ask for an introduction
Any approved professional can ask to be introduced to the custodian of an artwork, unless its custodian has turned professional enquiries off for it. Asking costs nothing, and the custodian may decline. If they accept, you pay, and you each receive the other's email address.
€15per introduction, paid only once the custodian accepts
Trade as a dealer
For dealers only: artworks a dealer offers for sale, in the archive and marked as dealer listings, with the dealer's business details beside them. The dealer fee is a block of 10 places for 90 days, and includes registration; while one runs, single places are €30 for 90 days each.
€125for 10 works, 90 days, until 30 June 2027; then €450
If you want the archive to last
Become a patron
For anyone who wants the archive to exist and to last. Entirely voluntary, and it buys nothing but that.
Voluntary