Exhibitions and publications

The exhibition history and the bibliography are the two things people consult a catalogue raisonné for. An exhibition or a publication is shared by every work that appeared in it: it is recorded once, in its own section, and each work is attached to it.

Exhibitions

Creating an exhibition

In the Exhibitions section, New exhibition…, at the top of the list, opens a sheet: the Title (required) and the Kind, then Create. By default, the exhibition is a Group exhibition; change its kind in its record. Search exhibitions and the kind filter narrow the list. The count, at the top, is that of every exhibition that matches; the list shows 200 at a time, and Load more, under the list, shows the next ones (the same for publications).

An exhibition’s record

• Title, Subtitle, Kind (solo exhibition, group exhibition, art fair, biennial, online, permanent display);
• Venue (directory) — an agent from the directory (see Agents);
• Venue (free text) — a fallback when the venue is not an identified directory entry;
• Organiser — the institution or person who organised the exhibition, a directory agent. It is public: it leaves in exhibitions.csv (column organizer), unless it is marked confidential. Catalog never deduces it from the venue;
• City, Country;
• Start, End, and Dates (as displayed);
• URL, Note.

At the top of the record, Edited flags unsaved changes; Save (⌘S) writes the record, Revert discards the changes. Choosing another exhibition with changes in progress asks Save, Don’t Save or Cancel, like a work’s record (see Identification). Delete…, at the top of the record, asks for confirmation: the exhibition disappears from the history of every work shown in it; the works stay, and their completeness is recomputed.

The works hung

Under Works hung, each work in the exhibition can be given a Room, a Wall, a number (No., the one in the exhibition catalogue), a Caption and a Lender (a directory agent, saved as soon as it is chosen). The lender is confidential, always, like a print’s holder: it only enters an internal report and the lender column of a CSV export that includes the confidential records, never LIDO, CIDOC or a certificate; the padlock under the field says so. The data checks point out an exhibition that names a work with prints without saying which print was shown: a loan form needs the object. The Move up and Move down arrows set the order; the − button (Remove from the exhibition…) takes it out, after confirmation: its room, wall, number and caption are lost. These fields are saved when you leave them (or press Return). The work’s name opens its record (see Moving from one record to another).

Attaching a work to an exhibition

Attaching is done from the work’s record, Exhibitions tab:

1. Add to an exhibition…: choose the Exhibition in the list, or type part of its title, venue or city to search the whole library for it (Load more shows the next ones). The list leaves out those the work already appears in, itself or through one of its prints; if the link was made elsewhere meanwhile, nothing is written and the record says so (“The work is already in the exhibition “…”.”);
2. if needed, the Number in the exhibition catalogue;
3. when the work has prints, the Print exhibited: The work, no particular print (what is often known), or the particular print that hung;
4. Add.

Under each exhibition of the tab, the print exhibited menu changes this choice at any time, without losing the room, the wall or the caption. A print appears only once in an exhibition. The exports give the print exhibited (print_number column of exhibitions.csv, exhibition in the print’s LIDO record, P16 used specific object in CIDOC).

Dates and venue are edited from the Exhibitions section, not from the record: they are shared by every work in the hang. To add a work, the exhibition must exist first.

Attaching several works at once

• From the exhibition: under Works hung, Add works… opens the list of works. Search by number or title, tick the works (Tick the works shown ticks them all); those already added are marked “already added” and can’t be ticked.
• From a selection of works: in Works, select them, then Add to an exhibition… in the selection panel, and choose the Exhibition (see Batch editing).

Preview says what will happen (“12 works will be added to “Passages”; 2 already are.”), then Apply writes everything in one go: if the write fails, nothing is added. The works are added at the end of the exhibition’s list, in the selection’s order; a work already in the exhibition is counted, never added twice. The report stays on screen; Done closes the sheet.

Installation views

An installation view is a photo of the hang: it shows how the exhibition was hung (room, wall, neighbours, framing), often with several works. It therefore belongs to the exhibition, and each view says which works are visible on it. The photo stays a file of the library: a view is never a copy of it.

On an exhibition’s record, the Installation views group shows its views as a strip of thumbnails, drawn from the library’s previews (never the originals):

• Add views… opens the choice of the library’s files: Search by name or path, an imported Folder, checkboxes (Tick all, Untick all). A file that is already a view of the exhibition is marked “Already a view” and can’t be ticked. The views are added at the end of the strip, in one write; the report says how many were added, and how many files already were views;
• a click on a thumbnail selects it; under it, its name, its place (“View 2 of 5”) and the Move left and Move right arrows, which set the order;
• View large (or a double click on the thumbnail) opens the view on a dark background; ← and → go from one view to the next, Space, Return or Escape close it;
• Remove view… asks for confirmation: the view and the works ticked on it are forgotten, the photo stays in the library.

Under the selected view, Works visible offers one checkbox per work hung in the exhibition, with the print when the hang names it (“JV-0001 · Low tide, print JV-0001-1”). A box is saved as soon as it is ticked. A work ticked and then taken out of the hang stays listed, marked “no longer hung”, so that it can be unticked.

From the library

In the Library, select photos, then Add to an exhibition’s views… (selection bar or right-click). Choose the exhibition (Search exhibitions); the preview says how many files will be added to the views and how many already are (left as they are). Optional: tick the Works visible on each view added, among the works hung. Add writes everything in one go, with no duplicate; if the write fails, nothing is saved.

The inspector of a file that is a view says so (Installation view: “This file is a view of:”), with a link to each exhibition. Removing files that are views from the library says so in the confirmation: their views are removed, the exhibitions stay.

In the work’s record

In the record’s Exhibitions tab, under each exhibition the work hangs in: “Visible in 2 installation views” and the thumbnails of the views where it is ticked, in the strip’s order. A click opens the view large; ← and → go to the other views of the same exhibition. Views are not edited from the record: they are set on the exhibition’s record. A view where the work is ticked without hanging in the exhibition does not appear in the record.

What happens to the views

• Deleting a file from the library removes its views; the exhibitions stay.
• Deleting an exhibition takes its views; the photos stay in the library.
• Deleting a work removes it from the views it was ticked on; the views stay.
• Deleting a print keeps the work visible on its views, without the print: the photo still shows it.

The exports write the views of the exhibitions the work hangs in: exhibition_views.csv in CSV, an “installation view” resource of the LIDO record, an E36 Visual Item in CIDOC CRM. A view showing a confidential work, or whose photo is linked only to confidential works, leaves only with the justified confidential records, in CSV, counted in the journal of confidential exports; a view showing a work whose reproduction is excluded never leaves. The package for Obscura Vault does not carry them yet. See Export the catalogue.

Publications

Creating a publication

In the Publications section, New publication… opens the same sheet: the Title (required) and the Kind (Monograph by default), then Create; change its kind in its record.

A publication’s record

• Reference — Title, Subtitle, Kind (monograph, exhibition catalogue, group catalogue, periodical, newspaper, essay, thesis, web, other, scholarly article, poster), Authors and Editors (separated by ;, in the form “Given Family”), Place of publication, Year, Edition, Language;
• Identifiers — ISBN, ISSN, DOI, URL;
• Periodical, for a periodical or a newspaper only — Periodical title, Volume, Issue.

The short reference takes the last word of the first author. An ISBN identifies one book: two publications cannot have the same ISBN (a new edition has its own ISBN).

Save (⌘S), Revert and the Edited flag are at the top of the record, as for an exhibition; choosing another publication with changes in progress asks the same question.

Delete…, at the top of the record, asks for confirmation: the publication and all its citations disappear from the works’ bibliography, and the works’ completeness is recomputed.

Citations

A citation records that a work appears in a publication. Under Works cited, each citation states the Pages, the figure (Fig.), the plate (Pl.), whether the work is Reproduced, whether it is on the Cover, on a Poster (the publication’s, or one made for it) or Online (its web edition, a site). The boxes apply at once. The − button (Remove the citation…) removes it, after confirmation. Pages, figure and plate are saved when you leave the field (or press Return). The work’s name opens its record.

To cite a work, from its record, Publications tab:

1. Cite in a publication…: choose the Publication;
2. the Pages, the Kind of reference (mention, discussion, reproduction, catalogue entry) and, where relevant, Reproduced and Cover;
3. when the work has prints, the Print cited: the work, or the particular print reproduced or discussed;
4. if needed, the Quoted passage (what the publication says of the work, as it prints it) and a Note on the citation;
5. Add.

Under each citation of the tab, Citation details (collapsed by default) shows the print cited, the quoted passage, the note, Reproduced and Cover; each field is saved when you leave it (or press Return), each box at once. The quoted passage shows under the citation. Figure and plate are specified in the Publications section, under Works cited, like the bibliographic reference itself.

Citing several works at once

As for an exhibition: Add works… under the publication’s Works cited, or Cite in a publication… from a selection of works. The Pages and Kind of reference given apply to every work of the batch; they are then refined work by work under Works cited. Preview, then Apply: one write, all or nothing. A work already cited in this publication is counted and left as it is: to cite it on other pages, add the citation from its record.

Good to know

• An exhibition and a citation each count towards a work’s completeness (see Completeness).
• Attaching or citing in a batch recomputes the completeness of each work concerned.