Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AURORA (Artwork Unique RecognitiOn and tRacking through chemicAl encoded data, miniaturized devices and blockchain alliance)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-04-30
In recent years, the illicit trafficking of cultural goods has become an increasingly pressing global issue. This underground trade involves the theft, looting, and illegal transfer of cultural property such as archaeological artifacts, artworks, and historical objects; this illegal activity is now considered one of the most profitable forms of international crime, often linked to money laundering, organized crime, and even terrorism financing. The scale of this phenomenon is hard to be precisely quantified, but estimates suggest it generates billions of dollars yearly for the illegal market. In particular, conflict zones and areas with weaker governance are susceptible to looting and illicit excavations and trafficked cultural objects are often smuggled through complex transnational routes before being sold to private collectors or even respected institutions in market countries, disguised with false paperwork. In addition, this illicit trade causes devastating and irreversible damage to the cultural heritage of many nations, depriving communities of important elements of their identity, knowledge and development. As a consequence, international organizations like UNESCO, UNODC, INTERPOL, and the WCO have stepped up efforts to combat cultural property trafficking through stronger legislation, increased cooperation, training programs and awareness campaigns. In this context is important to note that the technological knowledge and capabilities of museums and cultural institutions play a crucial role in fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural goods, however there are some technological applicability limitations: the lack of awareness and specific skills, especially for smaller cultural entities, on advanced technologies (such as Blockchain, AI, advanced nanomaterials and miniaturized electronics) severely limits the uptake of these technologies in the sector. Similarly, the scarcity of funds and wage imbalances between museum staff and specialized tech experts hinder the ability of many institutions to invest in and implement cutting-edge solutions. Smaller, regional organizations are especially disadvantaged compared to major metropolitan museums; This also impacts the ability of cultural organizations to undertake digital transformation projects. Lack of technical infrastructure and internal engineering expertise limits the adoption of advanced solutions, resulting in many cases in not optimal advanced technological preservation strategies implementations. The solution AURORA is developing to tackle illicit trafficking of artwork is based on non-invasive and easy to be adopted technologies coming from different fields such as chemical research, advanced imaging analysis, miniaturized electronics and blockchain. The artwork's peculiar metadata, composed by opportune information extracted from the object, will be immutably stored in the blockchain allowing to structure a robust authenticity verification process, exploiting non-invasive nanomaterials research. The nanomaterial will allow users to quickly verify artworks' authenticity and provenance through an user-friendly interface. While the low-power miniaturized device under development will allow for tracking artwork movements and location. The AURORA proposition is designed to not require complex and costly equipment, thus allowing for an easy implementation into existing processes; enabling a technological democratization for a variety of cultural institutions and cultural heritage professionals. The versatility of AURORA technologies make them open to further implementation in several aspects of artwork management and artwork preservation, easing the adoption of standards across the different institutions. In fact, collaboration with ANCHISE and ENIGMA projects are ongoing from the beginning, allowing to widen the applicability horizon of the most recent technologies in the field of cultural heritage.
During the M1-M16 phase of the AURORA project, significant activities were undertaken to shape the technological and functional requirements necessary to achieve the project’s ambitions. Efforts were concentrated on evaluating artwork categories most susceptible to illicit trafficking and compatible with AURORA's technological constraints, such as size and material composition. An extensive comparative study of the latest distributed ledger solutions was conducted to assess their limitations and advantages in terms of cultural heritage applicability for the development of the digital ledger platform. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of IoT technologies was performed to define the main properties of the embedded artwork device. These foundational studies set constraints for each AURORA technological stream. During M1-M16, AURORA achieved complete instrumental and software testing for XRF maps acquisition, with the matching algorithm nearing finalization. Preliminary solutions for the embedded device tracking were designed and tested in a museum lab environment, allowing for the evaluation of selected hardware and communication protocols. The AURORA digital tool was designed according to cultural heritage institutions' requirements and software capabilities, fully defining system architecture, user roles, and functionalities. Software development for this tool commenced as planned. The chemical research activities were focused on testing multiple formulations. In this first period, AURORA also collaborated with ANCHISE and ENIGMA projects through specific meetings and engaged cultural heritage stakeholders via survey and conferences, gaining important insights on the technological preparedness of various cultural institutions. As AURORA is entering the second stage (M17-M36), all technologies are in full development or finalized, as in case of the XRF mapping. The efforts will focus on constructing the AURORA digital infrastructure and refining platform operativity regarding cultural heritage professionals' needs and the artwork authenticity procedure. Selected chemical materials will be tested under different stress conditions, and the IoT embedded device will be prototyped and tested in its final version. The project will conclude with testing both the tracker and the authenticity verification process through demonstrators on real artworks.