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A First Ontological Model for the Description of the Art Market in the Semantic Web

Manuele Veggi

TL;DR

This work addresses the need for a semantic model of the art market by introducing ZAMO (Zeri Art Market Ontology), the first-version ontology developed at the Fondazione Federico Zeri. Built with a three-module architecture (Agents, Events, Sources) and grounded in the SAMOD methodology, ZAMO integrates CIDOC-CRM and Org while exploring ARCO compatibility, to enable coherent representation of actors, transactions, and documentary sources. It deploys a rigorous development workflow (modelets, competency questions, testing with HermiT and OOPS, SPARQL validation) and provides alignment mappings via SKOS, plus practical appendices with scenarios and questions. The ontology aims to standardize data from art-market research, support interoperability across archives, and guide future digital art-history investigations. The work lays a foundation for broader testing with datasets from multiple research centers and collaboration with national cultural-heritage standards bodies to enhance data integration and comparative studies in art markets.

Abstract

This dissertation presents the first version of a project at the Fondazione Federico Zeri, aimed at modelling the art market starting from the recognition of the peculiarities of this sector and relying on the data collected by this institute during its research activities on its documentary collection. Specifically, this study describes the development of an ontology, able to describe agents, events and sources which define the art market and enable its investigation. The recognition of existing conceptual models is hence followed by the description of the adopted methodology, based on the protocol SAMOD. The central section provides a general overview of the final ontology, integrating the results of a preliminary study. Lastly, the appendix lists motivating scenarios, examples and competency questions collected during the first SAMOD iterations, as well as a first alignment with existing models.

A First Ontological Model for the Description of the Art Market in the Semantic Web

TL;DR

This work addresses the need for a semantic model of the art market by introducing ZAMO (Zeri Art Market Ontology), the first-version ontology developed at the Fondazione Federico Zeri. Built with a three-module architecture (Agents, Events, Sources) and grounded in the SAMOD methodology, ZAMO integrates CIDOC-CRM and Org while exploring ARCO compatibility, to enable coherent representation of actors, transactions, and documentary sources. It deploys a rigorous development workflow (modelets, competency questions, testing with HermiT and OOPS, SPARQL validation) and provides alignment mappings via SKOS, plus practical appendices with scenarios and questions. The ontology aims to standardize data from art-market research, support interoperability across archives, and guide future digital art-history investigations. The work lays a foundation for broader testing with datasets from multiple research centers and collaboration with national cultural-heritage standards bodies to enhance data integration and comparative studies in art markets.

Abstract

This dissertation presents the first version of a project at the Fondazione Federico Zeri, aimed at modelling the art market starting from the recognition of the peculiarities of this sector and relying on the data collected by this institute during its research activities on its documentary collection. Specifically, this study describes the development of an ontology, able to describe agents, events and sources which define the art market and enable its investigation. The recognition of existing conceptual models is hence followed by the description of the adopted methodology, based on the protocol SAMOD. The central section provides a general overview of the final ontology, integrating the results of a preliminary study. Lastly, the appendix lists motivating scenarios, examples and competency questions collected during the first SAMOD iterations, as well as a first alignment with existing models.
Paper Structure (10 sections, 9 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 10 sections, 9 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. State of the Art
  3. ZAMO, Zeri Art Market Ontology
  4. Methodology
  5. Modules
  6. Agents
  7. Events
  8. Sources
  9. Discussion
  10. Conclusion

Figures (9)

  • Figure 1: Excerpt of the art auction ontology, sales data filipiakQuantitativeAnalysisArt2016
  • Figure 2: Excerpt of the art auction ontology, sales data filipiakQuantitativeAnalysisArt2016
  • Figure 3: SAMOD Methodology after peroniSAMODAgileMethodology2016
  • Figure 4: Conceptual model describing the import axioms of the different modules of ZAMO
  • Figure 5: Conceptual Model containing all the classes, properties, and individuals in ZAMO
  • ...and 4 more figures