The NETCHER – NETwork and digital platform for Cultural Heritage Enhancing and Rebuilding project aims at setting-up an information network and a chart of good practices at European scale, by gathering a maximum numbers of actors engaged in the preservation of cultural heritage.

NETCHER received funding from the European Union under H2020 for two years (01/2019 – 12/2020) and comprises seven European entities from four different states (France, Italy, Germany, Spain): CNRS, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Police, Capital High Tech SARL, Interarts, Michael Culture, and their third parties: Université Lumière Lyon 2 (CNRS third party), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT and Science Gallery Venice (Ca’ Foscari third parties) and the Université Technologique de Troyes (ENSP third party).

NETCHER is a Social Platform. It aims at building a structured community of stakeholders active in the field of heritage preservation and conservation. The NETCHER consortium hopes to gather and unify these initiatives, practices and procedures. NETCHER also aims at sharing information to raise the awareness of the general public towards a very important and relevant topic.

If you want to join NETCHER, please contact info@netcher.eu

Objectives

Objective #1 : Clearly define current situation

NETCHER will define the state of play of current and past initiatives around 6 main topics:

1. Origin and traceability of cultural goods
2. Preservation and reconstruction cultural goods
3. Return and restitution of cultural goods
4. Channels and actors of illicit trafficking of cultural goods
5. Operational and legal measures against traffickers
6. Awareness-raising of both specialized communities and the general public

Objective #2 Set-up an international network

Through a social and a digital platform, NETCHER aims at setting-up a lively international and multidisciplinary network of practitioners with shared convictions, values and protocols, and enhance their active cooperation and experience.

The workshop in Frankfurt on May 28 & 29 2019 has been the starting point to involve stakeholders and build the NETCHER Social Platform.

Objective #3 Train stakeholders

NETCHER will organize 3 training modules on “Preservation & Reconstruction” (Venice, May/June 2020), on “Provenance and Traceability” (Lyon, February 2020) and on “Remote Sensing & Earth Observation” (Venice, June 2020) to share best practices, protocols and innovative technologies with security forces, cultural heritage specialists, art market, professionals, policy makers, etc.

Objective #4 Manage the collaborative platform

The Social Platform will be a landmark and unique entry point for any actor that needs tools, data, and documents on the issues tackled by the NETCHER project. It will also identify relevant interlocutors related to illegal traffic detection, traceability, conservation and restitution of cultural goods. It will also allow the stakeholder community, created throughout the project, to discuss and recommend possible solutions as regards gaps in legal frameworks and for increased coordination among stakeholders.

Objective #5 Define an international framework

By involving the academia, the security forces and the knowledge ecosystem, the NETCHER network will co-create a transnational and interdisciplinary working framework on best practices and toolkits, on protocol assessment for the inventory of cultural goods but also to check the legitimacy and track the history of cultural goods, and share alert information.

Objective #6 Raise awareness

To raise awareness among art curators, galleries, collectors, dealers, local, national and European public authorities and the general public about the consequences of illegal trafficking of cultural goods, NETCHER will gather relevant and accessible information regarding the existing measures to counter it and explain how to take action.

Outputs

Taking stock of on-going initiatives

NETCHER starts with a worldwide state-of-play survey on 6 major axes. Throughout, NETCHER will identify ongoing similar projects in order to create synergies and to maximize effectiveness.

Promoting mutual learning and coordination

NETCHER aims to identify best practices and to define common protocols through experience-sharing workshops and fora. These outputs will benefit all the relevant stakeholders and will provide for mutual learning and cooperation opportunities.

Identifying knowledge and intervention gaps

NETCHER will produce a map of gaps, identified through the sharing of information (databases, tools, legal and operational capacities etc.), as regards the different aspects of both cultural heritage preservation and the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.

Bringing together the research community, public and private actors, and policy makers at national and international levels

The NETCHER consortium represents a varied set of stakeholders active in cultural heritage preservation and in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods. The drafting of policy recommendations will be one of the key steps of the project and will be based on the reinforcement of public private partnerships and the mobilization of European, national and cross-sectorial actors. The NETCHER consortium will also deliver a Research Agenda suggesting future strategic funding and operational priorities.

Get ready! Forthcoming activities of NETCHER:

Seminars

• October, 3 & 4, 2019 – Barcelona, Spain: “ Identification of gaps and setting-up of the Social Platform”
• June, 2020 – Venice, Italy: “Validation of the Social Platform” & “Joint definition of the research roadmap”

Training Modules

• February 2020 – Lyon, France: “Provenance and traceability”
• May/June 2020 – Venice, Italy: “Preservation and reconstruction”
• June 2020 – Venice, Italy: “Remote Sensing & EO”

Fora

• February 2020: Social Platform beta-version, introduction and first state-of-play
• December 2020: Science Gallery exhibition

Digital events

• April 2020: Awareness rising webinar for experts
• October 2020: Digital Forum
• October 2020: Awareness rising webinar for general public

For participation, please contact info@netcher.eu