Groups and individuals contribute their expertise to Art UK in numerous ways. Curators, writers, artists and researchers write content, producing stories and Curations. Subject Specialist Networks, curators and researchers predominantly assist Art UK through the Art Detective project.
Individuals with expertise in arts, culture and heritage also contribute their time to Art UK's various panels and boards.
Content
Art UK's stories and Curations are produced by in-house staff and external writers. Content is produced by a wide range of people, including art historians, curators and academics, but also journalists, broadcasters and authors.
Art Detective
Unfortunately, Art Detective has been paused due to insufficient funding to run the service as we would like. All of us at Art UK would like to thank the thousands of contributors over the last ten years for so generously helping to improve knowledge of the UK’s national collection of art.
Art Detective is a Subject Specialist Network, bringing together expertise from art historians, curators, academics, dealers and members of the public to support public art collections. Our discussions are open to all: registered users can propose topics and comment on any discussion. The group leaders are experts in their fields, often with an art history background, or specific local or technical knowledge.
The following networks are involved in Art Detective:
The British Art Network – a Subject Specialist Network bringing together professionals working on British art including curators, researchers and academics. Its aim is to contribute to the sharing of expertise, research and ideas across visual arts organisations in the UK.
Understanding British Portraits – an active network with free membership for professionals working with British portraits including curators, museum learning professionals, researchers, academics and conservators. It aims to enhance the knowledge and understanding of portraits in all media in British collections, for the benefit of future research, exhibitions, interpretation, display and learning programmes.
European Paintings pre-1900 – a Subject Specialist Network which aims to support professionals working with Old Master paintings in museums and art galleries around the UK. It provides the opportunity to exchange knowledge, experiences and new ideas, including ways of improving public engagement through display and interpretation.
The Maritime Curators Group – a Subject Specialist Network of individuals working with maritime collections, which meets twice annually with the aim of fostering a community of interest amongst maritime curators and museums throughout the UK.
The Costume Society – a group that promotes the study of all aspects of clothing and textiles, and aims to encourage access to costume history, including contemporary dress. Its appeal is wide-ranging and object-based. Members include academics, collectors, curators, designers, re-enactors, students and informed enthusiasts across the world.
Aside from running public discussions that bring expertise to a wide range of art-historical enquiries, Art Detective staff resolve hundreds of enquiries directly with public art collections without the need for outside contributions.