Methodology
How we actually work with an estate
Supporting an artistic estate is not a single service. It is a constellation of techniques, tools and activities that all connect back to one root: the estate itself, and the people who carry it. This page shows how those pieces assemble in practice.
The constellation
One root, many branches
Every branch below is a distinct practice with its own methods and deliverables. None of them stands alone: each one draws from, and feeds back into, the estate at the centre. We rarely activate all branches at once — we sequence them with the family or the artist, according to what the heritage needs first.
Estate
The root
- AssessmentListening first
- DigitisationCapturing the work
- DocumentationMeaning & context
- RightsOwnership made clear
- LineageDescent & influence
- TrainingCreative heritage managers
- LicensingRegenerated works
- GovernanceConsent & trust
Listening first
Assessment
A structured conversation and inventory: what exists, where it is, who holds it, what is at risk. Nothing is digitized before we understand the heritage and the family around it.
Capturing the work
Digitisation
Photographic, audio and document capture at preservation quality, with controlled colour, calibrated metadata and redundant storage held by the estate.
Meaning & context
Documentation
Oral testimony, dating, materials, provenance and interpretation, recorded in the languages of the estate and assisted — never replaced — by AI extraction.
Ownership made clear
Rights
Mapping who owns what, clearing ambiguities between heirs, and registering rights so that any future use is traceable and remunerated.
Descent & influence
Lineage
The creative lineage engine links original works to the works they inspire, so influence becomes visible, attributable and, where relevant, revenue-bearing.
Creative heritage managers
Training
We train people from within the estate's own circle, so the capacity to manage the archive stays with the family rather than with an outside provider.
Regenerated works
Licensing
Curated, consent-based licences that let contemporary creators build new work from the archive, under terms the estate sets and can revoke.
Consent & trust
Governance
Written agreements, revocable consent, an exit clause and open export formats. The estate can leave the programme at any moment and take everything with it.
In sequence
Four movements, over roughly twenty-four months
- 01
Encounter
We meet the family or the artist, listen to the story of the heritage, and produce a written assessment with no obligation to continue.
- 02
Agreement
Roles, ownership, consent and exit conditions are fixed in plain language before a single file is created.
- 03
Fieldwork
Digitisation, documentation and rights mapping run in parallel, with a trained heritage manager embedded in the estate.
- 04
Regeneration
The archive opens carefully: lineage links, licensed derivative works, exhibitions and public methodology.
What it is made of
Techniques, tools and activities
Techniques
- Oral-history interviewing
- Preservation-grade capture
- Controlled vocabularies and metadata standards
- AI-assisted transcription and extraction, reviewed by humans
- Provenance and rights-chain reconstruction
Tools
- Open documentation platform
- Creative lineage engine
- Rights and consent register
- Redundant archival storage held by the estate
- Open export formats, no lock-in
Activities
- Family and community sessions
- Heritage-manager residencies and training in Belgium
- Studio work with contemporary creators
- Public exhibitions and listening sessions
- Publication of the open methodology
Methodology
Four rules we do not bend
- The estate owns its heritage data, always.
- Consent is written, specific and revocable.
- AI assists documentation; it never authors meaning.
- Whatever we build must be replicable by others, in the open.
Start with a conversation, not a contract
If you carry an artistic estate — or you work with one — the first step is simply an assessment. It commits you to nothing.
Begin an assessment