Within the context of this research project, the term ‘digital surrogate’ is used to refer to a digital reproduction of a material object, such as a painting or a sculpture. The reproduction, often a digital photograph, serves as a surrogate for the material object in the cultural institution’s collection. For the purposes of this exhibition, only surrogates of objects in the public domain have been chosen. This means any term of copyright for the material object has expired or never existed in the first place.

To illustrate, we’ve provided an infographic depicting the nature of the surrogacy process when cultural institutions make works available online, as well as the relationship between those digital surrogates and the images created for the purpose of this exhibition.

Step One: 

Step Two: 

Step Three: 

Step Four: 

Download this infographic as a pdf: Digitization infographic