Gallery system
blacksquare connects works, collectors, fairs, documents and the activity between them, so the answer to a gallery question is not scattered across four places.
The daily record
Gallery work rarely arrives as a tidy field to update. A collector asks for a price. A work moves to a fair. An advisor sees it at a viewing. A PDF goes out. A condition note becomes important just as somebody is preparing a shipment. Those details are useful because of the relationships around them.
When contact notes, inventory, fair lists and files each live in their own system, the team has to reconstruct the context before it can respond. That costs time, but the larger cost is confidence. A colleague should not need to know which inbox, spreadsheet or shared drive holds the last piece of an answer.
blacksquare gives the gallery one connected record of its work. A work remains linked to the people who saw it, the events it joined, the documents that describe it and the activity that changed its status. The record becomes something the team can rely on together, rather than a list that only makes sense to the person who built it.
Works
A work can be available, under offer, reserved, on loan, in transit or allocated to an event. blacksquare keeps the current status clear, alongside the request, conversation or practical movement that led there. The next person can see the situation before changing it.
People
A collector may also advise, lend, consign or introduce another collector. One contact record can hold those roles without making duplicate names and separate histories. When a follow-up is due, the gallery sees the relationship rather than an isolated address book entry.
Connected questions
Most gallery software can filter a table. The harder questions cut across tables: which collectors saw works at a particular fair, which available works have been requested by an advisor, or which conversations need a reply after an opening.
blacksquare records the interaction beside the work, person and event involved. This makes a price request, viewing or sent document useful history. The gallery can follow a thread from the question back to the evidence instead of starting a fresh search through memory and messages.
See it on your own records →Fairs and exhibitions
A fair is not just a location on the calendar. It has works to allocate, a checklist to complete, guests to invite and conversations that deserve a considered follow-up. Creating a separate fair spreadsheet may solve the week, then leave the gallery to rebuild the history after the event has passed.
In blacksquare, a fair can hold its own checklist, guest list and allocation of works. The activity at the booth lands on the people and works it happened to. A price request still belongs with the work. A collector conversation is still visible on the contact. The fair remains part of the record once the season moves on.
The same approach works for openings, exhibitions, loans and consignments. The point is not more administration. It is a clearer handover, a calmer follow-up and fewer loose ends when the gallery gets busy.
Documents and access
Price lists, checklists, PDFs, dimensions, locations and condition notes belong beside the records they describe. Access can follow the job: a registrar, freelancer or junior colleague can work with the information they need without automatically seeing every commercial detail.
Imports and exports
blacksquare reads every column in an Artlogic export, including unfamiliar fields, and uses source IDs so repeat imports update rather than duplicate. When a gallery needs a file back out, it chooses the columns and exports a CSV itself.
See how an Artlogic export moves →A practical starting point
Changing gallery software should not require a leap of faith. A walkthrough begins with the export the gallery already has, so the first conversation can be about real works, contacts and fields rather than a generic demonstration. That makes it easier to identify the details that need care before a team changes its daily routine.
The core records, documents, import and export remain free. Premium begins where the connected history becomes a working advantage, with advanced graph search and suggestions that help a gallery decide what to do next. The gallery can see the shape of the system before making a decision about that layer.
Frequently asked questions
Works, contacts, fairs, documents and the interactions between them remain connected. A price request, viewing, PDF or allocation can be read in the context of the work, person and event involved.
Yes. Contacts and works are separate records with a shared history, so a gallery can see availability, notes and activity without keeping a separate CRM beside its inventory.
A fair can hold its checklist, guest list and allocation of works. Activity at the fair is recorded against the relevant people and works, leaving a usable follow-up record after the booth comes down.
Yes. blacksquare reads every column in an Artlogic export, including information that does not yet have a dedicated field. Imports use existing source IDs so a rehearsal or correction updates records rather than creating duplicates.
The records, documents, import and export are free for any gallery. Advanced graph search and its suggestions are part of Premium.
Walkthrough
Start with the export you already have, then see how works, people and fairs remain connected.
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