blacksquare › Artlogic alternative

An Artlogic alternative that takes the whole export.

Moving systems should not mean choosing which parts of a gallery’s history are allowed to survive.

The export

Every column, including the ones without a home.

An Artlogic export can run past two hundred columns across contacts and checklists. blacksquare reads all of them. Fields the system already understands are ready to filter and sort. The rest remain with the record they came from, in full.

Provenancechain of ownership as written

Literaturecitations and catalogue entries

Exhibition historywhere a work has hung

Consignment termsdates, splits, conditions

Shipping logscrates, carriers, addresses

Condition notesas recorded, not summarised

Edition detailsnumbering, proofs, casts

Framing and dimensionsframed and unframed

Making the comparison

Compare the record, not the interface.

An alternative is worth considering when it can carry the context a gallery uses every day, not merely the columns that are easiest to import.

Imported detailCan the fields and notes that make a work legible stay with it, even when they do not fit a neat template?

Shared historyCan a team see the work, the contact, the fair and the document behind a decision without rebuilding that context elsewhere?

A rehearsed moveCan the same records be imported again to test the move, without creating a second set of works and contacts?

See how blacksquare keeps gallery records connected →

Running it

Import twice. Get one set of records.

Imports key on the record IDs Artlogic already gave works and contacts. A second import updates what is there rather than making a second copy, so a move can be rehearsed while the gallery keeps running.

No parallel spreadsheet

The unknown stays with the record.

Columns without a dedicated field do not become a side file. They stay attached to the work until there is a better place for them to live.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can blacksquare import an Artlogic export?

Yes. blacksquare reads every column in the export, including fields that do not yet have a dedicated place in the system.

What happens to specialist fields and notes?

They stay with the work or contact they came from, in full, instead of moving into a parallel spreadsheet or side file.

Can we rehearse a migration before switching?

Yes. Imports use the record IDs already assigned to works and contacts, so a later import updates those records instead of making duplicates.

Can we take our records out again?

Yes. Choose the columns you need, review the rows on screen and export a CSV directly from the system.

Leaving again

The way out is a CSV you build.

Choose columns, read the rows on screen, and take the file. The export is a page in the system, not a request to support.

Walkthrough

See your own export first.

Send the export you already have and start with your own inventory, including the columns you assumed you would lose.

Request a walkthrough