Visual Arts Network for the Exchange of Cultural Knowledge (VAN EYCK)

The last few years several museum networking projects have been started and completed or are still ongoing. The European Museum Network (EMN) and Remote Access to Museum Archives (RAMA), to name only two, are examples of these projects. The museum world is becoming aware that relevant information may be obtained from all over the world, and that co-operation between museums is no longer limited to the exchange of objects for exhibitions. Art museums participate to some extent in these projects, but art documentation which is by nature closely connected with art museum work is represented to a lesser extent. Integration of this type of documentation with other forms of documentation, registration and library /archive work in closely related fields is a prerequisite for the realisation of an international cultural information network. The VAN EYCK project will add several "bricks" to the building of this structure, be it a castle, the gateway to the garden of Eden, or a palace.