The Department of Communications and the Arts is to work with the Copyright Agency and the peak body for Central Australian Aboriginal Arts, Desart to launch a pilot program adding digital codes to artworks as a way of proving their authenticity and countering the activity of imposters.
The Department said the $150,000 pilot would be conducted in three remote Indigenous-owned art centres, beginning in the first half of 2019.
Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator Mitch Fifield said the initiative aimed to assist consumers to make informed and ethical purchases and would increase economic and cultural opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and designers.
“The digital codes will allow consumers to track the artwork’s journey from a remote community to the store shelf, and see information on provenance and the artist,” Senator Fifield said.
He said the pilot plan followed recent action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on inauthentic products that might be presented to consumers as misleading under the Australian Consumer Law.
Senator Fifield said the sale of inauthentic Indigenous artworks and merchandise was the subject of a continuing inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs.
