The Swiss Art Research Infrastructure

Thinking Data in the Humanities.

The Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI) provides unified and mutual access to domain-specific research data, collection data, digitised visual resources, and related reference data in the field of art history, design history, history of photography, film studies, architecture and urban planning, archaeology, history studies, religious studies, and other disciplines related to the visual studies, as well as the digital humanities at large.

By providing both human-interpretable and machine-processable access through a tailor-made, Linked Open Data (LOD) network based on internationally acknowledged, yet extendable standards, SARI not only closes a critical gap within Switzerland’s national research infrastructure and provides a state-of-the-art research environment for teaching and research in the humanities, it also enhances visibility and accessibility of Switzerland’s outstanding research and collection data. By addressing pivotal issues such as accessibility, verifiability, multi-linguality, interoperability, and re-usability, SARI also serves as a role model for international digital research collaborations.

SARIs mission is to combine the unique scholarly expertise from specialised research institutions nation-wide, such as academic and public research institutes, museums, archives, and collections. By making pivotal research data and collection assets available online, SARI responds to the urgent demand of the scholarly community for mutual, unified, and tailor-made access to high-quality research resources that allow researchers to lead their respective fields in a globalised and internationally highly competitive environment, where access to digital resources is crucial for excellence and success.

Swiss Art Research Infrastructure (SARI) is part of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation’s (SERI) Roadmap of Research Infrastructures of National Relevance (2017–2020). It is being hosted by the University of Zurich and operated in cooperation with the ETH Zurich ( gta Institute) and the Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (SIK-ISEA, Zurich).