So forgers have gotten way into the game with their advanced hacking capabilities and connections high up the ladder, but the artists will pretty much do anything to protect their precious works too. Enter a technological solution that employs synthetic DNA in addition to an artist’s unique signatures. DNA tags costing about $150 each would be a small price to pay for the artists, right?

Currently in development at the Global Center for Innovation at the State University of New York at Albany (GCI), this technique has received $2 million in funding from art insurance specialists at the ARIS Title Insurance Corporation. The GCI are looking on to overcome several challenges in the making of this DNA marker. For one, it should not disrupt the art in question, and should be appealing to the artist. The marker should be durable and capable enough endure rough atmospheres and climate changes over time. The synthetic DNA carefully also penetrates the art at a molecular level, so its application or removal won’t impact the work in any way.

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Implanting a microscopic sample of the artist’s personal DNA, for example, would present immense safety and privacy issues for the individual artist and would be far too easily stolen or replicated. Thus, tampering becomes the main problem to deal with. The obvious solution that comes up is that the professionals involved in the protection and verification of authentic and genuine art pieces, should be equipped with scanners having the correct identification of the piece of the artist. This would also be a sure shot proof of authenticity for future buyers of the art.

“We hope there will be financial benefits from creating the intellectual property and the process becomes a gold standard in the industry,” Robert R. Jones, president of the State University of New York, Albany, told the New York Times.

Author:Technology Blog