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Terms of Use

Vernissage.ca

1. Acceptance & Scope

By accessing Vernissage.ca, you agree to these Terms and all applicable Canadian laws. These terms govern the connection between users and the Canadian professional art community (galleries, museums, and artists).

2. Platform Security: A Shared Responsibility

Because security is a crucial factor, users are required to:

  • Maintain the confidentiality of account credentials.
  • Immediately notify Vernissage.ca of any unauthorized account activity.

We reserve the right to terminate accounts that compromise the security or integrity of the platform.

Section 3: Intellectual Property & Art Protection

Vernissage.ca operates as a cultural steward, not merely a platform. The following provisions establish our commitment to protecting the integrity, provenance, and presentation of Canadian visual art within our registry.

I. Digital Provenance: The Continuity of the Work

The digital representation of artwork within Vernissage.ca constitutes an extension of the work's historical record — a continuation of its provenance in the contemporary age. We regard this responsibility with the gravity traditionally reserved for physical archive management.

  • Documentary Integrity:Each artwork's digital presence is treated as a cultural document. We maintain accurate attribution, exhibition history, and institutional associations as part of the work's living record.
  • Chain of Custody:Digital provenance on Vernissage.ca is managed with the same procedural care applied by museums and national archives. Alterations to work records require institutional verification.
  • Sacred Extension:The digital form of an artwork is not a copy — it is a sanctioned continuation of the work's existence in the public sphere. Users acknowledge that interfering with this representation constitutes harm to the work's cultural standing.

II. Anti-Scraping Fortressing: Protection Against Digital Extraction

Canadian artists deserve protection from the industrialized harvesting of their creative output. Vernissage.ca employs comprehensive technical and legal measures to defend against unauthorized data extraction.

  • Automated Crawler Interdiction:We deploy sophisticated detection mechanisms to identify and block AI training crawlers, scraping bots, and automated harvesting agents. Our robots.txt directives and server-side protections constitute a formal declaration that machine-learning systems are not authorized to ingest content from our registry.
  • Data Harvesting Prohibition:The systematic collection, compilation, or aggregation of artwork imagery, metadata, or institutional information for commercial purposes, database construction, or algorithmic training is expressly prohibited and constitutes a violation of both this Charter and applicable Canadian intellectual property law.
  • Technical Enforcement:Vernissage.ca reserves the right to pursue all available remedies against parties who circumvent our protective measures. This includes, but is not limited to, statutory damages under the Copyright Act, injunctive relief, and referral to the RCMP Cybercrime unit for egregious violations.

III. Editorial Integrity: The Sanctity of Visual Framing

The curatorial restraint and selective presentation of Vernissage.ca is not incidental — it is constitutive of our institutional identity. Users agree to respect the integrity of our editorial framework.

  • Visual Framing Covenant:The presentation of artworks within our registry — including their positioning, contextual relationships, and visual environment — constitutes a deliberate curatorial act. Users agree not to alter, reframe, or misrepresent this presentation through technical manipulation, screen capture modification, or embedding that distorts the intended viewing experience.
  • Curatorial Restraint as Design:The negative space, typographic choices, and measured pacing of our registry are themselves editorial decisions. By accessing Vernissage.ca, users acknowledge that "less" is an intentional choice that serves the art — not a deficiency to be corrected through third-party modification.
  • Selectivity as Value:Presence on Vernissage.ca is earned through cultural significance, not algorithmic promotion or paid placement. Users agree that the boundaries of our registry — what is included and what is not — represent a considered editorial position protected under principles of creative expression.
  • Derivative Works:Creating derivative works that simulate, parody, or appropriate the Vernissage.ca presentation style without authorization is prohibited. Our visual language is a protected element of our institutional identity.

4. Professional Conduct & Listings

Galleries, museums, and artists are responsible for the accuracy of their listings.

  • Editorial Rights: Institutions grant Vernissage.ca a non-exclusive right to format and promote submitted or publicly sourced info for discovery purposes.
  • Authentication: Vernissage.ca acts as a facilitator and does not authenticate, appraise, or guarantee the valuation of artworks listed by third parties.

5. Analytics & Optimization

To improve the performance and visibility of Canadian visual art, we use automated analytics tools. Use of the site constitutes consent to this data collection as part of our platform optimization strategy.

6. Limitation of Liability

Vernissage.ca is provided "as is." While we prioritize a secure environment, we are not liable for technical inaccuracies from third-party sources or disputes arising between users and art institutions.

7. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Canada and the province of implementation. Disputes shall be resolved in Canadian courts.

Your Rights

You have the right to access, correct, or withdraw consent for your data. Requests can be submitted via our Contact page.