Exhibition Data Model

Linked Open Exhibition

A unified data model for exhibitions aligned with CIDOC CRM, Wikibase4Research, and Wikidata standards
Published

June 4, 2026 00:00

Overview

This data model provides a standardized schema for describing exhibitions and their contextual information within the Linked Open Exhibition ecosystem. It is aligned with three major sector standards:

  • CIDOC CRM (Conceptual Reference Model) v7.1.3
  • Wikibase4Research (WB4R) - NFDI4Culture platform
  • Wikidata - WikiProject Exhibitions

Quick Reference: Schema Mappings

Field Wikidata CIDOC CRM Wikibase4Research
Instance of P31:Q464980 (exhibition) E21_Person / E55_Type crm:P2_has_type
Title P1476 P1_is_identified_by (E82_Appellation) wgm:title (P4)
Location P276 P7_took_place_at wgm:has_occupation
Start Time P580 P4_has_time-span (E52_Time-Span) wgm:birth
End Time P582 P4_has_time-span (E52_Time-Span) wgm:death
Curator P1640 P14_carried_out_by wgm:classified_as
Participant P710 P11_had_participant (E42_Identifier) wgm:stated_in
Official Website P856 P1_is_identified_by (E78_Primitive_Data) not found
Organizer P664 P14_carried_out_by same as Wikidata
Country P17 P7_took_place_at same as Wikidata
Language P407 P72_has_language same as Wikidata
Theme P921 P129_is_about same as Wikidata
Sponsor P859 not found not found
Number of Visitors P1174 not found not found
Reference QID P1_is_identified_by (E42_Identifier) same as Wikidata
Commons Category P373 P1_is_identified_by (E78_Primitive_Data) same as Wikidata

Example: Sprengel Museum Exhibition (Q138573075)

Name: Sprengel Museum Exhibition
Location: Sprengel Museum Hannover (Q510144)
Start Date: 2024-01-15
End Date: 2024-06-30
Curator: [Person Item]
Participants: Various artists
Official Website: https://www.sprengel-museum.de/
Organizer: Sprengel Museum
Country: Germany (Q183)
Language: German (Q188)
Reference: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138573075

Data Structure

1. Instance of Exhibition

Field Value
German Label ist ein(e)
English Label Instance of
Description The item itself is classified as an exhibition
Data Type Item
Wikidata Property P31
Recommended Value Q464980 (Exhibition)

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P31:Q464980 Instance of exhibition
CIDOC CRM E55_Type Type classification
WB4R crm:P2_has_type Type property in Wikibase4Research

2. Title

Field Value
German Label Titel
English Label Title
Description Official name/title of the exhibition
Data Type Monolingual text
Wikidata Property P1476
Format Plain text

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P1476 Title of the exhibition
CIDOC CRM P1_is_identified_by (E82_Appellation) Identifies exhibition through naming
WB4R wgm:title (P4) Title property in WB4R

3. Location

Field Value
German Label Ort
English Label Location
Description The place where the exhibition took place
Data Type Item (reference to place/institution)
Wikidata Property P276
Example Sprengel Museum Hannover (Q510144)

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P276 Location of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P7_took_place_at Event took place at location
WB4R wgm:has_occupation Related place reference

4. Start Time

Field Value
German Label Startzeitpunkt
English Label Start time
Description Date when the exhibition opened
Data Type Point in time
Wikidata Property P580
Format YYYY-MM-DD

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P580 Start time of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P4_has_time-span (E52_Time-Span) Event time-span definition
WB4R wgm:birth Start date mapping

5. End Time

Field Value
German Label Endzeitpunkt
English Label End time
Description Date when the exhibition closed
Data Type Point in time
Wikidata Property P582
Format YYYY-MM-DD

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P582 End time of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P4_has_time-span (E52_Time-Span) Event time-span definition
WB4R wgm:death End date mapping

6. Curator

Field Value
German Label Kurator
English Label Curator
Description Person responsible for curating the exhibition
Data Type Item (reference to person)
Wikidata Property P1640
Note Create person item if it doesn’t exist

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P1640 Curator of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P14_carried_out_by Event carried out by person
WB4R wgm:classified_as (P97) Classification reference

7. Participant

Field Value
German Label Teilnehmer
English Label Participant
Description Artists or entities participating in the exhibition
Data Type Item (reference to person/artist)
Wikidata Property P710
Note Can reference multiple participants

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P710 Participant in exhibition
CIDOC CRM P11_had_participant (E42_Identifier) Event had participant
WB4R wgm:stated_in Stated in reference

8. Official Website

Field Value
German Label offizielle Website
English Label Official website
Description URL of the exhibition’s official website
Data Type URL
Wikidata Property P856
Format https://…

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P856 Official website
CIDOC CRM P1_is_identified_by (E78_Primitive_Data) Digital location identifier
WB4R not found No WB4R mapping available

9. Organizer

Field Value
German Label Veranstalter
English Label Organizer
Description Institution or person organizing the exhibition
Data Type Item (reference to institution/person)
Wikidata Property P664

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P664 Organizer of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P14_carried_out_by Event carried out by organizer
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

10. Country

Field Value
German Label Land
English Label Country
Description Country where the exhibition took place
Data Type Item (reference to country)
Wikidata Property P17

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P17 Country
CIDOC CRM P7_took_place_at Event location (country)
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

11. Language

Field Value
German Label Sprache
English Label Language
Description Language(s) of the exhibition materials
Data Type Item (reference to language)
Wikidata Property P407

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P407 Language of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P72_has_language Entity has language
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

12. Theme

Field Value
German Label Thema
English Label Theme
Description Main subject or topic of the exhibition
Data Type Item (reference to topic)
Wikidata Property P921

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P921 Main subject of exhibition
CIDOC CRM P129_is_about Entity is about topic
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

14. Number of Visitors

Field Value
German Label Besucherzahl
English Label Number of visitors
Description Total number of visitors to the exhibition
Data Type Quantity
Wikidata Property P1174
Format Numeric value

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P1174 Number of visitors
CIDOC CRM not found No direct CRM mapping
WB4R Not found No WB4R mapping available

15. Reference

Field Value
German Label Referenz
English Label Reference
Description Wikidata QID or external identifier URI
Data Type URI
Format Q-identifier or full URI

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata QID Wikidata identifier
CIDOC CRM P1_is_identified_by (E42_Identifier) Identifier for entity
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

16. Commons Category

Field Value
German Label Commons-Kategorie
English Label Commons category
Description Wikimedia Commons category for exhibition images
Data Type String
Wikidata Property P373

Schema Mappings

Standard Property Description
Wikidata P373 Commons category
CIDOC CRM P1_is_identified_by (E78_Primitive_Data) Digital resource identifier
WB4R Same as Wikidata Aligned with Wikidata

Best Practices for Exhibition Records

  1. Use QIDs for References: Always link to existing Wikidata items when available (Q464980 for exhibitions, institution Q-numbers, country Q-numbers, etc.)

  2. Date Formatting: Use ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD) for all temporal data. For exhibitions spanning years, precision can be reduced to YYYY (year only).

  3. Multilingual Titles: Where applicable, add exhibition titles in multiple languages using separate items or monolingual text fields.

  4. Institutional Context: Link to the organizing institution’s Wikidata item (P17 for country, P664 for organizer) to enable cross-institutional exhibition discovery.

  5. Participant Documentation: Ensure all participating artists have Wikidata items. Create items for lesser-known artists to enrich the knowledge graph.

  6. Commons Integration: Regularly link exhibition items to Wikimedia Commons categories (P373) to support multimedia documentation and community contributions.

Contact & Contributions

For updates to this data model or suggestions for improvement, please contact the NFDI4Culture Linked Open Exhibition project team or contribute via GitHub.

Attribution

This data model documentation was created with assistance from GitHub Copilot (powered by Claude Haiku 4.5). The model was aligned against sector standards including CIDOC CRM v7.1.3, Wikibase4Research, and Wikidata WikiProject Exhibitions guidelines through AI-assisted analysis and formatting.