Agents

Info

The agents collection endpoint provides paginated access to all agents (persons and organisations) related to the Design Museum Gent collection. For full metadata on a single agent, use the agent endpoint.

endpoint:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`page`	integer	`1`	Page number
`itemsPerPage`	integer	`10`	Number of agents per page (max 100)
`fullRecord`	boolean	`false`	Return full CIDOC-CRM records instead of lightweight stubs
`modifiedSince`	date	—	Only return records modified on or after this date. Format: `YYYY-MM-DD`
`q`	string	—	Full text search on agent names and IDs
`nationality`	string	—	Filter by nationality (Dutch country name). Comma-separated for multiple (AND). Use `/v2/id/nationalities` to discover available values
`role`	string	—	Filter by role in the collection. Available: `designer`, `producer`. Use `/v2/id/roles` to discover available values
`hasBio`	boolean	`false`	Only return agents that have at least one Wikipedia biography
`language`	string	—	Filter by available Wikipedia biography language. Only return agents that have a biography in the specified language. Supported: `NLD`, `FRA`, `ENG`

Full text search — ?q=

The q parameter supports natural language search syntax:

Query	Description	Example
Single word	Matches any record containing the word	`?q=Sabino`
Multiple words	Matches records containing all words	`?q=Andries Copier`
Exact phrase	Matches the exact phrase	`?q="Andries Dirk Copier"`
OR	Matches records containing either word	`?q=Sabino OR Memphis`
Negation	Excludes records containing the word	`?q=designer -onbekend`

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?q=Sabino
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?q="Andries Dirk Copier"
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?q=Sabino&fullRecord=true

Biography filters

Use hasBio and language to filter agents by Wikipedia coverage:

# agents with any Wikipedia biography
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?hasBio=true

# agents with a French biography
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?language=FRA

# Belgian designers with a French biography
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?language=FRA&nationality=België&role=designer

# how many agents have a French biography?
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?language=FRA&itemsPerPage=1
# → check hydra:totalItems

?language=FRA is sufficient on its own — it already implies a biography exists. ?hasBio=true is useful when you want agents with any biography regardless of language.

Incremental harvesting

Use modifiedSince combined with fullRecord=true to efficiently harvest only records that have changed since your last sync:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?modifiedSince=2026-05-01&fullRecord=true&itemsPerPage=50

The parameter is preserved in all Hydra pagination links so you can follow hydra:next as normal. An invalid date format returns 400 Bad Request.

Examples:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=1&itemsPerPage=10
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=1&itemsPerPage=50&fullRecord=true
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?nationality=België&role=designer
GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?hasBio=true&language=FRA

Response format

Data is returned as a Hydra Collection with CIDOC-CRM members.

Prefix	Namespace
`crm`	http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/
`hydra`	http://www.w3.org/ns/hydra/core#
`rdfs`	http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
`owl`	https://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#

Code	Description
200	Successful request returning a paginated collection
400	Invalid `modifiedSince` date format
500	Server error

Pagination — `hydra:view`

Field	Description
`hydra:totalItems`	Total number of agents matching the current filters
`hydra:first`	Link to the first page
`hydra:last`	Link to the last page
`hydra:previous`	Link to the previous page (omitted on first page)
`hydra:next`	Link to the next page (omitted on last page)

All active filters are preserved in pagination links. An RFC 8288 Link header is also included on every response.

Harvesting the full collection

async function harvest(url) {
    const res = await fetch(url)
    const data = await res.json()

    // process data["hydra:member"]

    if (data["hydra:view"]["hydra:next"]) {
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 250)) // polite delay
        await harvest(data["hydra:view"]["hydra:next"])
    }
}

harvest('https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?fullRecord=true&itemsPerPage=50')

Members — `hydra:member`

Lightweight stub (default)

Field	Description	Example
`@id`	Internal DMG URI — resolvable to full record	`https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agent/DMG-A-00162`
`@type`	CIDOC-CRM class	`crm:E39_Actor`
`rdfs:label`	Default label (full name)	`"Memphis"`

Full record (`?fullRecord=true`)

Each member contains the complete CIDOC-CRM JSON-LD record including authority links, birth/death events, nationality, Wikipedia biographies, thumbnail image and exhibition participation. The structure is identical to the single agent endpoint.

Info

?fullRecord=true with itemsPerPage=50 is the recommended approach for bulk harvesting.

Warning

Full records return significantly larger payloads. Use a lower itemsPerPage if you experience timeouts.

Example response (lightweight)

{
  "@context": {
    "crm": "http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/",
    "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#",
    "hydra": "http://www.w3.org/ns/hydra/core#",
    "owl": "https://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#"
  },
  "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents",
  "@type": "hydra:Collection",
  "hydra:totalItems": 5432,
  "hydra:view": {
    "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=1&itemsPerPage=10",
    "@type": "hydra:PartialCollectionView",
    "hydra:first": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=1&itemsPerPage=10",
    "hydra:last": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=544&itemsPerPage=10",
    "hydra:next": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agents?page=2&itemsPerPage=10"
  },
  "hydra:member": [
    {
      "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agent/DMG-A-00001",
      "@type": "crm:E39_Actor",
      "rdfs:label": "Copier, Andries Dirk"
    },
    {
      "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/agent/DMG-A-00002",
      "@type": "crm:E39_Actor",
      "rdfs:label": "Memphis"
    }
  ]
}