ARCHiVe - Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Venice

Factum Foundation, Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Digital Humanities Laboratory of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have launched ARCHiVe, a new initiative dedicated to the use, study and transmission of cultural heritage through digital technologies. The three partners share the belief that digital conservation is leading to a deeper understanding of works of art and cultural heritage. Hence, it is an epoch-shaping opportunity bound to have a big impact on both research and education. Learn more.

Adam Lowe's talk at The Gentle Art of Fake conference

On January 16th, Adam Lowe gave the talk "The Migration of the Aura, or the role of high-resolution recording and facsimiles in an age of repatriation" at the IULM University in Milan. The Gentle Art of Fake is a conference on copies, fakes and appropriations in contemporary arts, curated by Tommaso Casini and Laura Lombardi. It aims to investigate the persistence and the articulated declinations of the multiplication of works of art.

J.B. Jackson's Woodcuts

Palazzo Sturm in Bassano del Grappa has partnered with Factum Foundation to digitise and create facsimiles of a series of woodcuts by the British eighteenth-century artist and printmaker John Baptist Jackson; considered one of the most talented and innovative of the era. Jackson is well-known for having revived the Renaissance printing technique known as chiaroscuro.

Read more about the project here.

In collaboration with Océ: digitising and rematerialising Rembrandt's ‘Portrait of an Elderly Man’

Factum Foundation has combined with long-time collaborators Océ for the recording of a piece by the Dutch master Rembrandt, ‘Portrait of an Elderly Man’, held at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, Netherlands. This extremely high-resolution, complete non-contact method will result in the creation of 3D reproductions of the painting using Océ's Elevated Printing Technology.

Image © Clemens Weijkamp, Océ

Caravaggio's 'Nativity'

In 2015, the re-creation of Caravaggio's famed stolen work, by the foundation's sister company Factum Arte, was unveiled in its original location at the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo.

This is explored, alongside a modern history of the lost piece, in an article featuring Adam Lowe that can be read here on The Guardian, whilst more information on the re-creation can be found here.

Image © Photograph: Ufficio Stampa/ANSA

The Re-Opening of the Cast Courts at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

The Cast Courts at the V&A reopened this November following a long refurbishment. Factum Foundation, in collaboration with the Peri Foundation and with the support of the Dagestan aul museum (Makhachkala), has created a copy of an 18th century tombstone from the village of Kala-Koreysh, Dagestan.
Click here to know more about the project.

Photo © courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum

Photogrammetry Training at Al-Ula

Factum's Otto Lowe spent two weeks in the town of Al-Ula, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, teaching a group of fifteen locals how to record cultural heritage in 3D using photogrammetry. This collaborative pilot project between the Factum Foundation, Art Jameel, and the Royal Commission of Al-Ula (RCU) involved the recording of three ancient petroglyph sites.

Read more about it here.

Recording an avant-garde masterpiece

In March 2018, a Factum Foundation team was in Moscow to record two versions of the famed Malevich painting Black Square, 1915 and Black Square, 1929. In a joint initiative with the Tretyakov Gallery, where the works are held, both the Lucida 3D scanner and panoramic photography were utilised to document what is considered the most iconic work of the Russian avant-garde.

Read more.

FACTUM FOUNDATION AT PROTECTING THE PAST CONFERENCE, SHARJAH - DECEMBER 2018

On December 6th, Factum Foundation was invited to the Protecting the Past Conference, to talk jointly with Art Jameel and the Royal Commission of Al Ula about the importance of digital recording in cultural heritage preservation. On this occasion, the three institutions presented their latest collaboration, a project aiming at transferring technology and know-how to local communities.
Click here for further details about the conference.

Digital and physical reconstruction of the vandalised sacred cave of Kamukuwaká

The cave of Kamukuwaká, an important sacred petroglyph site representing the cosmogony of the inhabitants of Upper-Xingu (Mato Grosso, Brasil) and registered national monument has been intentionally destroyed. Culture is under threat and digitisation of Cultural Heritage is the most effective way to monitor its condition. Following the recording of the vandalised sacred cave, Factum Foundation is now working on its digital reconstruction in virtual and physical form. Learn more.

Recording of the Al Ain Museum

In September 2018, a team from Factum Foundation travelled to the oasis city of Al Ain in the Abu Dhabi Emirate in order to record and digitise the exhibits of the Al Ain Museum. The museum, the oldest in the UAE, is being temporarily closed to allow its renovation and the construction of an additional museum building, with Factum commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Department for Culture and Tourism to document its variety of exhibits with photogrammetry and LiDAR laser scanning.
Read more.

Raphael's "Lo Spasimo"

The high-resolution colour recording of Raphael's "Lo Spasimo di Sicilia" ­was made possible by the Museo del Prado. This was the first step towards the creation of a reproduction of “Lo Spasimo” that will be displayed in the Palermitan monastery of Santa Maria dello Spasimo, where the painting hung until the middle of the 16th century. During its time in France in the 19th century, the painting was transferred from its wooden panel onto a canvas, a fact that Factum Foundation addresses with the ‘recreation’ of the painting on a rigid panel. Read more.

Rebuilding the Heraclitus Vessel

Factum first got involved in the rebuilding of the ferro-concrete Research Vessel Heraclitus, a hugely important and well-travelled research ship, in 2014, using FARO technology to prepare 3D visualisations of the hull. This year, Factum returned to conduct LiDAR recording in order to create a more wholly accurate and extensive 3D model of the ships structure.

Learn more here.

Facsimile of the Jamnitzer Bell at Strawberry Hill House

The extraordinary 'Cellini Bell' by Wenzel Jamnitzer (1507/1508 to 1585) was recorded in June 2018 at the British Museum in London. This highly intricate cast and chased silver bell was amongst the most difficult objects Factum Foundation has ever recorded. The exact facsimile will be included in the exhibition "Lost Treasure of Strawberry Hill" (20th October - 24th February 2019) in Twickenham.
Learn more.