In August 2023, Jorge Cano and Carlos San Juan completed the installation of a Selene Photometric Stereo System inside the Princeton University Library. This pioneering recording system developed by Jorge Cano and the Factum Arte engineering team is the first of its kind ever installed in the US and is part of a larger initiative - the Selene Club.
The installation was followed by a training session for the Princeton Library Digital Imaging department led by Roel Muñoz, and tests were carried out on several items from the library. More information coming soon.
On September 14th Cristina Dondi, who leads the 15cBOOKTRADE project at the University of Oxford, will present research on the lost Benedictine Library that was once part of the monastery at San Giorgio Maggiore, now home to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and ARCHiVe. The monastery was suppressed in 1806 and its rich collection of manuscripts and incunabula was dispersed. Dondi and colleagues have identified the location of over 180 important works and continue to add new titles as they are located in museums, libraries and private collections. A book with a manuscript inscription from the Library of San Giorgio was recently sold at Sotheby’s.
While Dondi’s research is focused on a disbanded library, the work of the Middle-East Falconry Archive (MEFA) commissioned by the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC), is centred on bringing all known medieval Arabic manuscripts on falconry together online in one place. The first phase of this work, carried out by the Factum Foundation team based within ARCHiVe, was completed in June 2023. The second phase of the work, focused on continuing the preservation and digitisation of manuscripts related to falconry and sharing research, will start in September. Carolina Gris will present a summary of the first two years' work and discuss the role of IIIF and inter-library sharing to make specialist areas of interest available to a wider audience of both scholars and general interest users. This approach to the creation of specialised repositories of knowledge is an important part of the work in ARCHiVe.
Funded by Metamorfoze, Museum De Lakenhal started a research project to explore how a collection of 33 books of black woollen cloth sample can be safely digitised in their current, deformed condition. In this project, the Factum Foundation is involved in helping make the content of these volumes available through the application of non-contact digital technologies.
After a first test in December 2022, in July 2023 two of Factum Foundation's expert technicians conducted the scanning of a total of 15 pages from 8 different volumes in high resolution. They used both close-range photogrammetry and the Selene Photometric Stereo System, developed by Jorge Cano and Factum’s engineering team.
The results of these preliminary tests are promising and will help determine the specific method to be applied if the rest of the volumes are to be digitised.
Oulu's Meri-Toppila district is gearing up for an exciting community event that promises to shape its future. The "Neapurit" meetings are scheduled for Saturday, September 2nd, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Alvari Cultural Centre (Sihtikuja 2, Meri-Toppila, Oulu). The initiative is jointly organised by Kuulturivoimala and AALTOSIILO, with the aim of fostering community engagement and collaborative planning for the neighbourhood's evolution.
The event kicks off at 1:00 p.m. with a collective map intervention, where participants will contribute to a large wooden map of the area. It will be followed by an interactive session titled "Sharing the Neighbours' Experiences" from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The time slot from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. will be dedicated to "Area plans: History, ideas, and thoughts.", focussing on the district's urban master plans and the valuable insights gleaned from previous experiences.
As a co-organiser, AALTOSIILO is determined to keep offering accessible and conducive spaces for essential dialogues around the revitalisation of Oulu and the district of Meri-Toppila.
For the first time, a national newspaper (read the article) has been clear and direct about the shameful state of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and the reluctance of both Tower Hamlets and Historic England to take action to protect this ‘heritage asset’.
Until 2017 it was an active workshop, continuing a tradition that has been practised in Whitechapel for hundreds of years. The Daily Mail is clear that the closing of this great foundry was the result of a property development opportunity supported by Historic England.
Since its closure, the Bell Foundry is looking more and more neglected. In the meantime, the Factum Foundation has formed the London Bell Foundry and amassed a ‘fighting fund’ from the production and sale of bells made by artists. A film on bell-making is being made and two new artist initiatives with Paula Crown and Conrad Shawcross are in production.
Hopefully sense will soon prevail and bells will ring all over the UK to celebrate the return of bell making to the East End of London.
Registrations are open for the 1st Workshop on Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Venice, which will take place on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore and other locations in Venice between October 9th and 13th, 2023.
This training initiative is focused on the application of non-contact, high-resolution digital technology to document and archive cultural heritage. 30 hours of practical and theoretical training will introduce participants to specific 2D and 3D digitisation techniques and methods that ARCHiVe has been pioneering in recent years.
The workshop is open to a limited group of participants (students and professionals with diverse skills and interests are encouraged to apply), who will learn directly from the experts of Factum Foundation and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini. The team will take part in different ‘hands on’ scanning projects. No previous experience is required and all recording equipment and software will be provided.
As in other AOA (ARCHiVe Online Academy) activities, the course will be taught in English and participation diplomas will be provided. Accommodation at the Centro Vittore Branca’s residence is available.
To register, send your CV and a brief letter of motivation to: info.aoa@cini.it before September 9th.
Read the syllabus
More than 100 years after their discovery, high-resolution 3D reproductions of the so-called 'Peñalba pieces' will be made accessible to the residents of Villastar (Spain) and the visitors of the new Peñalba Interpretation Center, due to open in the coming months.
In 1909, Juan Cabré, an archaeologist from Calaceite, was commissioned to produce a catalogue of the monuments in the province of Teruel. When he arrived at Peñalba, Cabré found about twenty Paleo-Hispanic and Latin inscriptions, and numerous human, animal, and geometric figures engraved into the rock of the sacred mountain. He removed them and sold some to the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia (MAC), which generated the income he needed to continue his research. He kept others in his personal collection. These were later deposited in Villel but their current location is unknown. These inscriptions are now considered of significant importance for the epigraphic study of the Celtiberian language.
Factum Arte and Factum Foundation worked with the town of Villastar to reproduce 12 of the inscriptions that are currently in the collection of MAC. After 3D-scanning the fragments exact facsimiles were made for the interpretation centre.
Our project with a family of ceramicists from southern Spain is about to reach its culmination, with the firing of a series of traditional, functional and artistic objects in Úbeda, Andalusia, and the production of a film about the entire process. After over a year of production, we are coming to the point where the kiln will be loaded and fired with a range of objects made by Melchor Tito and his family.
The firing will happen on the full moon at the end of September and will be filmed by two camera teams over the 36 hours of the firing. The kiln uses the crushed remains of olive stones that are the result of olive oil production in the area and have a high calorific content. With one person feeding the firebox and one on the roof of the kiln directing the firing, the kiln will reach a temperature of 1.050 degrees Celsius.
The kiln will also contain two large decorated works made by Melchor Tito and decorated by Rachid Koraïchi. Rachid has spent weeks in Ubeda painting the two ceramic pieces whose shape is based on a C14th lustreware vase from the Alhambra.
More info coming soon!
On the 23rd June 2023, two monoliths were brought to the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC.
One was carved in basalt between the 15th and 17th centuries in Cross River State, south-eastern Nigeria, to represent a tribal leader or ancestor. It stood in the village of Njemetop in the Bakor region until the 1970s – the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War – when it was either sold or stolen, probably travelling over the nearby border with Cameroon and thence onto the international antiquities market, before being bequeathed to the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia in 2012.
The other is a facsimile made by Factum Foundation and will be housed in the Chrysler Museum in a permanent exhibition on looting and restitution, while the original will be returned to Nigeria.
At a time when the debate on restitution and repatriation is centre stage in cultural conversations, digital technologies are presenting new ways of thinking about – and perhaps even resolving some of – the issues. More about the Bakor Monoliths
On June 9th 2023 Factum Foundation was invited to participate in the Study Day about Medardo Rosso's sculpture La Portinaia (Concierge). The event was organised by Fondazione Cassa del Risparmio di Tortona and curated by Dr. Sharon Hecker, expert on Rosso's work. Among the speakers, Carlos Bayod Lucini presented Factum's digital recording of the original sculpture, which took place last October and resulted in the creation of a detailed 3D model for on-screen inspection of the Concierge's shape and surface. Two physical reproductions of the artwork were also donated to the museum's collection to facilitate the conservation, study and dissemination of Rosso's masterpiece.
SCREAMING DUENDE at the AALTOSIILO was an event staged by Factum Foundation and Oulu 2026 Capital of Culture on June 3rd, 2023. It was a central part of the AALTOSIILO project that is using the art and the reinvention of industrial cultural heritage to transform a neglected part of a city on the edge of the Arctic Circle and the frontline of climate change.
A world premiere paired the radical Sevillian flamenco master, Israel Galvan, with the world-famous Screaming Men choir of Oulu, Mieskuoro Huutajat, in the spirit of Federico García Lorca's concept of duende. Performances by vinyl DJs Malsson, Tenko, and Matti Aikio and an audiovisual concert by Veera Neva & Arttu Nieminen were also included. The event was free and live-streamed and projected on the Silo itself.
SCREAMING DUENDE aimed to become part of the new lifeblood of Meri Toppila, creating local and international excitement. The event feeds the transformation of the AALTOSIILO into a multimedia performance and event space, with its future neighbour, the AALTOSIILO research laboratory, sauna and amphitheatre to follow. The City Council has recently approved the restoration plans by Skene Catling de la Peña and the next stages of the transformation of the site are now in motion.
RH England and Sir John Soane’s Museum (in collaboration with Charles Marsden Smedley) commissioned Factum Foundation to make a series of facsimiles that are part of the restoration and refurbishment of Aynhoe Park, a Grade I listed country house near Banbury that was rebuilt following the damage it suffered in the English Civil War.
Seldom has a small project brought so much satisfaction and motivated so many: from the elevated brickwork of the house, the recreation of the figures, the attention to detail on the classical models and the innovative manipulation of technology, this work became a motivating creative challenge. Throughout we worked closely with Sir John Soane’s Museum and the team from RH.
More on the project
The Salvator Mundi, Giovan Lorenzo Bernini's last sculpture and part of the Fondo Edifici di Culto (FEC) of the Italian Ministry of Domestic Affairs, has been on display since April 12th at Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport. This display is part of a broader initiative by Aeroporti di Roma to celebrate Italian cultural heritage and offer Italy's main airport as a place of artistic encounter.
FEC's loan of the original sculpture for the reopening of one of the airport's major terminals required the creation of a facsimile for display inside the original niche. Thousands of visitors access the Basilica of San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura to see the Salvator Mundi and a facsimile will allow them to still experience the work in its original context. Factum Arte and Factum Foundation's expertise were recommended by Peter Glidewell for this project
The bust was recorded last March in high-resolution by Voula Natsi and Imran Khan, using white-light scanning and close-range photogrammetry, in close collaboration with FEC and the Appia Antica Archeological Park, and with the support of Montenovi Srl for the handling. The data will assist in the condition monitoring of the original marble sculpture, and accurate data resulted in a facsimile that is visually indistinguishable from the original.
A bell commissioned by artist Inés Civile has been approved for installation later this year at the Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA) in Uruguay, and is currently in the final stages of production: the clay maquette was digitised and 3D modelled at Factum Foundation by Irene Gaumé, and the bell will be the first bell to be cast at Fademesa Foundry in Madrid. It will be tuned by Nigel Taylor.
Inspired by symbols of the Rio de Plata, the Tango Bell pays homage to European immigrants in South America and this unique musical genre, born from multiple ethnic contributions on the Rioplatense coasts.
Work on the next two artist bells to subsidise the London Bell Foundry is underway. Paula Crown and Conrad Shawcross are finalising designs that redefine the relationship between sound and form, the medium and the message. Jan Hendrix has also started working on the production of a bell that integrates his drawings with the creation of sound.
Visit The London Bell Foundry's website
Image © courtesy Inés Civile
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