The Theban Necropolis Preservation Initiative and its ongoing training programme through the 3D Scanning, Training and Archiving Centre at Stoppelaëre House received the patronage of the Egyptian National Commission for UNESCO.
The TNPI is being run by an entirely Egyptian team supported by Factum Foundation, producing some of the best 3D data that is possible with today's technology. Resolution is vital for many uses that are emerging. The correspondence between the 3D data and the relief carving in the tomb of Seti I makes it essential for condition monitoring and assessing of the vulnerability of the painted walls.
In Madrid, we are constantly working to improve both the resolution and the speed at which the data is recorded. More information in the next newsletter.
Factum Foundation needs support to carry out the varied and important projects we are generating. Both support for specific projects and more general support is welcomed. If you would like to contact us directly, please write to Adam Lowe at alowe@factumfoundation.org or call +34 915 50 09 78.
Factum Foundation is developing both hardware and software that are having a real impact on preservation and interpretation. It was the high-resolution recording in the burial chamber of Tutankhamun that enabled Nicholas Reeves to develop his theories. A new paper by Reeves has recently been published on Academia.edu.
A few weeks earlier, Factum Foundation used high-resolution 3D scanning to digitise the surface of Michelangelo's Epifania (1550-1553), a collaboration with the Department of Collections Care at the British Museum.
The results of the 3D scan were mapped onto other datasets, including the colour recorded at a resolution of more than 850dpi by Gabriel Scarpa, UV, IR and other historical images to create a layered archive of information that can be used for in-depth research into the cartoon's creation and history.
For the week-long recording, the fragile cartoon could only be positioned flat on a purpose-built supporting platform, which meant Factum had to design a new horizontal configuration for the Lucida 3D Laser Scanner, to enable the digitisation of this large-scale object.
The map, a reconstruction of a lost 12th-century original following a 16th-century Ottoman copy, was exhibited at Daniel Crouch Rare Books at the Masterpiece London art fair before its installation at the Bodleian Library.
The 12th-century cartographer al-Idrisi drew on centuries of Greek, Roman, and Islamic mapmaking knowledge to create a vast silver map of the world for Roger II of Sicily. Although the silver disc is now lost, al-Idrisi’s geography is known through later copies of a book of 70 regional maps which he created to accompany it.
Over the past three years, Factum Foundation has used the most advanced digital technologies to create a new interpretation of al-Idrisi’s map, which has been routed onto silver using CNC milling.
A new book, Antonio Canova. Atelier, tells the story of the ongoing collaboration between Factum Foundation and the Musei Civici di Bassano del Grappa, a project which is transforming the conservation and display of drawings and sculptures by the neoclassical sculptor.
The book has been edited by the museums’ director Chiara Casarin in collaboration with the founder of Factum Foundation Adam Lowe.
Since 2016, Factum Foundation has worked with the museums to digitise 18 of Canova’s albums and sketchbooks, create facsimiles of two albums and of a terracotta maquette of the Three Graces, and digitally restore a 4-metre high statue of a horse. You can find out more about these projects here.
The new volume tells the story of these artworks from their creation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to their technological transformation today.
In July 2019, Pedro Miró and Otto Lowe from Factum Foundation used photogrammetry to record a 1:500 scale model of Jerusalem - the first topographic relief to aim for scientific accuracy.
The hand-painted zinc model, which measures 4.5x5m, was made between 1864 and 1873 by a Hungarian Catholic bookbinder, Stephen Illés, and shows the city when it was still under Ottoman rule before the British Mandate divided it into four quarters. A sensation at the 1873 World’s Fair in Vienna, the map was eventually purchased by public subscription in Geneva and displayed there for four decades.
In 1984, it was sent on permanent loan from the Maison de la Réformation S.A. in Geneva to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, where it is currently on display. Factum Foundation has recorded the relief for ARCH (Alliance to Restore Cultural Heritage in Jerusalem).
THE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE
WHITECHAPEL BELL FOUNDRY
You are making a difference!
Image from Gavin Kingcom's film Save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Tower Hamlets Planning Committee meeting to decide the future of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, due to happen on 30 July, was differed. It may happen in September / October, but it is hoped that the developer and the council will realise that there is a clear proposal on the table to retain this historic site as a full working bell foundry. Factum Foundation’s mission is to merge new technology and traditional skills. The bell foundry offers many opportunities for this approach, both in making new bells and preserving existing ones.
In our last newsletter, we encouraged everyone to support the campaign to save the Whitechapel Bell Foundry by submitting an objection to Tower Hamlets. We want to thank you all for your letters of support, comments on social media, and for your concern about preserving our shared cultural heritage. We will keep you posted.
Conversation at Spencer House
On 23 Sept., Factum Foundation's Adam Lowe and exhibition designer Charlotte Skene Catling will be in conversation with Jonathan Jones about how technology is being used to enhance our understanding of art history, enabling masterpieces which have been victims of circumstance or history to be seen as they were once intended.
In this talk, Adam Lowe will describe the processes and possibilities of digital recording and reproduction, and consider the relationship between originality and authenticity and issues relating to data ownership and sharing.
ArtTech Forum 2019
On 24 Sept., Adam Lowe will give a talk at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini for the 2019 edition of the ArtTech Forum, focusing on technologies, heritage preservation and the archiving of historical data.
On 19 Oct., the physical reconstruction of the vandalised sacred cave of Kamukuwaká will be unveiled at Factum's workshops in Madrid.
Akari, the Wauja's principal singer and Takuma, filmmaker and member of the Kuikuro people, will be present to discuss the use of technology and traditional craftsmanship to preserve Indigenous Peoples' cultural heritage, under serious threat.
