A Fusion of Virtual and Physical

Butterfly specimen. Image and processing with Gaussian splatting by Otto Lowe.

Beetle specimen digitisation at different stages. Images and processing with Gaussian splatting by Otto Lowe.

The history of Baghdad in Game Marker © 2023 Assassin’s Creed TM & © Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

Digital render of the Kabuto for Patrimonio Nacional and Ubisoft © Factum Arte

Cultural Discovery panel, Kabuto helmet © Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

The physical recontrsuction of the Kabuto at Factum Arte © Oak Taylor Smith

key details

8, 9 April 2025
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

Reference

Factum Foundation

about

Large amounts of data and a wide variety of output formats pose significant challenges in their representation. From social media platforms to websites, public databases, and exhibition displays, users are increasingly looking for effective ways to convey information and ideas. A new world of educational possibilities is emerging, one that acknowledges the challenges of transferring skills and technologies while addressing the complexities of intellectual and technological change.

The course A Fusion of Virtual and Physical: Education, Engagement, and Practice through Digital Immersive Experiences explores the potential of digital technologies to offer a fresh approach to education, blending entertainment with knowledge creation, while reshaping curricula and course content.

Programme

April 8, 2025

Digitising Cultural Heritage to provide dynamic access

Otto Lowe | Factum Foundation
Halley Ramos | S.O.E.
André Paul Jauregui | S.O.E.

Otto Lowe – Transforming collections from one state to another.

The digital recording of collections in the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) is an area experiencing rapid advancement, driven by the fast evolution of hardware and software systems, new workflows, increasing processing capacity, and, last but not least, the rise of AI and machine learning in the sector. Similar techniques can be applied to both artefacts and natural history specimens, whether on a small or massive scale, documenting the rich heritage of institutions and making it accessible to scholars and the general public.

Focusing on the practical challenges, this lecture presents both input and output techniques as they emerge and evolve, with particular attention to the advancement of photogrammetry, macro scanning, and the application of Gaussian Splatting.

Halley Ramos, André Paul Jauregui – Reconstructing the past through immersive experiences

Immersive experiences derived from the digitisation of Cultural Heritage are a powerful solution for preservation, dissemination and education purposes. Digitally reconstructing historical sites or objects is a way to preserve what no longer exists, while the immersive environment allows us to put the heritage into context and complete the narration. The lecture presents case studies of dissemination projects aimed at retracing everyday life into their historical context, building a bridge between the past and the present.

Among the other case studies, Broken Cities is a photogrammetric scanning of conflict-affected sites creating an immersive digital tour. The goal of this project developed in collaboration with ICRC is to highlight urban war impacts on people and places.

The Tenement Museum Virtual Field Trip is a custom virtual platform for educators to explore 3D models with students to explore the homes of diverse families with roots all over the world, who lived in New York City between the 1860s and the 1980s.

April 9, 2025

Creative industries and Cultural Engagement

Glaire Anderson | The University of Edinburgh
Sarah Slingluff | The University of Edinburgh
Deniz Vural | The University of Edinburgh
Álvaro Soler | Patrimonio Nacional
Eduardo García | Factum Arte

Glaire Anderson, Sarah Slingluff, Deniz Vural – Partnering with Video Games for Cultural Heritage & Public Impact: the Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections

Video games have emerged as a powerful educational tool, one of the most significant ways in which the public engages with the past. Moreover, games and immersive digital experiences offer historians of visual culture and cultural heritage professionals a way to shape more inclusive and authentic public perceptions of the past by making academic research and museum collections widely accessible to audiences outside the academy. Scholars recognise the educational value of games in making knowledge accessible and informing public perceptions of the past, yet games that present histories and visual traditions beyond canonical Anglo-European traditions, and specifically those representing times and places from Islamic civilisation, are still relatively rare. This talk presents the work of the Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections ongoing research on using video games to make Islamic art and history widely accessible. The focus will be on the Digital Lab’s work on “Assassin’s Creed Mirage“ and its ‘History of Baghdad’ educational feature, a collaboration that brought together video games, GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) and academic partners.

Álvaro Soler, Eduardo García – The reconstruction of the Kabuto of King Felipe II for Patrimonio Nacional and Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed Shadows”

Ubisoft commissioned a physical reconstruction of a Kabuto helmet from 1584, seriously damaged in 1884 during a fire at the Royal Armoury in Madrid, belonging to Patrimonio Nacional. The Kabuto helmet is part of this collection, which is among Europe’s oldest collections on arms and armour. Starting from its digitisation, Factum Arte reconstructed the item first digitally and then physically to recreate its aspect as it was before the fire. At every stage of the process, the project was guided by a commitment to historical accuracy over contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, guided by the director of the Spanish Royal Armoury, Álvaro Soler.

This meticulous reconstruction effort has not only revived a historical artefact but also ensured its accessibility in the digital age. In collaboration with Ubisoft and Patrimonio Nacional, the Kabuto has been integrated into the Codex “Assassin’s Creed Shadows“, where players can explore its history and significance within the context of Feudal Japan. By incorporating this relic into a widely recognised gaming franchise, this initiative bridges historical research with modern technology, allowing global audiences to engage with cultural heritage in an immersive and interactive way.

lecturers

Glaire Anderson

She is Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art and Founding Director of the Digital Lab for Islamic Visual Culture & Collections at the University of Edinburgh. A specialist on Córdoba and in the caliphal period, her most recent book is A Bridge to the Sky: The Arts of Science in the Age of Abbas Ibn Firnas (Oxford University Press, 2024). Anderson was an external historian and art historian for Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft, 2023) and its educational Codex feature.

Eduardo García

He works at Factum Arte as a 3D modeller, engineer and production coordinator for selected projects. He studied Industrial Design and Product Development at Universidad Nebrija and worked on ephemeral architecture, applying some of this knowledge on the development of works of art, products and artistic installations produced at Factum.

André Paul Jauregui

He is a preservationist and trained architect, VDC director, and expert in HR 3D scanning, with contributions to VFX, video game design, and construction. He also has worked as a photogrammetry expert on award-winning TV productions and collaborated with the ICRC on projects in conflict zones. He is the Co-Founder of S.O.E. studio and runs the course Visualization Techniques for Architectural Preservation at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University.

Otto Lowe

He is senior 3D recording specialists at Factum Foundation. He is a specialist in photogrammetry and 3D asset creation. Otto has also specialised in teaching photogrammetry to universities and local communities. He has conducted training programmes and workshops for Columbia University (USA), Urbino University (Italy), the Royal Commission for AlUla (Saudi Arabia), Art Jameel (Saudi Arabia), the Peri Foundation (Russia), Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan) and Art UK (United Kingdom).

Halley Ramos

She specialises in leveraging emerging technologies like augmented/virtual reality, 3D scanning, and computer-based fabrication for preservation projects. Holding degrees from the University of New Mexico and Columbia University, Ramos, now Lead Architectural Historian Consultant at HNTB, is Co-Founder of S.O.E. studio, and runs the course Visualization Techniques for Arch Preservation at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University.

Sarah Slingluff

Her research focuses on the material culture of al-Andalus in the eighth and ninth centuries in the Southern Meseta (central Spain). Currently, she works at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and as Lead Educator for the Digital Lab for Islamic Culture and Collections (DLIVCC). Sarah has worked on several digital outputs with the DLIVCC, notably Assassin’s Creed, Mirage; the Digital Munyas projects; and The Córdoba Journey.

Álvaro Soler

He has a PhD in Medieval History from the Complutense University of Madrid. Trained at the National Archaeological Museum, he is the Head of the Department of the Royal Armoury of the Royal Palace of Madrid, part of Patrimonio Nacional, and a Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History. He is a specialist in medieval weaponry and the author of several publications on weaponry from the 5th to the 19th centuries.

Deniz Vural

She holds an MSc by Research in History of Art from the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on late Ottoman visual culture and women’s histories. She is the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) Lead at the Digital Lab for Islamic Culture and Collections. She also works as the Social Media Manager at Khamseen Islamic Art History Online at the University of Michigan.

Registration

Contemporary Art Animation Studio

Federico Solmi, *The Bacchanalian Ones*, Virtual Reality Experience for Oculus Quest 2, 2021

Federico Solmi, *The Ship of Fools*, Soft pastels, white pen and ink, gouache on canvas, 2024

Federico Solmi, *The Painting Class*, Single channel video loop, 2024

key details

13 and 18 February 2025
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

The Contemporary Art Animation Studio is a class geared toward students who wish to learn how contemporary artists use animation techniques in the context of fine art. New York-based Artist Federico Solmi will demonstrate methods used in his studio, a process which integrates gaming, digital and VR technology with traditional painting and drawing techniques to create narrative moving image works.

The class will analyse how contemporary artists and Solmi himself have taken long-standing animation techniques and placed them into the context of fine art. Topics such as storyboarding, 3D software, production planning, stop motion, rotoscoping, collage, motion capture, and more are all potential subjects. In this course, animation and art will be hybridised in a personal way to each student’s practice, with a focus on formulating an original relationship between process and concept. A section of the course will also be dedicated to exploring new digital marketplaces like NFT Platforms and the blockchain.

The course will be held in Italian.

Lecturer

Federico Solmi

Born in Italy, he lives in New York. His groundbreaking work in video and audio was recognized with the award of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 2009. From 2016 to 2019, Solmi was Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Art and Yale School of Drama, New Haven, Connecticut. He was appointed Guest Critic at the Yale University School of Art for 2022. In September 2024 his solo show Solmi: Ship of Fools was also the subject of a major exhibition in Venice at Palazzo Donà Dalle Rose, during the Venice Biennale in 2024.

1/2 Contemporary Art Animation Studio

2/2 Contemporary Art Animation Studio

Access to Materials in Digital Archives, Copyright and Related Rights: the Archivio Progetti IUAV as a Case Study

Archivio Progetti, Università Iuav di Venezia © Luca Pilot

key details

28 and 29 January 2025
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

Established in 1987, the Archivio Progetti IUAV is an archival and research centre dedicated to the documentation and scholarly promotion of the documentary heritage of 20th and 21st-century architecture in its diverse disciplinary dimensions: building design, urban, landscape, and territorial planning, structural, technological, and systems design, urban development, interior design, industrial design, artistic craftsmanship, photography, graphic design, and communication.

Following the presentation of this Archive, the course will proceed with an overview of selected collections relevant to industrial design.

In this context, the legal issue of copyright and related rights (such as photography) will be explored, particularly focusing on the use of digitised materials from the archive (including photos, projects, etc.) with some examples of best practices adopted by the Archivio Progetti IUAV.

The course will be held in Italian.

Lecturers

Barbara Pasa

Barbara Pasa, Full Professor of Comparative Private Law at the Iuav University of Venice, teaches Comparative Intellectual Property, Contract Law, and Consumer Law. A graduate and PhD from the University of Trento, she worked for over 10 years at the University of Turin. A qualified lawyer, she is a member of national and international academic bodies, with research and teaching experience at universities across Europe and the US.

Rosa Chiesa

Researcher in Design at the Iuav University, she is an architect with a degree from the Politecnico di Milano and a PhD in Design Sciences from Iuav. Her research focuses on glass and design, exploring Murano’s entrepreneurial history through archival sources. A board member of AIS/Design and the ISEC Foundation, she has taught design history at several institutions, curated exhibitions on Luca Meda and Toni Zuccheri, and collaborates with scientific journals and publishers.

Giovanni Marras

From 2004 to 2014, Associate Professor of Architectural Composition at the University of Trieste, currently a member of the doctoral board in Architectural Composition at Iuav University of Venice, where he earned his PhD. His research focuses on form, construction, and architectural character, with emphasis on Latin America, cultural heritage, and landscape. He led the MIUR project re-HOUSING and has authored essays on memory and contemporary design.

Teresita Scalco

With a PhD in Design Science from Iuav, she is the Head of Archivio Progetti, the research and archival centre of the Iuav Library System, where she is in charge of the collection management, coordinating and supporting research, educational, editorial, exhibition activities, with the aim to improve the access and dissemination of archival fonds, such as the digital project Petit tour.

1/2 L'accesso ai materiali degli Archivi Digitali, il diritto d'autore e i diritti connessi: l'Archivio Progetti IUAV come caso studio

2/2 L'accesso ai materiali degli Archivi Digitali, il diritto d'autore e i diritti connessi: l'Archivio Progetti IUAV come caso studio

Arnaldo Pomodoro Archive: digitising to preserve and enhance

Contact sheet of the photo shoot of the Rotanti sculptures located on the banks of the Ticino River. Photographs by Ugo Mulas © Eredi Ugo Mulas

Arnaldo Pomodoro's desk in the studio on Via Vigevano, Milan © Andrea Cerabolini

Arnaldo Pomodoro and Ettore Sottsass at the house on Via della Commenda, Milan. Photographs by Ugo Mulas © Eredi Ugo Mulas

The consultation room of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Archive in Vicolo Lavandai, Milan © Andrea Cerabolini

Raw file generated during the digitisation process, before post-production

Digitisation of archival materials at the Digital Centre of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini © Joan Porcel

key details

3 December 2024
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

reference

Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro

about

The Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, established at the artist’s behest in 1995, has the primary task of conserving and disseminating his work.

The Archive, managed by the Foundation itself, houses a wide variety of materials documenting the sculptor’s artistic production and professional relationships: photographs, exhibition catalogues, correspondence, models, and other working materials. To provide broader public access to this heritage, the Catalogue Raisonné and the Online Archive projects were initiated, including a collaboration with the Digital Centre of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini for the acquisition of fragile and complex materials, such as thirteen scrapbooks (1954-1984) and the substantial Ugo Mulas collection (1960-1970).

The lecture presents the Archive through its history, materials, and the management dynamics that the Foundation implements for its enhancement; it will also illustrate the ongoing digitisation process and the technologies used for rendering the digital files.

The lesson will be held in Italian.

Lecturers

Ilaria Sgaravatto

Archivist at the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation. She graduated in History and Criticism of Art from the University of Milan and completed a postgraduate specialisation course at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, focusing on the History of Photography. Her thesis on Antonia Mulas was followed by further research and publications in the field.

Dario Peluso

Software developer specialised in computer vision, he currently leads software development at the Digital Centre of Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Coming from a decade-long professional activity in the field of music print (having worked for major music publishers such as Ricordi, Breitkopf & Härtel, Bärenreiter, Schott) he is today focused on the field of digital humanities and technologies at the service of cultural heritage.

Archivio Arnaldo Pomodoro: digitalizzare per conservare e valorizzare

MEET and Digital Experience: Revitalising an Archive

Renaissance Dreams, Refik Anadol_ph Elena Galimberti

key details

18 November 2024
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

MEET is the first International Centre for Digital Art and Culture, established in Milan in February 2018.
Maria Grazia Mattei is its founder and director and has been leading the Meet the Media Guru platform for meetings and knowledge since 2005.
Her aim is to support the development of a new awareness regarding technology as a resource for people’s creativity and the well-being of society as a whole. During this lecture, the curator will discuss the theme of immersiveness as a new form of entertainment, communication, and knowledge enjoyment, involving some of the most significant figures and phenomena in the sector.

The lesson will be held in Italian.

Lecturer

Maria Grazia Mattei

Humanist and art critic, she has been exploring digital territories for over thirty years. She has been investigating its frontiers and potential since the 1980s. In 2005 she founded Meet the Media Guru, a platform for discussion and public debate on innovation issues. With the support of Fondazione Cariplo in 2018 Mattei created MEET Digital Culture Center, the first International Centre for Digital Art and Culture based in Milan. She is now Founder and President of MEET Digital Culture Centre.

Access to image-based resources in the context of the IIIF protocol

key details

17, 23 September
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

Reference

Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Factum Foundation

about

Access to high-resolution image-based resources is fundamental for research, scholarship, and the transmission of cultural knowledge.

The IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) standard is a set of technical specifications designed to enable the sharing, reuse, dissemination, and scientific research of digital images. Numerous projects and institutions worldwide have adopted IIIF to make collections accessible and interoperable online. IIIF supports the uniform presentation of images of cultural heritage items, allowing for display, manipulation, measurement, and annotation by scholars and students worldwide. Although initially conceived in libraries and primarily used by academics, IIIF also benefits a wider public.

Programme

September 17, 2024

Improving the access of cultural heritage through IIIF

Gennaro Ferrante | Università Federico II, Napoli
Flavia Bruni | Università di Chieti-Pescara
Ilenia Maschietto | Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Dario Peluso | Fondazione Giorgio Cini

The lecture aims to present a selection of projects on a variety of scales leveraging IIIF to improve the accessibility of collections. The examples show how IIIF connect cultural heritage scattered in different parts of the world, providing users high-quality image-based resources, ready to be compared, shared, reused, annotated and studied.

The first example is Europeana and its latest strategies (including Europeana Pro and the Europeana API), a project funded by the European Union that provides access to millions of items from institutions across Europe, allowing users to interact with them dynamically.

The second is the Illuminated Dante Project, born within the University Federico II of Naples, a systematic survey of early illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy virtually united on the same platform, carefully described and put in context. The project includes a digitization campaign, and the first clear classification and explanation of the illustrations that these precious artefacts contain.

The third is the work in progress of the new Digital Library of Fondazione Giorgio Cini which showcases the digital collections of the Venetian institution, IIIF compliant and based on contentDM, a software to store and display digital collections conceived by the largest international library network (OCLC, also full member of IIIF Consortium).

September 23, 2024

3D image-based resources and IIIF

Thomas Flynn | IIIF 3D Community Group
Richard Allen | Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University
John Barrett | Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University
Dylan Schirmacher | Bodleian Imaging Services, Oxford University

The IIIF standard, originally designed for 2D images, is being extended to support 3D content. This evolution allows for the sharing, viewing, and annotation of 3D models using the same principles that have made IIIF popular for 2D images. This represents a significant step forward in making rich, interactive media more accessible and usable across a wide range of disciplines.

The lecture introduces the work of the IIIF Consortium and the community, particularly the IIIF 3D Community Group, being the role of IIIF community and users extremely relevant to the development of software and technologies. Moreover, the lecture addresses technical aspects of the recent challenges faced by developers in presenting three-dimensional images within IIIF-compliant viewers. The ARCHiOx team provides updates from the Digital Bodleian platform and shares insights into the ongoing research on implementing 3D viewers with material qualities—such as texture, moving lights, and reflectance—to enhance user experience and deepen the understanding of the artefacts’ materiality.

1/2 Access to image based resources in the context of the IIIF protocol

2/2 Access to image based resources in the context of the IIIF protocol

Three-dimensional digitization

Lucida 3D Scanner recording the surface of a painting © Teresa Casado for Factum Foundation

3D surface model of the predella of Polittico Griffoni by Ercole de' Roberti (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome) © Factum Foundation

Digital models of Ercole de' Roberti panel of Saint Petronius from the Polittico Griffoni (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara) © Factum Foundation

Recording Raphael cartoons at Victoria and Albert Museum (London) © Gabriel Scarpa for Factum Foundation

Laas Geel site (Somaliland) recorded with photogrammetry by Otto Lowe © Ferdinand Saumarez Smith for Factum Foundation

3D render relief of Laas Geel site (detail) © Factum Foundation

3D render of the Cellini Bell recorded at British Museum (London) © Irene Gaumé for Factum Foundation

key details

13, 14, 27, 28 October & 4, 18 November 2021
Online on Zoom
4pm — 6pm (CET)

reference

Factum Foundation

the course

Curated by Carlos Bayod Lucini, project director at Factum Foundation, this 12-hour course aims to expand and deepen understanding of the concepts and practices of 3D digitisation for cultural heritage.

The content is organised into two parts: Input (capturing information) and Output (sharing information). The course explores the theoretical and technical aspects of digital preservation of cultural heritage through the recording, processing, and dissemination of digital outputs and, in some cases, material reproductions of the originals.

Additionally, the classes offer practical demonstrations of the methods and technologies discussed, akin to a workshop. The discussions are enriched with relevant case studies and examples of projects developed by Factum Foundation.

Programme

October 13, 2020

Recording the relief of paintings

Carlos Bayod Lucini

Carlos Bayod presents the Lucida 3D Scanner, Factum and ARCHiVe’s system for digitising relief. The class explains the process of planning, capturing, processing, visualising, sharing and reproducing the surface of paintings and other low-relief artifacts for conservation purposes.

October 14, 2021

The Lucida 3D Scanner (practical session)

Carlos Bayod Lucini

This class includes practical sessions demonstrating how the recording process with Lucida 3D scanner works, showing the type of software needed and the obtained files.

October 27, 2021

Recording (and reproducing) surface and shape

Carlos Bayod Lucini

Class concerning 3D and colour recording of an object’s surface and shape employing close-range photogrammetry and structural light scanning: reliefs, sculptures, architectural elements, rock art, city and landscape, etc. The class explains how these techniques are used for the production of facsimiles through the combination of digital technology and craft skills.

October 28, 2021

Close-range photogrammetry (practical session)

Carlos Bayod Lucini
Otto Lowe

The practical session concentrates on close-range photogrammetry to record scultpures, architectonic elements and other tridimensional objects. Otto Lowe explains in depth the method, the gear, the softwares needed and the possible outputs of this recording method.

November 4, 2021

Stereo-photometric recording

Carlos Bayod Lucini
Jorge Cano

In this class we enter Factum laboratories with Jorge Cano discovering the stereo-photometric recording system. This technology is experimented to obtain extremely detailed 3D data from surfaces (as for paitings, impressions, print matrices, engraved surfaces,…).

November 18, 2021

Digital restoration and analysis

Carlos Bayod Lucini
Irene Gaumé

In the final class, Carlos Bayod and Irene Gaumé analyse new approaches to higher-resolution surface 3D recording and 3D modelling: surface scanning for research and analysis. The concept of digital restoration and its methodologies for non-contact conservation are also talked in depth.

Lecturers

Carlos Bayod Lucini

He is Project Director at the Factum Foundation. His work is dedicated to the development and application of digital technology to the conservation, study and dissemination of Cultural Heritage. Bayod has taught at the MS in Historic Preservation at Columbia University in New York among other institutions, and is a frequent speaker for centers such as Museo del Prado, Harvard Art Museums and Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

Jorge Cano

He is Head of Technological Research & Development at Factum Arte and Factum Foundation. Cano is an expert in 3D recording, image filtering and Geographical Information Systems. For Factum he has developed several scanners and numerous tools for data processing. His latest design, the Selene Scanner, has been used by the Bodleian Libraries allowing imaging specialists and researchers to look at ancient objects with new eyes.

Irene Gaumé

Irene Gaumé is the head of the 3D design department at Factum Arte and leads re-creation projects at Factum Foundation, where she has pioneered the use of 3D modelling to reconstruct cultural heritage, promoting preservation through innovative technology. Her journey as a 3D artist is rooted in a traditional background in sculpture, dedicated to translating ideas into meticulously researched and rendered objects. With a strong foundation in Fine Arts, Irene has honed her expertise in 3D organic modelling, collaborating with renowned artists.

Otto Lowe

He is Senior 3D Recording Specialists and Project Manager at Factum. Otto has also specialised in teaching photogrammetry to universities and local communities conducting training programmes and workshops for Columbia University (USA), Urbino University (Italy), the Royal Commission for AlUla (Saudi Arabia), Art Jameel (Saudi Arabia), the Peri Foundation (Russia), Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan) and Art UK (United Kingdom).

1/6 Recording the relief of paintings

2/6 The Lucida 3D Scanner

3/6 Recording (and reproducing) surface and shape

4/6 Close-range photogrammetry

5/6 Stereo-photometric recording

6/6 Digital restoration and analysis

Venice Long Data: A New Platform for the Consultation and Analysis of (Long) Historical Data

Dendrogram on the materials preserved by the State Archives of Venice

The diagram shows the place of emigration (left) and the sestiere of settlement within Venice (right)

Number of galleys sailing along the four main Venetian trade routes during the years covered by the first part of the research

Bubble chart representing all deliberations of the Serenissima Senate on "citizenship"

key details

28 June 2022
Online on Zoom
4pm — 6pm (CET)

Reference

Ca' Foscari University of Venice
UDELAR Montevideo | Universidad de la Republica Uruguay
Università di Parma
Ateneo Veneto
EPFL | École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

about

Guido Caldarelli and Alessandro Codello present Venice Long Data (VLD), an interdisciplinary research project that aims to address historical analysis from an integrated point of view, in the Venetian context, based on the historical database of the State Archives of Venice (ASVe) and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, using techniques from Big Data analysis, Machine Learning, Complex Networks and generally related to quantitative modelling.
The approach aims to study history from a MACRO perspective, complementary to the MICRO perspective usually conducted, always starting from the original sources and using the most modern techniques available to deal with the transcription and analysis of historical sources.
The dual scope of the VLS project is to obtain a historical meta-database representing a fully searchable interconnected digital version of the ASVe and, above all, to create the basis for a quantitative study of the history of Venice, Europe and the Mediterranean.

Lecturer

Guido Caldarelli

Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice), and a LIMS Fellow. He graduated in Statistical Physics at Sapienza University (Rome) and holds a PhD from SISSA in Trieste. After Postdocs in Manchester and Cambridge, he became firstly “Research Assistant” at INFM and secondly “Primo Ricercatore” at ISC-CNR where he is still working. From 2012 to 2020 he has been Professor at IMT Lucca. In 2019 he was one of the founders of SIFS. Since 2018 he has been the President of the Complex Systems Society and since 2016 he has been on the board of the SNP Division of European Physical Society.

Alessandro Codello

He is Principal investigator of the Venice Long Data project & adjunct professor at UDELAR Montevideo (Uruguay). He is also visiting scholar at SUSTECH Shenzhen (China).
He holds a PhD from THEP Mainz (Germany). Before, his post-doctoral research activity was carried out mainly at CP3-Origins SDU Odense (Denmark) and at SISSA Trieste (Italy).

Recording Giulio Romano. Shape & Surface

Lucida 3D scanner recording the frescoes in the Secret Garden Lodge © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

ARCHiVe team presenting the laboratories at Fondazione Giorgio Cini © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

Panoramic Composite Photography training © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

key details

12 September — 16 September 2022
Mantua, Palazzo Te
30 hours; 9:30am — 6:30pm

Reference

about

During September 2022, as part of the programme ‘Fare Arte’ conceived by the Scuola di Palazzo Te, Factum Foundation in the context of ARCHiVe activities organised the workshop Recording Giulio Romano: Shape & Surface, introducing students and professionals to the techniques and methods of digital preservation.

The 30-hour workshop transferred theoretical and practical methodologies for digital recording, while carrying out a real digitisation project inside Palazzo Te in Mantua, focusing on recording specific art and architecture elements, mainly frescoes and stucco reliefs (XVI Century, mainly by Giulio Romano). Nine international professionals, PhD researchers and graduate students coming from Italy, Canada, Estonia and India participated in the initiative. Their diverse backgrounds and interests coming from different studies in Art & Cultural Heritage, Digital Humanities, Industrial Design, Political Science and Marketing enriched the workshop, offering new visions and points of view on digital recording.

Attendants were split into groups to provide each person with the opportunity to practice with the recording systems (photogrammetry, panoramic photography, Lucida 3D Scanner and LiDAR 3D Scanning) and to become familiar with the methodologies.

Working with ARCHiVe’s experts to carry out the digitisation tasks on site, the students’ work resulted in high-resolution digital recordings of Giulio Romano’s architectural masterpiece.

Time for questions and discussions during the classes © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

Photogrammetry hands-on session © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

LiDAR recording session in the courtyard of Palazzo Te © Osama Dawod for Factum Foundation

Programme

Each day was divided into three complementary sessions: theory (1,5 h/day), tutorials (1,5 h/day), and fieldwork (3 h/day).

Photogrammetry: theory, tutorials and fieldwork

Osama Dawod | Factum Foundation
Marina Luchetti | Factum Foundation

These classes and hands-on sessions concentrated on close-range photogrammetry, recording smaller and detailed objects, as the sculptural reliefs in the Chambers of Stuccoes and Candelabra. Photogrammetry is a technique that allows to capture both the color and the shape of an object, obtaining data for a 3D model.

Panoramic Composite Photography recording sessions

Gabriel Scarpa | Factum Foundation

Panoramic Composite Photography sessions focused on recording wall paintings as the Chamber of Ovid and the Chamber of the Winds to precisely document the colour. The technique requires the shooting of different sections of the same object to achieve maximum resolution and minimise glares.

Lucida 3D Scanner: theory, objectives and practical training

Carlos Bayod | Factum Foundation

This innovative 3D recording system has been presented with several case studies and in detail to understand its potential in recording the surface of an object. The practical training allowed to record frescoes and reliefs, capturing with extreme precision the heights of their surfaces.

LiDAR 3D Scanning session

Carolina Gris | Factum Foundation

This technique has been presented to the students to achieve 3D models of spaces. LiDAR has been used to record the architectonic spaces of Palazzo Te, both internal rooms and external areas, as the courtyards.

Case study presentation: Digital Ornament

Nick Walkley | Oslo School of Architecture and Design

The course has been enriched by a special presentation aimed to show how new digital technologies are shaping trends and new possibilities in the field of Cultural Heritage and artistic production, bringing back the ornaments in architecture and design.

ARCHiVe presentation

Costanza Blaskovic | Factum Foundation
Ilenia Maschietto | Fondazione Giorgio Cini

The students have been introduced to the multiple activity of ARCHiVe: recording, disseminating and training. The goal was to share the vision of the center, presenting other case studies carried out in the context of a cultural foundation as Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

Final presentation of the results of the workshop

all participants

At the end of the week, after gathering the post-processed data, the participants presented to a selected public and to the Director of Palazzo Te, some possible outputs and development of projects, starting from the data gathered during the workshop.

in depth

In line with Factum Foundation’s principles, all data was then provided to Palazzo Te to help the preservation and study of the artworks. One of the main goals of this project was indeed to facilitate research and stimulate comparisons.

Some of Giulio Romano’s designs for Palazzo Te’s decorative elements were objects of a comparative study at ARCHiVe. The research has been carried out by Carolina Gris and Marina Luchetti thanks to the rich bibliographical collections in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini’s Library specialized in art history, establishing a unique link between the two projects.

Detail of the frescoes in the Lodge compared to preparatory drawings by Giulio Romano © Factum Foundation

Technologies

LiDAR 3D Scanning

LiDAR is a 3D recording method that uses laser pulses to measure distance. It produces a 'point cloud' of xyz coordinates, which can be turned into a 3D model. LiDAR complements other recording method[...]

Lucida 3D Scanner

The Lucida 3D Scanner is a non-contact laser recording system that captures high-resolution surface texture data for low-relief surfaces. It records 3D data in 48 cm x 48 cm ’tiles’ by projecting [...]

Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry is a 3D recording technique that uses 2D images to create a digital 3D model of an object or surface. It involves taking hundreds of overlapping photographs and processing them using sp[...]

Panoramic Composite Photography

Panoramic Composite Photography is a 2D non-contact method for capturing the color surface of objects such as works of art. A specialist version of the technique can capture accurate and high-resoluti[...]

3D techniques for Cultural Heritage

The Vatican Chapels area recorded with aerial photogrammetry © Oscar Parasiego for Factum Foundation

The interior of Asplund Pavilion recorded with LiDAR © Oscar Parasiego for Factum Foundation

A pointcloud of the Chapel designed by Javier Corvalan © Factum Foundation

LiDAR recording session of Teatro Verde fitting rooms © Oscar Parasiego for Factum Foundation

Pointcloud of Teatro Verde © Factum Foundation

*The Entry into Palestine of Vespasian’s Troops* post-processing © Factum Foundation

key details

14 June 2022
Online on Zoom
4pm — 6pm (CET)

Reference

Factum Foundation

about

The talk brings updates on the project of recording the entire Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, headquarters of ARCHiVe, and the collections preserved at Fondazione Giorgio Cini.

Carlos Bayod Lucini, project director at Factum Foundation, explains in depth the 3D digitisation of the Teatro Verde and the Vatican Chapels recorded with LiDAR and Photogrammetry.

The Teatro Verde in the woods of Fondazione Giorgio Cini is an open-air theater designed by Luigi Vietti in the 50s and commissioned by Vittorio Cini . The site is currently under restoration and its 3D recording conducted by Factum in 2022 is part of the project to reopen the theatre to the public in collaboration with Cartier. The talk intends to explain how a detailed 3D documentation can also form part of an architectural site’s restoration and preservation project.

On the same note, the talk introduces the colour and 3D recording of the surfaces (front and back) of one of the oldest tapestries in the collections of Fondazione Giorgio Cini: The Entry into Palestine of Vespasian’s Troops (1470-1480), in need of restoration.