Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation 2026

Models of Bronze Pendant Head, Igbo-Ukwu, 9th C. © Nigerian National Museum

key details

6, 13, 20, 27 June; 4, 11 July 2026
Online
9am — 4pm (CEST)

about

An exclusive online workshop on photogrammetry, bringing together students from around the world to explore an advanced technique for creating detailed 3D models from photographs. The workshop is designed for participants with an interest in cultural heritage preservation, historical research, and innovative technologies.

Enrollment is limited to 10 participants to ensure a focused and interactive experience. Conducted entirely online, the course is offered free of charge, with registration open to undergraduate, graduate and PhD students in universities and institutes of Archaeology, Architecture, Museum Studies, Heritage Conservation, Heritage Studies, History or any other relevant course (check Annex I for Eligibility).

To ensure a workable schedule across time zones, participation is limited to countries within the GMT+0 to the GMT+8 time zone range. Applications from countries outside this time zone range will not be accepted.

Participants will engage in ahands-on learning experience, acquiring the skills to capture, process, and reconstruct heritage sites and artifacts with precision and creativity. Designed to accommodate diverse backgrounds—ranging from archaeology and architecture to history and digital arts—this workshop equips learners with practical tools to document and preserve cultural heritage for future generations.Join a global community of learners, exchange unique perspectives, and contribute to the safeguarding of our shared heritage. The workshop is limited to 10 participants to ensure a focused and interactive experience. Conducted entirely online, the course is offered free of charge, with registration open to undergraduate, graduate and PhD students.

The course will be held in English by Imran Khan. It requires online participation for its entire duration. Homework assignments and practical exercises will be given to students after each session.

Please read thesummary sheet of the workshopfor the complete programme, eligibility, selection policies, and data protection.

Registrations open on 1 May 2026 and will close on 20 May 2026. The selected students for the workshop will be finalised on 1 June 2026.

For online registration, visit this page.

Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation 2026

lecturers

Imran Khan

He is trained as an architect and holds a graduate degree in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics. With over ten years of professional experience in the field of cultural heritage digital documentation, he specializes in the application of advanced technologies for the preservation of historical artifacts and sites. He is currently based in Madrid, where he works with the Factum Foundation as 3D specialist. In this role, he leads digital documentation initiatives and develops training programs in partnership with universities and museums worldwide.

Becoming Chimeric: verso Identità Radicali attraverso il Glitch

key details

15 May 2026
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

Martina Menegonpresents her artistic research, rooted in post-digital practices and cyber/posthuman feminist theories, in which glitch and chimeric embodiment become tools for interrogating identity, presence and affect in our contemporary condition, deeply mediated by technology.

Through the use and misuse of 3D scanning, game engines, algorithms and immersive technologies, Menegon creates glitch self-portraits and interactive environments that confront the viewer with unsettling, affective and often disorienting encounters. Her works reflect on identity and presence, exposing the vulnerability of the hybrid body, the fragmentation of the self and the poetics of the liminal.

Working through these assemblages of physical and virtual elements, her practice explores hybrid, fluid bodies in continuous reconfiguration, suspended between fragmentation, multiplicity and liminal spaces. This research develops into a reflection on an unstable, glitched self, situated between alteration and hybridisation, matter and metamorphosis.

The lecture will be held inItalianand moderated byEnnio Bianco, curator and digital arts expert.

Lecturer

Martina Menegon

She is an artist, curator, lecturer and researcher working between Vienna and cyberspace. She is a Senior Artist and Lecturer in the Transmedia Art department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and a PhD candidate in Transformation Studies: Art x Science programme. Her artistic practice explores embodied experience within digital and extended realities, as well as the hybrid and chimeric nature of contemporary corporeality. Her work has been exhibited internationally, both online and in physical spaces, in institutions, festivals and galleries.

Digital technologies and physical change

Tonal map of Casa Pieris II by Minnette De Silva © Factum Foundation
Aalto Silo
Inspecting the condition of the Aaltosiilo's concrete walls in 2021 © Otto Lowe
One of the concrete bays of the Aaltosiilo with halos of light projected from the glass rods used in the restoration © Factum Foundation
Ahmad Shah Bahmani’s Mausoleum
Ahmad Shah Bahmani’s Tomb from a drone view in 2026 © Factum Foundation
LiDAR scanning training at the Ahmad Shah Bahmani’s Tomb © Deccan Heritage Foundation

key details

20, 22, 24, 27, 29 April 2026
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CEST)

about

Digital Technologies and Physical Change. How technology enables real, tangible innovations in heritage preservationis a 10-hour online course curated by the Factum Foundation. Bringing together leading practitioners, researchers, and institutions, the sessions explore how advanced digital tools are transforming the ways cultural heritage is recorded, understood, and preserved—while generating concrete, physical outcomes.

Across five sessions, the course explores key challenges in heritage preservation: the reuse of industrial architecture in the Arctic, questions of provenance and restitution, community-led initiatives in South Asia, and new scientific methods for analysing cultural heritage. Case studies include the Aaltosiilo in Oulu, the Torcello Altarpiece in Venice, the digital reconstruction of fragmented works in Nigeria and Lagos, and the use of advanced imaging technologies in Spain and UK. Together, they demonstrate how digital processes can lead to real, tangible outcomes.

Moderated by Costanza Blaskovic, the programme offers a focused overview of how high-resolution data is driving new approaches to preservation, access, and storytelling.

The course will be held in English.

Monolith Facsimile
Facsimile of a Bakor Monolith produced at Factum Foundation © Oak Taylor-Smith
The workshop at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka © MMCA Sri Lanka
A digital reconstruction of the stone Choir of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela 
Specimen recorded with Selene PSS by John Barrett © Oxford University Museum of Natural History​
Depthmap from Selene PSS data © Oxford University Museum of Natural History​

Programme

April 20, 2026

Cultural strategies and practical solutions for 20th Century architectural heritage in the Arctic North

  • Charlotte Skene Catling | Skene Catlin de la Peña
  • Valentino Tignanelli | Factum Foundation
  • Venanzia Rizzi | Kerstax Oy
  • Eeva Huuhtanen | City of Ravaniemi

Charlotte Skene Catling,Valentino TignanelliAaltoSiilo – Silo Dreaming – A Journey of Revitalisation 1931 -2031 

Skene Catling de la Peña studio and Factum Foundation are repurposing Alvar and Aino Aalto’s first modernist industrial building, the Aaltosiilo, in Oulu’s Meri-Toppila district (Finland). The silo blends functionality with bold design, reflecting Aalto’s lasting architectural influence. Since 2020, innovative interventions have focused on preserving this landmark of Finland’s industrial heritage, navigating both climatic challenges and social change.

Venanzia Rizzi –Material Continuity in Industrial Heritage 

The adaptive reuse of another of Aalto’s buildings within the Meri-Toppila industrial complex focuses on industrial heritage, materiality, and the revitalisation of urban areas in the Arctic context. The building was recently converted into a climbing gym with facilities for the local community, preserving the original modernist structure and highlighting its design.

EevaHuuhtanenAalto’s Rovaniemi: past, present and the creative future

After the Lapland War left Rovaniemi in ruins, Alvar Aalto was commissioned to reimagine the city. In 1945, he designed the iconic ‘Reindeer Antler city plan’ (Poronsarviasemakaava) and continued working on key buildings through the 1960s. Today, Rovaniemi is a UNESCO Creative City of Architecture, with cultural programmes celebrating Aalto’s legacy, the preservation of its heritage, and the city’s ongoing contribution to contemporary architecture and cultural tourism in Lapland.

April 22, 2026

Provenance, diaspora and forgotten fragments: Digital technology as a solution for restitution - part 1

  • Stefania Gerevini | Bocconi University
  • Francisco Prado-Vilar | Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
  • Carlos Bayod Lucini | Factum Foundation

Carlos Bayod LuciniRecomposing Meaning: digital preservation of remnants

2.5D and 3D digitisation transform historical vestiges into models that can recreate objects physically, digitally reconnect fragments, and unlock new narratives—but choosing the right techniques and methods is essential for the best results.

Stefania Gerevini –The Torcello Altarpiece: from the photogrammetric recording to its digital reconstruction

From the thirteenth century to the early modern period, Venetian church interiors gleamed with brilliant gold and silver altarpieces and frontals, many of which could be opened and closed horizontally to reveal and conceal multiple layers of imagery. Today, we usually perceive them as static ornaments, but their digital reconstruction restores their original functionality while enhancing their study.

Francisco Prado-Vilar –The reconstruction of fragmented heritage: the stone Choir of Santiago de Compostela 

The choir of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, designed under the direction of Master Mateo in the late twelfth century, was one of the most complex and sophisticated choirs built in medieval Europe, both in its architectural structure and its iconographic program. Strictly contemporary with the emergence of polyphony, it reflected its innovations. Partially dismantled in the early modern period, its sculptural elements were dispersed. Today, digital technologies enable an advanced virtual reconstruction and the prospect of recovering its original configuration.

 

April 24, 2026

Knowledge transfer to communities for preserving at-risk heritage: recording and educational projects in South-Asia

  • Javier Ors Ausín | World Monuments Fund
  • Helen Philon | Deccan Heritage Foundation
  • Imran Khan | Factum Foundation

Helen PhilonRestoring Memory: The Tomb of Ahmad Shah and the Preservation of Deccan Heritage

The tomb of Ahmad Shah I (1391–1442) is housed within a medieval mosque, part of a complex that includes other royal family tombs in Ahmedabad, India. Preserving the mosque and its rich mural decorations is essential for understanding the historical, socio-religious, and economic context, especially given the scarcity of textual sources from the period. Recent 3D recordings will enable a digital restoration of both the structure and its painted walls.

Javier Ors AusínMinnette De Silva. The Online Archive of a Pioneer Modernist Architect in Sri Lanka

The World Monuments Fund and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka are building local capacity to train professionals in digital preservation, including the 3D recording of historic buildings, as part of a project celebrating the work of Sri Lankan architect Minnette De Silva.

Imran KhanEducational initiatives in South-Asia and the world

Alongside developing new technologies and strategies for digital preservation, Factum Foundation aims to share best practices through hands-on workshops and recording campaigns. Photogrammetry, often combined with other techniques, is a key part of the training programmes offered to institutions in South-Asia and around the world.

April 27, 2026

Provenance, diaspora and forgotten fragments: Digital technology as a solution for restitution - part 2

  • Mari Lending | Oslo University
  • Erik Langdalen | Oslo University
  • Adam Lowe | Factum Foundation
  • Ferdinand Saumarez Smith | Factum Foundation

Mari Lending, Erik LangdalenProvenance in architecture: the “Provenance Projected” project

While provenance traditionally traces the chronological history of objects in circulation (artworks, documents, archaeological fragments, natural specimens, etc.),Provenance Projectedextends this concept to architecture. It reframes architectural provenance as a dynamic phenomenon—indeed, a forward-looking and creative instrument for change—used to interpret the past, present, and future potential of buildings.

Adam Lowe, Ferdinand Saumarez SmithRepatriation issues and complex objects: the Bakor Monoliths, the Igbo Ukwu and Benin bronzes

Thanks to online catalogues and digital collections, it is now easier to trace the provenance of objects dispersed around the world, identify fragments held in museums, and determine their original location. However, when addressing repatriation and restitution, it is essential to rethink concepts of ownership and preservation and to develop practical solutions—often involving the creation of both digital and physical copies.

April 29, 2026

New methodologies for the digital analysis of cultural heritage

  • John Barrett | Bodleian Libraries
  • William Owen
  • Santiago del Bosque Arias | Factum Foundation
  • Lucía Pereira-Pardo | CSIC
  • Juan Torrejón-Valdelomar | CSIC

John Barrett, William OwenThe portable Selene Photometric Stereo System and its role in research strategies

The Selene Photometric Stereo System has transformed how scholars, curators, conservators, and restorers engage with the digitisation of documents, artworks, natural history collections, and cultural heritage. What new possibilities emerge when this technology becomes portable—capable of recording fragments at a billion pixels per square inch?

Santiago del Bosque Arias, Lucía Pereira-Pardo, Juan Torrejón-ValdelomarCombining photometric stereo data with hyperspectral imaging (RIS): a pilot scientific investigation 

For the first time, high-resolution 3D data from the Selene Photometric Stereo System has been combined with hyperspectral imaging. By identifying pigments through their unique spectral “fingerprints,” this integration opens new possibilities for studying cultural heritage—without ever touching the objects.

lecturers

Charlotte Skene Catling

She is an architect working across disciplines, from architecture to film and music. She writes for publications likeThe Architectural ReviewandDOMUS, co-launched ArchFilmFest, and has taught atthe Royal College of Art (UK),London School of Architecture (UK), and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). She was shortlisted for the 2016 AR Women in Architecture award and named a Debrett’s 500 influential in Architecture & Design.

Valentino Tignanelli

He is an Italian-Argentine architect and designer. His professional journey is characterized by a strong emphasis on collaborative design, particularly in industrial heritage and community-driven projects. His work spans built projects, exhibitions, and writing, contributing to both professional and academic discourse.

Venanzia Rizzi

She is an architect and researcher focused on industrial heritage, material culture, and adaptive reuse. Her work investigates how architectural history and technical knowledge can inform preservation and contemporary design strategies. She is also honorary Vice-Consul of Italy in Finland.

Eeva Huuhtanen

She is a project lead of theUusi Aaltoproject in the City of Rovaniemi, focusing on activating Alvar Aalto’s architectural heritage as a driver for cultural tourism and urban vitality. With a background in landscape design and business development at Navico Oy, she combines strategic thinking with practical implementation, working at the intersection of culture, tourism and city development.

Carlos Bayod Lucini

He is an architect and holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from Autonomous University of Madrid. As 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.

Stefania Gerevini

She holds a PhD from The Courtauld Institute is and Director of the BSc in Economics and Management for Arts, Culture and Communication. Her research focuses on Medieval and Byzantine art, especially Venice and its empire, and on artistic interactions across the Mediterranean.

Francisco Prado-Vilar

Professor of Art History at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Distinguished Researcher at CISPAC, he earned his PhD from Harvard. He has held positions at Princeton, Birkbeck, and Complutense University, and led heritage projects including the restoration of the Portal of Glory at Santiago Cathedral. He currently directs “KosmoTech_1200” on historic built environments.

Helen Philon

She is an expert in Islamic art who has lived and worked across the Middle East, South Asia, Turkey, the United States and India. She founded the Department of Islamic Art at the Benaki Museum and later established the Deccan Heritage Foundation in the UK, with branches in India and New York. She has published widely on ceramics, Deccani architecture and decorative techniques.

Javier Ors Ausín

He is Senior Program Manager for Special Programs at the World Monuments Fund. He oversees initiatives that protect and preserve cultural heritage worldwide, coordinating projects that combine research, conservation, and community engagement to safeguard historic sites and promote sustainable heritage practices.

Imran Khan

He is trained as an architect and holds a graduate degree in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics. With over ten years of professional experience in the field of cultural heritage digital documentation, he specializes in the application of advanced technologies for the preservation of historical artifacts and sites. He is currently based in Madrid, where he works with the Factum Foundation as 3D specialist. In this role, he leads digital documentation initiatives and develops training programs in partnership with universities and museums worldwide.

Mari Lending

She is a professor of architectural history and theory at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). Her research explores provenance in architecture, examining how historical, social, and material narratives of buildings inform restoration, conservation, and adaptive reuse strategies, bridging scholarship and practical heritage interventions.

Erik Langdalen

He is a practicing architect and professor of architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). He leads work on preservation and transformation of historic buildings through teaching, research, and practice, including projects on concrete architecture and architectural systems. His work explores reuse, conservation, and the role of provenance in contemporary architecture.

Adam Lowe

OBE, Founder of Factum Arte and the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation, he is an artist and innovator in digital heritage preservation. Trained in fine art, he applies cutting‑edge technologies to the documentation, study, and reproduction of cultural heritage worldwide. He has taught at Columbia University and received awards including Royal Designer for Industry.

Ferdinand Saumarez Smith

PhD (King’s College London), is Director of Factum Foundation London, where he leads projects in digital preservation and cultural heritage documentation. His work spans global initiatives—such as recording rock art and monoliths—and explores issues of restitution, conservation, and interpretation through high-resolution technology and community engagement.

John Barrett 

He is Senior Photographer for the Bodleian Libraries. Since 2005, John has provided recordings of Bodleian originals for numerous publications. His work involves the development of new methods of recording special collections material. John is Technical Lead at the Bodleian for ARCHiOx (Analysis and Recording of Cultural Heritage in Oxford).

William Owen

He advises on digital transformation and growth in the cultural sector, writing on material culture, design history, and conservation. He has helped leading brands and cultural organisations enhance engagement, strengthen reputation, and develop digital capabilities, focusing teams on audience insights, organisational goals, and creative solutions.

Santiago del Bosque Arias

He holds a Master’s in Technical Art History (UNAM). He works in research, curation, and technical art history with a focus on painting, collaborating with institutions like Galería Artdicré and MUNAL. His multidisciplinary approach at Factum Foundation integrates preservation, exhibitions, audience engagement, and technical development.

Lucía Pereira‑Pardo

She is a heritage science specialist focused on technical art history and non-invasive material analysis. Trained at IPCE and holding a PhD from the University of Santiago de Compostela, she has worked in leading UK institutions including the Fitzwilliam Museum and the British Museum. Her research explores pigments, imaging and AI for cultural heritage. She is part of Incipit, one of the research institute of CSIC.

Juan Torrejón-Valdelomar

He is a research technician specialising in digital archaeology and non-invasive methods. His work focuses on advanced 2D and 3D imaging, virtual reconstruction, and landscape archaeology. He develops innovative approaches to documenting and analysing archaeological heritage through digital and multiband imaging technologies. He is is part of Incipit, one of the research institute of CSIC.

Registration

Attrattori semantici, bias e creatività diffusa: immagini e autorialità nell’epoca dell’IA

Francesco D'Isa, Totem, 2025
Francesco D'Isa, Totem, 2025
Francesco D'Isa, Totem, 2025
Francesco D'Isa, Totem, 2025

key details

10 February 2026
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

AI is radically transforming the production and perception of images, raising new questions about authorship, style, originality, and responsibility. Starting from an analysis of generative text-to-image and text-to-video models, the lecture by Francesco D’Isa unfolds along three conceptual axes:

  1. The role of semantic attractors: words or concepts that guide visual generation by acting as gravitational poles of meaning;
  2. The ethical and aesthetic biases implicit in datasets and algorithmic filters, inevitable insofar as they mirror our own prejudices;
  3. The notion of distributed creativity, which deconstructs the idea of the author as an isolated individual and instead recognises the network of actors (both human and non-human) involved in the construction of the image.

This lecture weaves together philosophical, semiotic, and technical perspectives, offering a critical and practical reflection on how to use these tools consciously, without succumbing either to technological hype or to a priori rejection. Designed for scholars, artists, and cultural practitioners, it invites a shift in perspective: not only to ask what AI does, but what it tells us about how we construct meaning, aesthetics, and collective memory today.

The lecture will be held in Italian.

Lecturers

Francesco D'Isa

He is a philosopher, digital artist, and writer. A researcher at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, he focuses on the aesthetic and socio-technical impact of AI-generated images. He teaches Philosophy at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute (Florence) and AI applied to art at LABA in Brescia and Florence. He has published novels, essays, and graphic novels. Among his most recent works:Sunyata(2023) andThe Algorithmic Revolution of Images(2024).Considered a pioneer of digital art and AI-based artistic practice in Italy, he exhibits with increasing frequency in galleries and museums, developing a distinctive aesthetic grounded in the creative use of prompting and generative errors.

Attrattori semantici, bias e creatività diffusa: immagini e autorialità nell’epoca dell’IA

Bringing Venice into Space

key details

19 – 23 January 2026
5 days / 30 hours / Location: Venice
Deadline 13 January 2026

about

The intensive in-person five-day workshop (30 hours), led by Matteo Tora Cellini of CamerAnebbia Studio, offers both a practical and theoretical exploration of the creative use of advanced technologies in interactive and immersive installations. The artists will share their approach to designing dynamic environments and innovative narratives, with particular focus on transforming art and cultural content into accessible and engaging experiences.

Participants will be guided in exploring how complex scientific and cultural concepts can be translated into museum exhibition forms, working directly also with the digitised cultural heritage of Fondazione Giorgio Cini. The workshop also includes a photogrammetry session within the Foundation’s spaces and architecture: an opportunity to observe, measure, and reinterpret the building through practices of appropriation and critical reading of the space.

The data collected will become the living material of a design laboratory in which participants can redesign and reimagine the architectures, transforming real elements into new narrative devices. The aim is to develop creative strategies to enhance historic and cultural spaces, experimenting with languages that combine technology, perception, and the memory of place.

The workshop will be held in Italian.

 

Lecturers

Matteo Tora Cellini

Matteo Tora Cellini is an artist active with CamerAnebbia Studio, where he investigates the past as a living material through interactive works. His practice reinterprets historical memory using emerging technologies and digital languages, creating immersive experiences in which image, time, and participation are intertwined.

useful information

The workshop will be free of charge, and 15 participants will be selected by a selection committee.
The course will only proceed if 10 participants are reached.

If your application is accepted, you will receive an email by January that will provide a deadline for accepting. Your place will be held until this deadline.

A certificate of attendance will be issued at the end of the workshop.

If you have any questions, please get in touch: info.aoa@cini.it

Registration

Beyond Cinema

key details

23, 25 February 2026
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

Starting from an analysis of the transformations of the moving image in the digital age, the course aims to explore how technological evolution reshapes both artistic practices and our everyday relationship with images. At the intersection of cinema, art and new technologies,Beyond Cinemasignals a shift away from the idea of the finished film towards forms of practice that weave together research, writing, editing and programming, as well as a bridge between pre-cinematic experiences and contemporary audiovisual practices. Central to the course are the construction and reworking of archives, the care of data and visual fragments, which become tools for observing how images are generated, circulate and sediment—and how artistic practice can still open critical spaces within the technologies that produce them.

The first lecture, given by Miriam De Rosa, examines the increasingly active role of users in producing and reworking images, the aesthetics emerging from the creative use of digital interfaces and the significance of the archive as a dynamic space for rewriting and reinterpretation.

The second lecture, led by artist and filmmaker Sara Francesca Tirelli, will focus on the analysis of her research and artistic practice, aimed at overcoming the boundaries between film, the visual arts and digital technologies, and on how processes of capturing reality, post-production and AI are reshaping the very notion of film and the visual archive.

Together, the two lectures offer a multifaceted perspective on how images are created, circulate and transform today, opening a critical dialogue on the possibilities and challenges of what liesbeyond cinema.

The course will be held in Italian.

Programme

February 23, 2026

Class 1

  • Miriam De Rosa

If the contemporary moment is one in which we witness a transformation of images—now freed from their frames and embedded in our everyday experience—then the ways in which we approach, work with, and archive images become crucial. Starting from the assumption that, as users of digital technologies with a good degree of media literacy, we candothings with images rather than merely receive and consume them, this session broadens the reflections linked to the paradigm of immersivity and introduces examples of grassroots (and other) creative practices that make use of technology even without major production infrastructures. We will consider the tendency to turn digital interfaces into an aesthetic motif, examining how this occurs and with what outcomes. We will also question the role of the archive, understood not only as a repository of images but as a living space in which stories—and history—can be rewritten.

February 25, 2026

Class 2

  • Sara Francesca Tirelli

The artist and filmmaker presents her research at the intersection of cinema, art and new technologies, exploring territories where traditional visual languages intertwine with the possibilities offered by contemporary digital tools. The artist talk focuses on how the recent technological paradigm shift is profoundly transforming the very nature of the moving image, redefining its form, function and modes of experience. Processes of capturing reality, post-production and artificial intelligence become the tools of an artistic practice that interrogates the ways in which our perception organises the visible today. The image is no longer conceived solely as a linear projection on a screen, but takes the form of an immersive and dynamic environment, capable of transcending the limits of the screen and simultaneously spreading across devices, digital platforms, archives and computational infrastructures, opening up new possibilities for interaction and aesthetic experimentation.

lecturers

Sara Francesca Tirelli

She is an artist and filmmaker. Her works have been presented at the Rome Quadriennale, IFFR, and other international venues. She has won the Deutsche Bank Macht Kunst award and the IASPIS research grant, where she developed Medusa, her first virtual reality work.
She is co-founder of CSC Immersive Arts and teaches Expanded Cinema at IUAV University of Venice. She has participated in XR panels at Goldsmiths University and the Göteborg Film Festival.

Miriam De Rosa

She is an Associate Professor of Film and Media at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and coordinator of the International Master in Cinema Studies, a program that brings together prestigious universities across Europe, Canada, and Latin America. Her areas of specialisation include film theory and experimental and art cinema, visual cultures, and media archaeology. She has published in both international and national volumes and journals. Among her works are the booksCinema & Postmedia(2013),Film & Domestic Space(2020), andCamille Henrot, Grosse Fatigue: Notes on Desktop Cinema(2024).

1/2 | Beyond Cinema
2/2 | Beyond Cinema

Countering the Eclipse of Sound Memories: Workshop on Audio Documents

key details

24 November — 26 November 2025
3 days / 20 hours / Location: Venice
Deadline 9 November 2025

about

The Digital Centre ARCHiVe of Fondazione Giorgio Cini, in collaboration with the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale (CSC) of the Department of Information Engineering (DEI) at the University of Padua, is presentingCountering the Eclipse of Sound Memories: Workshop on the Digitisation and Preservation of Audio Documents,a workshop dedicated to scientific methodologies, technologies and international standards for the restoration, active preservation and digitisation of audio documents.

This three-day intensive programme on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore will introduce participants to the historical and technical aspects of sound carriers, the principles of audio preservation, and the methodologies for their digitisation and restoration. Combining lectures and hands-on sessions, the workshop will cover the preparation and repair of media, analogue-to-digital conversion techniques, metadata creation, and best practices for long-term digital preservation.

Through a learning-by-doing approach, participants will engage directly with equipment and workflows, gaining both theoretical and practical skills in the digitisation and safeguarding of audio heritage.

The workshop is open to a selected group of participants (students and professionals from various backgrounds) who will have the opportunity to learn and interact directly with the CSC team.
Accommodation for two nights at the Vittore Branca Centre Residence on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, lunch on the first day, and an ACTV pass for travel within the lagoon for the duration of the workshop are included in the participation fee.
A certificate of attendance will be issued at the end of the workshop.

Programme

November 24, 2025

Day 1 – Introduction and Historical Overview

Morning(11am – 1:30pm)

  • Welcome, general intro and programme overview
  • Ice-breaker: student presentations (3 mins each)
  • Presentation of Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Digital Centre – ARCHiVe + Q&A
  • Visit to Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Afternoon (2:30pm – 5:30pm)

  • Historical overview of sound carriers (engraved media: 78 rpm, 45 rpm, 33 rpm; magnetic media: open-reel tapes, audiocassettes, DAT) + Q&A
  • Feedback and reflections from day 1

November 25, 2025

Day 2 – Digitisation Methodology and Practical Session

Morning(9am – 1:30pm)

  • Digitisation methodology (Part 1) + Q&A
    • Preparation and repair of carriers
    • Equalisation curves
    • Channel configuration
    • The tape recorder

Afternoon (2:30pm – 5:30pm)

  • Digitisation methodology (Part 2)
    • Analogue-to-digital conversion (A/D)
    • Setting up the digitisation workstation
  • Feedback and reflections from day 2

November 26, 2025

Day 3 – Advanced Practical Session, Metadata and Post-production

Morning(9am – 1:30pm)

  • Lecture on metadata, digital archives, and best practices for long-term preservation + Q&A
  • Practical Digitisation (Part 1)

Afternoon (2:30pm – 17:00pm)

  • Practical Digitisation (Part 2), post-production and digital restoration
  • Feedback and reflections
  • Certificates and celebration drinks
  • Close

Useful information

The course will only proceed if 12 participants are reached.

Participation fee: 350€
For participants who will not require accommodation and the ACTV pass, a reduced fee is available.

If your application is accepted, you will receive an email by November 10 that will provide a deadline for accepting and paying for your place. Your place will be held until this deadline.

If you have any questions, please get in touch:info.aoa@cini.it

Compositional Interface

Semantic cluster of images archived in Fototeca’s Raccolta su Schedoni via CLIP feature extraction and dimension reduction by UMAP
Study of 3D Reconstruction of a painting via Depth Anything result. Original Painting: “Francesco Guardi, Il Ridotto pubblico a Palazzo Dandolo, olio su tela, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art"
Process of pose and object detection in the drawings from Costantinopoli

key details

24 October 2025
Online on Zoom
3pm — 5pm (CET)

about

Digital preservation faces a fundamental paradox: as our capacity to record grows exponentially, meaningful engagement with vast collections diminishes. Cultural artefacts in institutions accumulate in databases in digital format, disconnected from human physical experience—mirroring our personal struggle with ever-growing phone galleries. This talk presents “compositional interfaces”—frameworks developed during Hiroaki Yamane residency on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore that transform data abundance into creative opportunity.

Rather than static repositories, these interfaces treat digital archives as dynamic materials for artistic expression. Moving beyond categorical organisation, they enable remix through computational techniques. The presentation demonstrates prototypes and research including: semantic extraction across 20,000+ images from the Fototeca of Fondazione Giorgio Cini, creating navigable landscapes beyond tabular constraints; and reconstruction of Giacomo Casanova’s legacy in collaboration with artist Sara Francesca Tirelli, through Gaussian Splatting, depth estimation, and LLMs to transform archival fragments into new narratives.

Unlike traditional digital humanities approaches prioritising structured databases, compositional interfaces embrace ambiguity and unexpected associations through computational threads. This method bridges technical digitisation processes with creative practice, offering new pathways for cultural heritage engagement in the digital age.

The lecture will be held in English.

Lecturers

Hiroaki Yamane

He is a digital artist and an architectural designer who graduated with Diploma Honours from the Architectural Association (2024). Previously a creative technologist in the US, he specialised in interactive experiences and R&D prototyping. He collaborates with artists and architects to explore his interests at the intersection of entropy, computation, art and the architecture of memory.

Compositional Interface

Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation II

Chandhiran M (Bharathiyar University) recording the Kaliamman Stone Sculpture in Palanagarai Village.
Kaliamman Stone Sculpture, Palanagarai Village, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.
Lipi Bharadwaj (Aga Khan Trust for Culture) recording the Qutb Shahi Idgah.
Qutb Shahi Idgah, Qutb Shahi Heritage Park, Hyderabad, India.
Razan Masri (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg) recording a heritage door.
Heritage Door, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

key details

7, 14, 21, 28 June and 5, 12 July 2025

Online
9am — 6pm (CET)

the course

Every Saturday from 7 June to 12 July 2025, Imran Khan ran ‘Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation’, an online photogrammetry workshop for university students in the fields of Archaeology, Heritage Conservation, Heritage Studies, and Museum Studies. Out of 250 applications from 52 countries and 174 different universities and institutes, 15 students were selected and successfully completed the course.

Watch theclass recordings here.

This intensive programme was designed for studentsfrom Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and South Asian countries. Participants learned about image capture and post-processing to create high-resolution 3D models, and visualise them using Sketchfab. They also learned how to produce CAD drawings derived from these models, along with tips on sharing results online for collaboration and archiving purposes.

Explore here the3D models elaborated by the students.

Practical skills the students acquire during the workshop:

  • Proficiency in capturing photographs tailored for photogrammetric processing.
  • Expertise in processing images to generate high-fidelity 3D models.
  • Ability to produce accurate CAD drawings derived from these models.
  • Skills to disseminate 3D models via an online platform for collaboration and archiving.

Required Hardware and Software:

  • Reality Capture (Free license)
  • Autodesk Autocad 2018 or later (education license)
  • CloudCompare (Open Source)
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Autodesk Recap (education license)
  • Geomagic Wrap (optional, not free) Hardware
  • DSLR camera (preferably fixed focal length Lense, 50 mm)
  • Computer/ Laptop with 64bit machine with at least 8GB of RAM

Lecturers

Imran Khan

Imran Khan is trained as an architect and holds a graduate degree in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics. With over ten years of professional experience in the field of cultural heritage digital documentation, he specializes in the application of advanced technologies for the preservation of historical artifacts and sites. He is currently based in Madrid, where he works with the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation. In this role, he leads digital documentation initiatives and develops training programs in partnership with universities and museums worldwide.

Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation I

Suhas Muralidhar (Indian Institute of Remote Sensing) recording the Kapileshwara Temple in Manne, Karnataka.
Barandiya Kovil, 16th Century, Avissawella, Sri Lanka
Imran Khan (Factum Foundation) giving a lecture at the workshop.
Farsana KT (Central University of Karnataka) recording the Hero Stone/Veeragallu in Kalaburagi, Karnataka.
Hero Stone/Veeragallu, 11-12 century CE, Kalaburagi, Karnataka India
Amber Shahid Mumtaz (Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Pakistan) recording the Postern Gate of Lahore Fort, Lahore.

key details

7, 14, 21 September 2024
Online
9am — 6pm (CET)

the course

Curated by Imran Khan, this 24-hour course is a free online workshop on Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation. Designed for university students from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka passionate about cultural preservation, the workshop provides advanced training in the use of digital technologies to reconstruct heritage sites and artefacts.

Throughout the course, participants learn about image capture and post-processing to create high-resolution 3D models. Explore the3D modelselaborated by the students.

Practical skills the students acquire during the workshop:

  • Take photographs for photogrammetry
  • Learn processing of photographs to generate 3D model
  • Create drawings in CAD software using 3D model.
  • Visualize 3D model in Sketchfab

Required Hardware and Software:

  • Reality Capture (Free license)
  • Autodesk Autocad 2018 or later (education license)
  • CloudCompare (Open Source)
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Autodesk Recap (education license)
  • Geomagic Wrap (optional, not free) Hardware
  • DSLR camera (preferably fixed focal length Lense) or mobile phone
  • Computer/ Laptop with 64bit machine with at least 8GB of RAM

Lecturers

Imran Khan

Imran Khan is trained as an architect and holds a graduate degree in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics. With over ten years of professional experience in the field of cultural heritage digital documentation, he specializes in the application of advanced technologies for the preservation of historical artifacts and sites. He is currently based in Madrid, where he works with the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation. In this role, he leads digital documentation initiatives and develops training programs in partnership with universities and museums worldwide.

7 June 2025Photogrammetry in Heritage Documentation - 7 June 2025, Day 1 / Session 1