Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation

Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in ConservationFormation| 2009; 16 years ago (2009)

|

Founder| Adam Lowe
Founded at| Madrid, Spain
Type| Nonprofit organization
Headquarters| Madrid, Spain
Services| Digital recording and processing
Website| factumfoundation.org

The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation is a not-for-profit organization founded by Adam Lowe in 2009 and located in Madrid, Spain. It develops new techniques in digital recording and processing to document artworks and cultural heritage of many different types.[1][2][3][4][5] It is known for its facsimiles (high-resolution physical copies) of sites and objects such as the Tomb of Seti I,[6] two monumental lamassu sculptures from Nimrud,[7][8][9] and the Borgherini Chapel.[10] The Foundation also mounts exhibitions and trains local communities across the world in the use of digital recording technologies, and is active in contemporary debates about the functions and value of facsimiles.[11][12][13]

Factum Foundation works closely with Factum Arte, and was established in order to take over Factum Arte's non-profit work relating to cultural heritage.

## Contents

* 1 Cultural heritage projects
* 2 Technologies
* 2.1 Technologies for recording
* 2.2 Technologies for making facsimiles
* 3 In the media
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Cultural heritage projects[edit]

Notable facsimiles made by Factum Foundation include:

* The tomb of Tutankhamun[14]
* Rooms from the Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings. Scanning of all extant fragments from the tomb is underway, and Factum states that the finished facsimile of the tomb will be ‘by some measures... even more complete than the original as it now stands’, as it will incorporate fragments removed from the tomb in the 19th century.[15]
* Two monumental lamassu and all extant wall and floor reliefs from the throne room of the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud
* The Polittico Griffoni, a 15th-century Bolognese altarpiece which was dismantled in the 18th century, and whose 16 separate painted panels are now in museums across the world
* Raphael’s Sacrifice at Lystra, one of the Raphael Cartoons now in the V&A Museum[16]
* The Tomb of Raphael from the Pantheon
* Several artworks from Horace Walpole’s collections for Strawberry Hill House
* Two sketchbooks by Antonio Canova
* The Offiziolo di Carlo VIII
* The Borgherini Chapel

Other projects have sought to ‘digitally restore’ artworks to a former state, to recreate lost artworks, or to show artworks in a changed form. Projects include:

* Digital restoration of a monumental plaster horse by Canova, whose original is now in fragments
* Digital restoration and restored facsimile of the vandalised sacred cave of Kamukuwaká
* Recreation of Raphael's painting Lo Spasimo as a painting on board. The painting had been transferred from wooden boards to canvas by restorers in the early 19th century, so the recreation attempts to recover an earlier stage in the history of the work.
* The re-creation of al-Idrisi's lost silver world map

## Technologies[edit]

### Technologies for recording[edit]

The Factum Foundation develops many of its own recording and processing technologies, which include the Lucida 3D Scanner (designed by Manuel Franquelo with the support of Factum Foundation and Factum Arte),[17][18] the Veronica Scanner,[19] and several book and manuscript scanners.[20] The Foundation also uses established and in-development recording techniques such as photogrammetry, panoramic composite photography, LiDAR and structured light scanning.

### Technologies for making facsimiles[edit]

To make its facsimiles Factum Foundation employs a range of traditional and new technologies, often in combination. Technologies include CNC-milling, several types of 3D printing, molding and plaster casting, bronze casting, inkjet printing using an in-house printer, sculptural finishing, gilding, scagliola, print-making, and the use of traditional restoration/conservation techniques.[21]

## In the media[edit]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Zalewski, Daniel (21 November 2016). "The Factory of Fakes: How a workshop uses digital technology to craft perfect copies of imperilled art". The New Yorker. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. ↑ Dickson, Andrew (30 August 2019). "How digital scanning can help save art works and buildings". Financial Times. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
3. ↑ Gómez, Virginia (29 February 2020). "Los copiadores legales del arte antiguo". El Mundo. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
4. ↑ Guerrero, José Antonio (10 November 2019). "El taller de los prodigios". Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
5. ↑ "Digital Innovation of the Year: The Apollo Awards 2014". Apollo Magazine. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
6. ↑ Glass, Nick (15 November 2017). "Master replicators resurrect an ancient Egyptian tomb in Switzerland". CNN. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
7. ↑ Guy, Jack (28 October 2019). "Mosul takes delivery of recreated icons". CNN. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
8. ↑ Keeley, Guy (22 October 2019). "Art smashed by jihadists rises up after global effort". The Times. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
9. ↑ AFP (24 October 2019). "Replicas of Assyrian statues smashed by Daesh unveiled in Iraq's Mosul". Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
10. ↑ McEwan, Olivia (17 April 2017). "How Michelangelo and Sebastiano's Roman Chapel Was Recreated in London". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
11. ↑ "Exhibitions". Factum Foundation website. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
12. ↑ "Trainings and Collaborations". Factum Foundation website. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
13. ↑ "The Apollo podcast: Adam Lowe". 4 May 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
14. ↑ Gee, Alison (8 November 2013). "Which would you rather visit - a fake tomb or a real one?". BBC News. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
15. ↑ "Factum Foundation website". Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
16. ↑ Steel, Sophie (1 October 2019). "Exciting new plans for the Raphael Cartoons and Raphael Court". V&A blog. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
17. ↑ "A REVIEW OF RECORDING TECHNOLOGIES FOR DIGITAL FABRICATIONIN HERITAGE CONSERVATION" (PDF). The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W9, 2019 8th Intl. Workshop 3D-ARCH "3D Virtual Reconstruction and Visualization of Complex Architectures". 6–8 February 2019.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: date format (link)
18. ↑ Del Sette, Patané (2 June 2017). "Automated displacement measurements on historical canvases". Heritage Science. 5. doi:10.1186/s40494-017-0135-4.
19. ↑ Alberge, Dalya (23 July 2016). "Gallery offers visitors a 3D digital sculpture in four seconds". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
20. ↑ "Technology: Recording". Factum Foundation website. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
21. ↑ "Technology: Outputs". Factum Foundation website. Retrieved 13 April 2020.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

## External links[edit]

* Factum Foundation facebook page
* A Digital Mediation Studio - Factum Arte
* Digital conservation | Art Jameel
* Conservation: Factum Arte remaking history | Financial Times
* Factum Foundation linkedin page
* Adam Lowe - Columbia GSAPP
* Factum Foundation (@FactumFoundation) - Sketchfab

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