Recording the Norman Chapel at Durham Castle

From January 4th to 6th 2023, a team from Factum Foundation carried out the complete 3D recording of the Norman Chapel inside Durham Castle, in the north of England. In collaboration with Durham University, the aim is to provide further insight into the questions that still surround the making and materials behind the 11th-century chapel, in order to inform an upcoming restoration project by providing accurate surface and colour information.
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Recording the Beaune Altarpiece

From January 9th to 16th, a team from Factum Foundation carried out the colour and 3D recording of the polyptych known as the Beaune Altarpiece, inside the Hôtel-Dieu Museum. The high-resolution color and 3D surface data will allow to monitor the state of conservation of the altarpiece with a great degree of precision, unmatched to date. The scanned data constitutes a precious documentary fund for the history of this work.
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Recording two paintings by Theo Van Doesburg

In November 2022, as part of a seminar organised by the Centre for Global Heritage and Development at Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, a team from Factum Foundation recorded two paintings by Theo Van Doesburg using the Lucida 3D Scanner and composite photography. Both the surface layer and 3D recording were acquired in high resolution, and the data will be used to help the preservation of the two paintings.
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Re-creating the Colossus of Constantine

Factum Foundation has worked with the Musei Capitolini and Fondazione Prada on an ambitious project to recreate the large-scale sculpture of the Colossus of Constantine for the exhibition 'Recycling Beauty' (November 17, 2022 - February 27, 2023).
The 13m-tall work is currently on display inside the Cisterna at the Fondazione Prada, and is the result of several months of work that started with recording the original fragments of the colossal statue in April 2022.
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Benin Bronzes Digital Documentation Training Programme

Over the past weeks a team from Factum Foundation has been conducting a training programme in digital heritage documentation, focusing on photogrammetry, for participants from EMOWAA (Edo Museum of West African Art) and NCMM (National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria). The aim of the training was to establish a team of digital heritage specialists enabled to carry out recording projects both in Nigeria and abroad.
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La forza delle cose

Factum Foundation and Factum Arte worked with Fondazione Palazzo Te on recreating five designs by Giulio Romano as physical objects for the exhibition 'Giulio Romano. La forza delle cose' at Palazzo Te (October 8th, 2022 - January 8th, 2023). The intricate drawings were rematerialised as 3D models before being 3D printed in sections and cast in a variety of materials depending on the size and complexity of their details.
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New publication: The Bakor Monoliths: Preserving Ancestral Stones in South-Eastern Nigeria

This new book by Factum Foundation explores the cultural significance and preservation challenges of the Bakor monoliths in Cross River State, Nigeria. The result of six years of work and collaboration with several Nigerian and international partners, it is the first book dedicated to the subject since Philip Allison's 1968 Cross River Monoliths.

Read online or purchase your copy

FIVE YEARS ON: The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is up for sale

Are the heritage authorities going to act in favour of the preservation of this important cultural asset and acknowledge that the model proposed by Factum Foundation and Re:Form has already proven successful and demonstrated that bell making can be revitalised? Will sensible decisions be made on the grounds that the Whitechapel Bell Foundry’s optimum value lies in the fact that it is a bell foundry?
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Aaltosiilo: a musical instrument for a night

On September 24th 2022, ‘FAREWELL TO THE HOPPERS’ was the first event of AaltoSiilo project produced by Factum Foundation as part of Oulu2026 culture programme: a series of performances, projections and a concert organised in the iconic Silo by Alvar Aalto.

Watch the performances by local DJs, audiovisual artists and Finnish percussion group Transistori

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Fare Arte 2022: Workshop in Palazzo Te

Organised by Factum Foundation and ARCHiVe as part of the programme 'Fare Arte' conceived by the Scuola di Palazzo Te, the workshop Recording Giulio Romano: Shape & Surface aims to introduce students and professionals to the techniques and methods of digital preservation. From September 12th until September 16th, the 30-hour workshop introduces the theoretical and practical methodologies for digital recording, while carrying out a real digitisation project inside Palazzo Te in Mantua, Italy. More on the project

Grayson Perry's Covid Bell on show at The Worshipful Company of Founders

After the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, Grayson Perry's Covid Bell will be on show at the Founder's Hall of the Worshipful Company of Founders, during their annual Open House on September 10th and 11th. The bell was kindly donated by Grayson Perry to revitalise bell making in the UK following the highly publicised closure of Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
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Bakor Monoliths exhibition in Lagos

Factum Foundation has collaborated with the Trust for African Rock Art and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria on the exhibition ‘The Ancient Rock Art of Nigeria’ at the Nigerian National Museum (May 5 – June 2, 2022). The display was curated by Terry Little and Ferdinand Saumarez Smith, and was supported by the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. Two facsimiles of Bakor monoliths, made from data recorded in 2018, were featured in the exhibition. More on the project

Raphael Cartoon facsimile on display

Factum Foundation and Factum Arte worked on the making of the facsimile of Paul Preaching at Athens Cartoon for the exhibition 'The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael' (9 April - 31 July, 2022) at the National Gallery, London. As the original Cartoons by Raphael are unable to travel, the recording and rematerialisation of the data is another example of how facsimiles provide new ways to study, disseminate and display the series on long-term loan to the V&A by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection.

Recording and training with ARCE in Cairo

In 2022, ARCE will begin a conservation and restoration project of the Mausoleum of Ikhwat Yusuf, that will include a digital restoration in collaboration with Factum Foundation. In early March, Osama Dawod and Otto Lowe arrived in Cairo and recorded the mausoleum’s mihrab in high-resolution using photogrammetry and provided hands-on photogrammetry training for inspectors from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
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