FACTUM ARTE

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		News and upcoming projects

				The Art of Piranesi: Architect, engraver, antiquarian, view-maker, designer Factum Arte has collaborated with Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the production of the exhibition, curated by Michele De Lucchi, about the artist Giambattista Piranesi. Le Arti di Piranesi: architetto, incisore, antiquario, vedutista, designer (The Art of Piranesi: architect, engraver, antiquarian, view-maker, designer) opened on 28th August and will run until 21st November 2010 to coincide with the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The exhibition is being showcased in the Sale del Convitto on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, and after the inauguration it will travel to different venues soon to be announced. Objects designed by Piranesi have been produced in bronze, gold leaf, marble, silver and other materials for the exhibition. Factum Arte has worked with voxelstudios for the organic modelling of these objects, based closely on Piranesi's engravings. 3D virtual environments of the famous Carceri d’invenzione series have also been made from Piranesi's engravings. View video feature on Exibart.tv View the exhibition page View the making of the work Read the Fondazione Giorgio Cini's presentation

				Article on Piranesi in Financial Times Speaking Ruins is the name of the article published by Financial Times on 4 September on the work carried out for the exhibition Le Arti di Piranesi: architetto, incisore, antiquario, vedutista, designer (The Art of Piranesi: architect, engraver, antiquarian, view-maker, designer). Read the article here

				Tapestries for Carlos Garaicoa A series of tapestries woven on a computer operated Jacquard loom are being finalised for the Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa. The tapestries are made from high resolution photographs taken on the streets of Havana, Cuba, and have been woven in Belgium. Seven tapestries from the series will be shown in a forthcoming exhibition in Matadero Madrid, in September 2010. Go to artist page

				A short film on the production of Piranesi Voxelstudios have prepared this film on the progress of the 3D modelling of the objects designed by Piranesi for the current exibition. View the exhibition page View the making of the work

				Marc Quinn sculpture works Consuming Desire is currently being finalised. At 4 meters high, it will be the largest of Quinn's bronze flower series and is bound for Korea in Autumn. Go to project page Go to artist page

				Caravaggio Research Centre The Caravaggio Research Centre was publicly announced in a press conference on 16 July in an event designed to coincide with the the 400th anniversary of the artist's death. The formal opening will take place in the town of Caravaggio on 26 September 2010. For this Reserach Centre, the recording of three of Caravaggio's paintings in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi was completed in October 2009. After several months of work on the data and production, two finished facsimilies have been installed in the Research Centre (see photo) while the third is currently underway. A short film is being made in collaboration with the realist painter Manuel Franquelo to demonstrate Caravaggio's painting technique. BBC Radio 4 broadcasted a three-part series about the artist entitled The Secrets of the Art and the Artist, presented by Roger Law and edited by Mark Rickards. It was aired on the 14th, 21st and 28th March 2010. In the final two programmes they discussed Caravaggio’s techniques and the development of the Research Centre. Both of these programmes discussed Factum Arte’s work plus they also highlighted the importance of high resolution documentation in the understanding of cultural heritage. This 7 minute excerpt of the final broadcast follows Roger Law to Rome where he meets Adam Lowe of Factum Arte. Preview the project as it progresses

				Facsimiles of the tombs of Seti I, Nefertari and Tutankhamun for the Supreme Council of Antiquities Work is proceeding with the preparation of the high-resolution archive of data and the production of an exact facsimile of the burial chamber and sarcophagus from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Factum Arte is currently working with Papelgel, Barcelona to use their transfer system to apply the colour to the complex 3D surface of the facsimile.The anticipated completion date of the facsimile of the burial chamber and sarcophagus is July 1st 2010. The facsimile will be installed in The Suzanne Mubarak Children's Museum, Cairo at the end of July 2010. The Recording work in the Tomb of Nefertari is scheduled to start in September. The 3D scanning will be done with the new laser scanner specially made for this work in a collaboration between Nikon Metrology and Factum Arte. We will also be using the new generation NUB 3D white light scanner, also modified specifically for this important work. Raising the funds to realise this ambitious project is now underway in collaboration between the Supreme Council of Antiquities, The Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt, Factum Arte and the Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation. Preview the project as it progresses Go to the full scanning report for the SCA See a video of the recording the tomb of Tutankhamun Visit technologyinconservation.org

				Coping with the Past Creative perspectives on Conservation and Restoration Published by Leo S. Olschki, Civiltà Veneziana Studi 52, Edited by Pasquali Gagliardi, Bruno Latour and Pedro Memmelsdorff ISBN 978 88 222 5993 6 A transcript of the texts and discussion generated for the Dialogo San Giorgio,2007 -Inheriting the Past - the Facsimile of Veronese's Wedding at Cana. Following the unveiling of Factum Arte's facsimile on the end wall of Palladio's refectory, many art critics and experts immediately began to question the both the emotional response that the facsimile provoked and the authenticity of the experience of seeing a facsimile of this size and quality in its original Location. In November 2007 an interdisciplinary group including Bruno Latour, Pasquale Gagliardi, Joseph Koerner, Pedro Memmelsdorff, Carlo Ginsburg, Richard Powers, Steven Feld, David Western, Shirley Strumm, Albena Yaneva, Frederick Brenk and Adam Lowe met to discuss the the implications of the return of the Wedding at Cana to the Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. This book contains the transcripts of that dialogue. www.olschki.it

				Concrete printing for Anish Kapoor is starting again The results of last years concrete printing, Greyman cries, Shaman Dies, Billowing Smoke, Beauty Evoked can currently be seen in Anish Kapoor's exhibition at the Guggenheim, Bilbao until 12 October. Go to artist page

				New Jan Hendrix edition Jan Hendrix has been working closely with Factum Arte and Adam Lowe for several years. A new group of works are currently in gestation. The new works are smaller in scale than past commissions and require high resolution laser cutting in stainless steel. Go to artist page

				The Foundation's first year During its first year the foundation has worked with Nikon Metrology (Metris) to perfect a new laser scanner capable of increased accuracy and speed, plus has been working with NUB 3D on an improved white light scanner which allows us to output the 3D data as a tiff file format. The foundation has funded the production of the tomb of Tutankhamun and is now targeting its efforts on establishing some international standards for high resolution documentation. Graham Whybrow, formally at the Royal Court in London, has joined the foundation and is currently working on a long-term strategy. The website is currently being redesigned and will appear in the following months. For information see website here.