By Diego Barajas Fernandez
Madrid, Mar 21 (EFE).- Bringing back to life the giant Roman colossus, the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs such as Tutankhamun, Bernini sculptures, or Van Gogh paintings through exact reproductions is the mission of the Factum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to preserving, digitizing, and reproducing the world’s great masterpieces.
“The goal is to make sure that the heritage in the great cities and places around the world and remote heritage in dangerous parts of the world is preserved (…). The secret is the objects that we make must be identical to the objects in the museum, for all experts and all common, all general audience. If it’s not identical under museum conditions, then we failed,” Adam Lowe, founder of the Factum Foundation, told EFE.
To bring these artworks and archaeological finds back to life, Lowe set up the foundation in Madrid and equipped it with the latest technology and a huge industrial warehouse.
Once digitized using artificial intelligence and photogrammetry techniques, these models are transformed into images and data that can be reproduced with pinpoint accuracy and meticulous detail using 3D printing technology or mold reconstruction.
“It’s a verification, not falsification. The data we record is made freely available for educational purposes and for preservation. The goal is not to be controlling. It’s the reverse,” said Lowe.
Dozens of works in the process of being reconstructed are stored in the foundation’s factory, including huge parts of a colossus, paintings of Renaissance classics, and archaeological artifacts.
Others remain hidden so as not to reveal their condition, either because they are confidential commissions or because they are still in their infancy.
The foundation aims to and reproduce the world’s greatest works of art so that everyone can have access to them, in many cases under much more favorable conditions than those currently available.
“I think we see our goal as being the future of where museums will develop, so they can give privileged access to works, not just behind glass, not just from miles away. (..) If you think of museums now, you have to queue, they’re full of people. It’s very, very difficult to see anything. Think of the Mona Lisa, where people just look at it through their mobile phones from 50 meters or 40 meters away. I mean, this is not an engagement with the work of art,” Lowe said.
In its multidisciplinary workshop in Madrid, the foundation’s team builds all kinds of pieces, such as the monumental 13-metre colossus of the 4th-century Emperor Constantine, of which only 10 fragments are currently preserved in the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
“The biggest challenge (was) to reconstruct the rest of the figure, which is (…) maybe 80% of the total figure,” said Irene Gaumé, a 3D modeling expert at the foundation.
The Colossus project took nearly six months to complete and involved the use of digital tools and 3D modeling programs, “perfect for moving super heavy objects without gravity,” she added.
Reconstruction is carried out using a reference system of similar sculptures from the period that are in better condition, and in the case of Constantine, elements from other colossuses were adapted to the missing parts of the Roman giant.
The process involves first digitizing and printing the models in 3D or plastic, and then beginning the reconstruction with materials as close to the original as possible.
“If a piece is made of stone, we try to make the stone as similar as possible, of marble, of bronze, all that. That’s basically our job. We give the finished piece to the museum, to the client, wherever,” Gaumé said.
The 3D scanning process could have been used to easily restore in great detail, parts of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that were destroyed before the fire, as well as other works of art in conflict zones that had no record and are now lost forever.
“While the Taliban were destroying winged lions in Mosul, we were recreating others here,” said Juan Carlos Andrés Arias, head of the workshop and one of those responsible for turning the 3D models into real sculptures.
The foundation has no limits when it comes to preserving, protecting, and disseminating art, and has numerous archaeological projects in its portfolio around the world, such as the sacred cave of Kamukuwaká in the Brazilian Amazon, Bernini’s Saint Sebastian, or part of the burial chamber of Pharaoh Seti I. EFE
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