“Comparing past and present to understand a historical or archaeological context” M. Orl

“Comparing past and present to understand a historical or archaeological context” M. Orlandi (3/3)Estimated reading time: 5 min.  Version française | Versione italianaWe intervied Marco Orlandi, researcher and professor at the Department of Cultural Heritage of University of Bologna.  His studies are mainly focused on technologies applied to the study, analysis and enhancement of cultural heritage. In this three parts interview he will introduce the works and challenges of FrameLab (Photo and Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage), a multidisciplinary team that foster research in digitization of cultural heritage. Read the first and second partHow do you evaluate the use of virtual technologies in the field of Cultural Heritage? Could they, according to you, be considered the future of conservation?I think that the conservation of Cultural Heritage consists in first instance in its material preservation, whenever possible. However, digital technologies offer us an extraordinary ease, never seen before, for their preservation. Take for example a manuscript document or a historical cartography: its material conservation must firstly be preserved, avoiding through physical restoration that the medium is eaten by too acidic inks. “The conservation of Cultural Heritage consists in first instance in its material preservation, whenever possible. However, digital technologies offer us an extraordinary ease, never seen before, for their preservation.”Once secured this aspect undoubtedly its high-resolution digital scanning and web-sharing between scholars and audiences will foster knowledge and inhibit its wear. Users who want to consult it will be able to see the digital copy without causing to this fragile document any mechanical stress due to the development or explanation of its parts (which usually results in a prohibition of consultation for anyone, due to the precarious conservative conditions fo the cultural good). Another approach is obviously need for archaeological situations that are in extreme danger, such as sites in conflict lands. In this case, their digitization is likely to be their only evidence in case of destruction and becomes a fundamental aspect to be done wherever it is possible.Virtual reconstructions may somehow have greater priority over the traditional methods of conservation? (i.e. if we think, for example, of archaeological sites in conflict zones..)I think that we have to distinguish between digital relief and digital reconstruction: digital relief, for example, through laser scanners or textured light, has revolutionized the heritage documentation system, enabling speed and measurement accuracy that were previously unthinkable in the field archeology. Today, I believe that a digital survey is a must for both physical interventions and digital reconstructions, especially in difficult contexts such as the conflict zones, where long digging and documentation campaigns are not possible or even risky. “I believe that a digital survey is a must for both physical interventions and digital reconstructions, especially in difficult contexts such as the conflict zones, where long digging and documentation campaigns are not possible or even risky.“Certainly, digital relief also serves as a basis for a possible reconstruction using rapid prototyping techniques or 3D printing (with all their limitations) of artifacts that unfortunately will be damaged or destroyed. In this case, however, we must have the awareness that, as far as the reconstruction is accurate, we are still in the presence of an irreparable loss, that is, of the original piece of art. I believe that the use of 3D models for restoration and reintegration will be one of the most developed issues in the coming years, also considering the increasing ability to print 3D in different materials. Instead, 3D reconstruction is concerning more about the sphere of memory and I would like to say also didactic. The reconstruction of a missing thing is the try to visually replicating the past architectural state of a building that we now see in different forms, also trying to convey its original use within a community of people: somehow, explaining the building function we end up explaining the social life of a past community.How do you imagine the future of the preservation of cultural heritage? How much space will they have new virtual technologies in it?If I had to answer this question a few years ago, I would have said with certainty that digital technologies would quickly become a standard for all cultural heritage contexts, from the survey to the communication, and that there would be new courses within our universities to form new ranks of conservators, with a solid historical-humanistic formation and a great propensity for digital. To date I think this process is in progress, though slower than I would have expected. There are certainly many digital application projects in heritage field. But besides many serious projects, there are also many approximate projects without a precise research goal, except the spectacularity of technology, that is fashionable from time to time and that is carried on without a proper preparation. “The disciplines related to Digital Heritage have not yet developed their identity despite being increasingly required at International level, as evidenced by the many H2020 calls, demanding developing technologies for the analysis and the fruibility of cultural heritage.“Despite the many advances made in recent years (such as the creation of the London Charter more than ten years ago), I think the disciplines related to the Digital Heritage have not yet developed their identity despite being increasingly required at International level, as evidenced by the many H2020 calls, where in the humanities field there is a very high demand for developing technologies for the analysis and the fruibility of cultural heritage. As far as Italy is concerned, the biggest problem is that in 2017 terms such as Digital Heritage, Digital Humanities or Digital History do not yet appear in the classification of university disciplines, especially in humanities. This means that Digital Heritage has not yet been felt as a discipline in its own right but as a derivation from other disciplines. I hope that within a few years, Digital Heritage will become a scientific field with its own identity and with its own teaching within each Degree in Cultural Heritage, so that a new class of humanists with digital skills can be trained, for a more comprehensive preservation of cultural heritage.  … what cultural good or archaeological site you dream to rebuilt in 3D?The projects that most passionate me do not relate to such archeological contexts far away in space or time, nor in striking or famous cases; one of the aspects that I love most is the reconstruction of urban contexts, also very close to us, but that over the centuries have changed to such an extent that even those who live there today would not be able to recognize them. “One of the aspects that I love most is the reconstruction of urban contexts, that changed over the centuries to such an extent that even those who live there today would not be able to recognize them.”A city before the advent of industrialization is already very different in its forms, in many cases plunged by watercourses that were at the same time energy sources for businesses or shops and ways for freight and trade. A digital model of an urban space or a territory spanning different times allows to compare the reconstruction of the past with the present state, and the comparison between past and present is the key to understand the change of a historical or archaeological context.Images: courtesy of FrameLab -- source link

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