Artist Uses 3D Printing To Preserve Artifacts Destroyed By ISIS

tedlistens writes: "From the burning of the Library of Alexandria to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban, to the Nazi's battle to burn as much "degenerate art" as they could find, mobs and soldiers have been quick to destroy what took societies centuries to create; what museums and collectors spent decades collecting, preserving, and documenting for the public." However, as noted by Motherboard in an article to which tedlistens links, "The digital era looks different: files can be cheaply hosted in data centers spread across several states or continents to ensure permanence. Morehshin Allahyari, an Iranian born artist, educator, and activist, wants to apply that duplicability to the artifacts that ISIS has destroyed. Now, Allahyari is working on digitally fabricating the sculptures for a series called "Material Speculation" as part of a residency in Autodesk's Pier 9 program. The first in the series is "Material Speculation: ISIS," which, through intense research, is modeling and reproducing statues destroyed by ISIS in 2015. Allahyari isn't just interested in replicating lost objects but making it possible for anyone to do the same: Embedded within each semi-translucent copy is a flash drive with Allahyari's research about the artifacts, and an online version is coming.

Comments

Preserving is not the right word

[ArcadeMan]

Low-resolution copies of the originals does not help preserve the originals.

Re:Preserving is not the right word

[Anonymous Coward]

When the originals have been destroyed, low resolution copies are wonderful.

Re:Preserving is not the right word

[Shoten]

Low-resolution copies of the originals does not help preserve the originals.

That's a good point. Perhaps we could drive the point home by bombing Mecca and then providing a low-resolution copy of it to fulfill the same purpose.

Re:Preserving is not the right word

[Jhon]

We don't have Plato's original manuscripts. Those copies have sure come in handy. We don't have Caesers' De Bella Gallico, yet those copies are nice. I can list hundreds of examples.

Don't underestimate the importance of copies.

Re:Preserving is not the right word

[Whiteox]

All of the museum pieces have been 2D photographed or drawn. The drawings are not what we would call truly realistic. 2D photo and film does not translate to 3D copy easily, although I feel that with the right technology, some items can be made into a 3D representation. As for drawings, check out the early lithographs/woodcuts and even colour plates (zoological for instance) of a few hundred years ago and compare them to RL. There is a marked difference.
3D scanning is a very new technology and some artefacts can be visualized using this method. That's about it as very few have been recreated. The National Museum of Rome is a good example of what can be done with plaster moulds and sculpture. The museum model makers have filled this place up with copies of everything as much as they are able. Some of it is not to scale however.
Elements of ISIS are destroying everything that is not Islam and in the cradle of civilization, this means that some of the heritage of most of us is slowly being destroyed eg artefacts from Mesopotamia, Sumer etc. This is hypocritical as the Kaaba (the place the muslims face for prayer) has origins that are pre-Islamic that was once full of statues of pagan gods.
Uncomfortably, we lose artefacts all the time. This is no different and any attempt to preserve and re-create lost ones are worth the effort.

Sure, makes complete sense

[frovingslosh]

And if ISIS were to kill Will Weaton, that is OK since I have his Wesley Crusher action figure.

Not the same, but I guess the best we can do

[Dutch Gun]

I'm afraid that willfull, destructive ignorance and barbarism isn't a problem that technology can solve. A digital copy, however perfect, remains a copy, and by nature, can't be used as proof that there ever *was* an original, which is the entire purpose of ISIS's destruction of these relics.

I don't mean to denigrate these efforts. I mean, I'm really glad to see some part of these works preserved, but... Human lives are transient, and we weep at senseless killing, but one thing humans can do to achieve a bit of immortality is to leave behind a long-lasting legacy of culture and art. ISIS is not only insistent on killing people in the present. Destroying these artifacts is like killing artists' legacies from the past as well.

Re:Not the same, but I guess the best we can do

[Dutch Gun]

No, you insensitive clod, I was speaking of artistic, historic, and cultural value. Any artwork of significant artistic, historic, and cultural value will also tend to command a high monetary value, but they're not valued because speculators have assigned some arbitrary dollar value to them.

Interesting Idea

[J Story]

It seems to me that if museums, as a matter of course, scan and extensively photograph all new inventory as well as old inventory -- and put the data on the interwebs -- that will provide some protection from the pigshit known as ISIL as well as other semi-human garbage. It would generate a lot of data, but these days that seems pretty cheap.

Part of the problem is that, although it is possible for museums from stable nations to storehouse collections from museums in unstable regions, the practical end result could be that those regions would be unable to show artefacts for decades or centuries. Further, if an official from semi-civilized country Y says, "give us back our junk", who is authorized to say yes or no, even if the purpose of getting stuff back is to destroy it? As I understand it, even now, items in museums in stable democracies are being returned to the country from which they were were taken, because those countries are asking for them back. Scanning such items before returning them at least provides the possibility to make a backup in case the original is damaged or destroyed.

dammit, it's the best he has.

[turkeydance]

yeah, it's not perfect, but he's actually DOING something.

Ministry of Truth, anyone?

[VanessaE]

From the article:

By erasing all evidence of both the pre-Islamic past and alternative interpretations of Islam, ISIS hopes to create a world where knowledge of any belief system except their own interpretation of Islam is forgotten forever.

These people (that is, the extremists) honestly believe they can make this Orwellian fantasy come true in the digital age? Sure, the world will lose a lot of precious artifacts, but information can't be destroyed - and that's withOUT people like Allahyari acting to resurrect those artifacts. The world needs more people like him.

*shakes head*

Re:Hmm...

[techno-vampire]

And yet, we all know that the Mona Lisa that we all know and love is a fake, but that doesn't stop millions of people from admiring it every year.

Misrepresenting what the Nazis did

[Vlad_the_Inhaler]

to the Nazi's battle to burn as much "degenerate art" as they could find

The "degenerate art" removed from the museums headed in all sorts of directions,

• Sold on the international markets to raise money for the Reich
• vanished into private hands - Cornelius Gurlitt's collection resurfaced as recently as three years ago
• vanished into private hands and then was destroyed in allied bombing raids
• destroyed by the Nazis

Hitler used to use Baedeker travel guides as a guide to what should be destroyed, although a famous library in the Netherlands was bombed at the start of the war "just because". After the Allies (ok, the British) destroyed a few German cultural spots of neglible military value, the Luftwaffe was sent to destroy highlights selected from Baedeker such as Coventry Cathedral.
There were two Warsaw uprisings, the Jewish one and then later - with the Soviets approaching - the Polish one. As revenge for the second one, buildings were blown up in the order of their ranking in the Warsaw Baedeker - best to worst. The Soviets ceased their advance and waited for the Nazis to suppress the uprising before resuming operations. That is one of the factors behind the Polish attitude to Russia, Katyn being another big one.

With ISIS (I thought it was ISIL) now starting to operate in Saudi Arabia, I wonder if Islamic sites are in danger. One would think not but I had not expected the recent suicide bombings either.