In the theoretical part of my master's thesis, I explore the role and significance of copies in conservation-restoration. By doing this, I try to break down some aspects of the relationship between the original and the copy, or rather, the relation we have to one and the other - how do we experience original artworks and how copies? This is where the issues of authenticity and aura most clearly arise, which I also bring attention to. Furthermore, I present photogrammetry, as well as 3D scanning and printing technologies, which have brought a new dimension to the copying of artworks, and I outline some recent examples of the use of both technologies in conservation-restoration, with an emphasis on sculptures.
In the practical part I have tested some of the 3D scanning and printing technologies discussed in the theoretical part. Firstly, I present and evaluate the results of scanning three outdoor sculptures – selected on the basis of materials (bronze, marble and concrete) and accessibility for manual scanning – with the use of multi-image photogrammetry, as well as the results of scanning an original miner’s lamp with a structured light scanner. Lastly, I present a copy made with the help of 3D scanning and printing technologies – a miner's lamp, which was part of a bronze statue in Ljubljana entitled Monument to a Miner by Alojzij Kogovšek, before being lost.
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