Establishment of dedicated Art Characterization research laboratory at STARC as part of the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia

Establishment of dedicated Art Characterization research laboratory at STARC as part of the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia

Advances in Science and Technology have revolutionized the documentation and study of art and archaeology. Issues of style, iconography, technique, provenance and materiality addressed through innovative digital and analytical methods, have transformed the history of art, the archaeological method, the preservation of cultural heritage and their relevance for contemporary societies. Responding to these developments, the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia (Cyprus) established ten years ago STARC, the Research Center for Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture. Faculty and staff at STARC study archaeology and cultural heritage using methods from the natural and engineering sciences in cross-disciplinary collaborations with scholars from the humanities and social sciences, leading to new insights into the past and better protection and dissemination of our cultural heritage.

STARC research is conducted in partnership and through joint activities with numerous national and international government agencies, university departments and research units. Its founding partner is C2RMF, the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France, and strong partnerships exist also with Princeton University, CNR in Italy, the University of Cambridge (UK), and many others. STARC is the Eastern Mediterranean hub in the European Research Infrastructure on Heritage Science (E-RIHS). While part of a national research institute, the research activities of STARC go well beyond Cyprus and focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (the EMME region), in four main areas: Digital Cultural Heritage, Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes, Bioarchaeology, and Archaeological Materials.

Building on STARLab, a successful EU-funded project creating a mobile platform for non-invasive science and technology applications in archaeology and cultural heritage, STARC recently established the Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Laboratories (APAC Labs), to offer a holistic approach to art characterization. Specifically, the labs pursue:

A) Research, to advance the effective use of heritage science and technology in the characterization of works of art, monuments and related archaeological materials.

B) Innovation, to develop task-specific service protocols related to material characterization, provenance, condition assessment, and identification of works of art and cultural heritage artefacts.

C) Training and Education, to offer training events, workshops and seminars to experts and students from both the humanities and the sciences, thus exposing them to interdisciplinary methodologies and approaches.

The APAC Labs comprise an interdisciplinary research pipeline that is based on a broad and multi-scale diagnostics approach, integrating inorganic / organic physico-chemical methods with reflectography, multi-spectral imaging, and surface 2D imaging/3D geometric characterization. Acquired data are archived in repositories as part of Dioptra: the Edmée Leventis Digital Library for Cypriot Culture (dioptra.cyi.ac.cy) and managed in coordination with CyI’s Cy-Tera High Performance Computing Facility.

Digital documentation, spectral imaging and analytical work on Byzantine icons, frescoes, mosaics and paintings by artists such as El Greco, Titian and Giovanni Baronzio have already offered exciting results on aspects of technique and materials used. In addition, they have provided new insights into the history and preservation of these works. Scientific visualization has allowed the virtual reconstruction of heritage-at-risk monuments, such as the church of Christ Antiphonitis, fragments of archaic terracotta statues from Salamis, now dispersed across numerous museums and collections across the world, or fading graffiti in the medieval churches of Cyprus and Venice. Moreover, the use of virtual immersive environments offers tremendous possibilities in the simulation of heritage contexts, such as the historic old city of Nicosia, or the prehistoric World Heritage Site of Choirokoitia.

As part of their research activities and development the APAC Labs will be offering fellowships for visiting scholars and students as well as training and workshops opportunities. For more details, updates and contact information please check the APAC Labs website: apac.cyi.ac.cy

The Cyprus Institute (CyI) is an internationally recognized research institution, created by the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation (CREF) as part of its vision to help transform Cyprus into a knowledge-based economy, and to advance the welfare of the island and the region.  It is carrying out pioneering research involving cutting-edge technologies, in order to address problems of regional and international significance; much of its research is funded by competitive national and European (FP7 and H2020) grants. At the same time, it provides training for future researchers and scholars through its high quality Doctoral and Master’s programs.  CyI comprises of three specialized multidisciplinary research centers, developed in partnership with leading international institutions in their respective thematic areas.

The Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) partnered with the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF).

The Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center (CaSToRC) partnered with the University of Illinois.