Workshop “Rediscovering plaster casts through AI and 3D technologies: bridging research, education, and engagement” a the Antikenmuseum – University of Lipsia
Gipsoteca di Arte Antica 6 November 2025 - 7 November 2025
The Plaster Casts and Antiquities Museum of the University of Pisa (GiArA) is implementing a program to enhance the value and accessibility of its collection using advanced digital technologies.
Coordinated by the MARSIA Lab of the Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge (University of Pisa), the program develops complementary tools, accessible both remotely and on site, addressing the needs of specialists as well as the curiosity of non-expert visitors.
Two projects are central to this initiative.
One is the VIOLA chatbot, designed by the Media Integration and Communication Center of the University of Florence within the framework of the Horizon 2020 ReInHerit Project. VIOLA is a server-based chatbot system that integrates computer vision and natural language processing, allowing users to explore the museum’s collections via web and mobile interfaces, using their own smartphones without the need to download any application.
The second project, Digital Twins, arises from the collaboration between the MARSIA and LaDiRe laboratories of the University of Pisa. Digital Twins involves surveying and publishing online six works from the plaster cast collection, selected for their scientific significance: on one hand, original integrative reconstructions, and on the other, copies of sculptures that are inaccessible or lost, for which the casts represent the only available three-dimensional testimony. The initiative was born from the primary goal of digitally preserving unique works while simultaneously making them available to the scholarly community, together with models of sculptures that are currently inaccessible or lost, so they can be used for teaching and research purposes. However, these models quickly revealed their full potential, proving useful for multiple other applications, both in the areas of enhancement and education. Some of them have already become central to an exhibition project.
Chiara Tarantino is going to present these project at the Antikenmuseum University of Leipzig during the workshop “Collections of Historical Plaster Casts between Physical Presence and Digital Representation” on 6th and 7th Novembre 2025.