Preservation as a Creative Act: Perils to Venice in the 21st Century

with
Adam Lowe
Director of Factum Arte & Founder of Factum Foundation

Tuesday, 13th May 2025
Doors open at 6.30pm, lecture starts 7.15pm

The Royal Geographical Society
1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR
(visitor entrance is on Exhibition Road, nearest tube station South Kensington)

Tickets: £35
(to include a glass of prosecco before the lecture)

Book your place online - see Dates & Prices below

All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Venice in Peril

Can a cultural experience that had been lost be regained? What is the relationship between originality and authenticity? How can modern technology better serve cultural preservation? And what are the underlying problems of experiencing art in the context of mass tourism, rising water, and the ecosystem of the lagoon? These and many other crucial considerations for Venice are being explored by the ingenious work of a pioneering group of artists, technicians and conservators based in Madrid under the direction of Adam Lowe. From an extensive recording of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore to the high-resolution recording of paintings, sculptures, textiles and manuscripts, Factum Foundation is monitoring change and drawing attention to new threats to the city. In this groundbreaking talk Adam will draw on examples of his group’s work in Venice and beyond that explore preservation as a creative act.

Adam Lowe is a Royal Designer for Industry, the director of Factum Arte and founder of Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Preservation. He was trained in Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford and the RCA London. In 2001, he created Factum Arte, a multidisciplinary workshop dedicated to digital mediation for the production of works for contemporary artists. He founded Factum Foundation in 2009 with the aim of using innovative processes and technologies for preservation, high-resolution recording, education, and thought-provoking exhibitions. He was an adjunct professor at the MS Historic Preservation at Columbia University, New York between 2016-2020 and now works with the Bodleian Libraries on the ARCHiOx initiative. In 2024 he led the team making the post-tensioned bronze Diplodocus that stands in front of the Natural History Museum, London.

Main image credit: Adam Lowe in front of the facsimile of The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese, installed on San Giorgio Maggiore in 2007. The work was commissioned by the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice with the collaboration of the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Credit: © Factum Arte