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CHANGE School Poland

CHANGE School Poland
Photo: ESR 13 Alessandra Marrocchesi

Home office. Lectures, presentations, meetings – all online. They had all been through it, numerous hours of theoretical content presented through a screen, with few breaks and limited social interaction. Now, the agenda was full of activities we used to describe as normal, like interacting with people and read their body language at the same time. It was set for a new CHANGE School – this time in person enabling practical work with tangible objects!

The destination was Warsaw, Poland, the city where three of the CHANGE partners are located. The organisers, led by Professor Robert Sitnik at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), had prepared an interesting programme, balancing the imaging and conservation aspects of the CHANGE research in an excellent way. – “Both imaging and conservation topics were covered in a way that actively involved us, making the learning process fun”, says ESR 13 Alessandra Marrocchesi about the interactive sessions of the training school.

The first two days of the Poland School were spent at the Faculty of Mechatronics, WUT, introducing the ESRs to the more technical part of the programme, namely 2D/3D/4D Multimodal Data Acquisition. ESR 8 Ramamoorthy Luxman highlighted the hands-on tutorial on the cutting-edge instrumentation for multimodal data acquisition and processing, saying it was useful in getting insights into the technology.

Photo: ESR 8 Ramamoorthy Luxman

– “ I had an opportunity to use and contemplate systems like computed tomography, white light interferometry and structured light 3D scanner which for me was inspiring and helped me widen my notion for my current research ”, he says referring to his research on Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).

The first two days of training on imaging technology were followed by an introduction to conservation and restoration methods with Professor Jacek Martusewicz at the Academy of Fine Arts. This was a new experience for several ESRs. – “It was the first time I attended a hands-on class in a conservation lab, and it was very fascinating to directly experience the different techniques introduced to us”, Alessandra says. Ramamoorthy agrees, – “the training offered a really rare opportunity for me to get introduced to the restoration of decorative ceramics and structures of woven textiles, cyanotype photographs, and the physics behind it”. These insights were useful, providing the ESRs with a broader understanding of the field, placing their individual research in a wider context allowing new ideas for possible applications of their projects to grow.

The last part of the school was set to the picturesque venue of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów where Eryk Bunsch guided them through their Laboratory for 3D Documentation, teaching the ESRs about their need to create digital documentation of cultural heritage objects. Overall, both Alessandra and Ramamoorthy were satisfied with the training experience and felt it was incredibly useful and truly inspirational. It kept them engaged from morning to evening with several technical as well as social activities.

Photo: The CHANGE group outside King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów