Claes Oldenburg Red Tights Case Study

Digital Restoration: Claes Oldenburg Red Tights

The Story:
The Museum of Modern Art, located in the city of New York, was founded in 1929 as an educational institution. The museum has very strict policies for the acquisition and handling of art for its collection. When it is time to deaccession or archive a work from the collection, MoMA's Collections Management teams take the utmost care to keep every work in its best possible condition. Like most museums, conservation is an essential part of the work done by the museum.

MoMA has a large number of works by the artist Claes Oldenburg in its massive collection.Oldenburg is a Swiss born, American artist who challenged the Abstract Expressionism that was so popular in his day with his work using figurative images as well as found objects. Oldenburg's Red Tights with Fragment 9 is an example of early American Pop Art and was exhibited in MoMAs On to Pop exhibit beginning in 2010.
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The Challenge:
Create an archival base that the Claes Oldenburg work will lay over perfectly to create the safest possible crate for exhibition. return to full slide show
The Solution:

3D laser scan the under-side of the piece on-site at MoMA using a spherical scanner
Create a 3D digital model of the under-side of the piece
Using the model create a base that will fit perfectly underneath
Work closely with MoMA conservators to design the base to their specifications
Rapid Prototype portions of the base for testing against the actual Oldenburg piece
Make necessary changes to the 3D digital model
Send the data out for milling return to full slide show

Applications

Digital Molds
3D Archiving
Digital Sculpting
Restoration
Replicas and Editions
Enlargements and Reductions
Crating and Exhibits
Research and Analysis
Fundraising

Services

3D Scanning
3D Modeling
Visualization
Fabrication
Project Management