Just as easily as we are fascinated by the anatomical and poetic perfection of classical statues, we tend to overlook the more physical effort that went into making the works. Carving the marble blocks required immense physical effort from the great artists, which now technology and new instrumentation could almost totally diminish.
Filippo Tincolini and Giacomo Massari, starting with the idea of trying to bring the great sculptures of art history into today’s technological world, have created Robotor, a robot capable of replicating the perfection and beauty of these sculpted marble blocks through a mechanical arm guided by software.
The robotic chisel has the ability to regulate itself by adapting speed, effort and power according to the surface and shape to be modelled. It recreates the style of the great masters of art as delicately and decisively as Antonio Canova’s reproduction of Tersicore and Amore e Psiche.
The machine is capable of replicating any 3D shape, even starting from very large blocks that allow the life-size reproduction of the works. The software not only plays a preliminary role on the work of art, but also allows the machine to choose which point or process to use during the sculpting, polishing and other phases of the work.
A project that was born in the Carrara district, the same district where Michelangelo chose the blocks for the works commissioned by the Renaissance popes. Robotor is a new way of looking at ancient art; if it is true that the meaning of works changes according to different eras, it makes sense to make an effort to understand the confrontation that pits craftsmanship and technique against technology and its ability to simplify the gesture.
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