APAC Labs researchers attend heritage science workshop hosted by the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture in Athens

Earlier this month, APAC Labs researchers Dr. Andreas Manoli, Dr. Pengxiao Hao, and Prof. Nikolas Bakirtzis attended the workshop ‘Art Meets Innovation: DHSPI Technology “Measures the Invisible”’ at the Benaki Museum of Greek Culture in Athens. The workshop showcased groundbreaking new technologies in the field of heritage science, with special focus dedicated to the Digital Holographic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (DHSPI) system – a technique developed at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH), advanced within the European Programme iPhotocult (coordinated by FORTH), and the precursor to the commercial SafeRay4Art AI-powered device developed and globally marketed by the Holometrica startup.

The DHSPI tool uses laser light to detect and measure, with nanometer accuracy, microscopic deformations and structural flaws beneath the surface of a work of art, in this case, icons and artworks from the Benaki Museum collection, long before they become visible to the human eye. This allows conservators to transform invisible threats like cracks and detachments into a detailed map of interferometric fringes, and move from remedial conservation to preventive conservation, safeguarding the future of our global cultural heritage.