1st June – IPERION Webinar #03 – MOLAB: (MObile LABoratory) & Islamic Manuscripts

The webinar takes place online and will introduce participants to the MOLAB platform.

Registration: http://www.iperionhs.eu/webinar-3-registration/

The MOLAB (MObile LABoratory) is the IPERION HS platform that provides access for the Heritage Science (HS) community to key mobile laboratories and to the associated scientific expertise. It is composed of a set of mobile equipment and related competencies, for in-situ non-destructive measurements of artworks, collections, monuments, and sites made available for access through IPERION-HS. The value of MOLAB is twofold: first, the possibility of applying a multi-technique integrated approach that overcomes the intrinsic limitation of individual methods; second, the ability to analyse heritage objects without the need to move them. MOLAB started in 2004 with only two providers and now features 17 facilities across 10 countries offering access to 48 different instruments. The new MOLAB platform within IPERIONHS includes mobile laboratories with competencies in-ground and aerial remote sensing as a key to enable interdisciplinary research in new fields and application scenarios.

Kristine Rose-Beers, Head of Conservation at the Chester Beatty in Dublin (Ireland) will talk about “Manuscript materiality and MOLAB: investigating the Islamic book at the Chester Beatty”. The presentation will offer a user’s perspective on working with the IPERION HS MOLAB team at the Chester Beatty in Dublin. Two projects have used the portable and non-invasive analytical techniques provided by MOLAB to investigate the materials of Qur’an manuscripts and advance understanding of Islamic manuscript material. Both projects were driven by the conservation team, and have required multidisciplinary collaboration including conservators, historians, and scientists. The results from these projects have added considerable new information to our understanding of these manuscripts: in particular, Islamic manuscript materiality in the early 8th century and the palette of a mid-16th century Qur’an from Shiraz. David Buti, responsible for MOLAB Helpdesk at CNR (Italy), will present “MOLAB: Bringing science to heritage objects of research“. His presentation will give an overview of the MOLAB history and the current offer of services; it will also focus on the lifecycle of MOLAB proposals and projects, from the user support to the physical access.

Date
1st June 2021 at 3 pm CEST

You will learn

• What MOLAB is
• How to access MOLAB
• How MOLAB can improve your research

Key topics we’ll cover
Heritage Science and Mobile Laboratories

Duration
1 hour (40 minutes + 20 minutes Q&A)

Speakers.

Kristine Rose-Beers
Kristine Rose-Beers ACR is Head of Conservation at the Chester Beatty Library and an accredited member of the Institute of Conservation. She specialises in the conservation of Islamic manuscript material, with a particular interest in the importance of materiality and codicology to contemporary conservation solutions.
Kristine graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2002 and has worked at Cambridge University Library, the Chester Beatty, and as Assistant Keeper (Manuscripts and Printed Books) at the Fitzwilliam Museum, before returning to Dublin in 2015. Kristine has taught and lectured internationally and is a member of The Islamic Manuscript Association and the Kairouan Manuscript Project.

David Buti.
David Buti is a researcher fellow at the Institute of Heritage Science (ISPC) of the Italian National Research Council, Italy. He oversees the User Helpdesk of the Transnational Access Activities of IPERION-HS and he is access manager of the MOLAB platform within the Italian node of ERIHS. He obtained a PhD in Conservation Science at the University of Florence, in collaboration with the CNR-ISTM and the Centre SMAArt. His PhD research focused on the investigation of Mesoamerican manuscripts and their constituent materials. After his PhD, he got a six-year position as a conservation scientist at the National Gallery of Denmark – Center for Art Technological Studies and Conservation (CATS) expanding his competencies and investigating several kinds of artworks – from old masters to contemporary art – characterizing artist materials, understanding degradation processes and assisting conservators and art historians.