Fondazione Alinari is attending the MIA Photo Fair BNP Paribas, which will be held in Milan from 20 to 23 March 2025.

Our Foundation, together with Art Defender, Gruppo Panini Cultura and Jumbo System presents the unprecedented project "Glass giants. Preservation, restoration and digitisation of the large-format photographic plates from the Alinari Archives", relating to the restoration and digitisation campaign of 170 collodion and gelatine glass plate negatives, of very large format. These glass "giants", made by the Alinari in the second half of the 19th century, are very fragile objects that have never been digitised and they depict masterpieces of Italian art, historical architecture and landscapes. In addition to its grandeur, this ensemble is striking in terms of quantity, photographic quality and rarity, making it unique worldwide.

After being kept for over a century at the Largo Alinari Photographic Establishment in Florence, in 2019 these extraordinary plates, together with the entire Alinari archive, became public property thanks to the acquisition by the Region of Tuscany and were transferred to the Art Defender vault in Calenzano. 

The digitisation project of these plates, carried out with gigapixel technology by Haltadefinizione - a tech company of the Panini Cultura Group - represents the first experience in Italy on objects of this size. After the digitisation, these plates, separated from their historical covering sleeves, will be conditioned and protected by new sleeves custom-made by Jumbo System.

At stand A20, this innovation will take shape in a display combining fine art prints and life-size reproductions of the plates, thanks to state-of-the-art digital tools. 

On Friday March 21 at 5 p.m. there will be a talk where the different phases of the project will be discussed in depth. 

MIA PHOTO FAIR BNP PARIBAS
STAND A20
Via Tortona, 27, 20144 Milan 

20-23 march 2025

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