Multi-Scale Survey and 3D Data Analysis for Conservation of Contemporary Art

Contemporary art conservation increasingly relies on digital technologies capable of delivering accurate, non-invasive documentation across multiple scales. Within this framework, the study addresses the challenges of documenting and monitoring artworks integrated into historical architectural contexts, proposing an interdisciplinary and need-driven approach where conservation requirements guide technological choices. The methodology combines four survey techniques (static and mobile laser scanning, photogrammetry, and structured-light acquisition) to evaluate their effectiveness within a multi-scale workflow supporting conservation-oriented documentation. The workflow is tested on the Centro per la Scultura Contemporanea in Cagli, Italy, a museum where contemporary installations are structurally and conceptually connected within the historical architectural space. The paper presents a comparative assessment of the four sensors, considering both qualitative and quantitative parameters. Comparative analyses of the resulting point clouds was carried out using cloud-to-cloud distance measurements with a terrestrial laser scanning dataset as reference. Error distribution and geometric deviations are assessed to evaluate the performance of each sensor according to the scale and purpose of the survey. The results demonstrate that accessible and portable instruments can produce datasets targeted at conservation processes, when integrated within coherent digital workflows, in which architectural, spatial, and object-scale models are combined to create a digital documentation framework.