Acronym: REM@KE

Description

The project develops Cognitive and Digital Organology (CaDO), an interdisciplinary framework that integrates organology, cognitive science, artistic research, materials science, and acoustics to reconstruct the lost connections between historical keyboard instruments and the composers and performers who created music through them. The research outcomes will be made available in open access through the REM@KE portal, as well as through restored instruments and newly built scientific replicas intended to form a permanent research infrastructure.

The role of CNR ISPC in REM@KE

The Institute joins REM@KE thanks to its strategic contribution to the project's non-invasive diagnostics programme. As coordinator of E-RIHS.it, the Italian node of the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS ERIC), CNR ISPC provides access to MOLAB (MObile LABoratory), a mobile laboratory platform dedicated to the in situ analysis of cultural heritage assets. Through a comprehensive suite of portable analytical techniques—including Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, FTIR hyperspectral imaging, optical coherence tomography, UV/IR reflectography, X-ray radiography, and terahertz imaging—it will be possible to characterize materials, construction techniques, and conservation conditions directly within museum environments, without the need for sampling or moving the objects.

Within the framework of REM@KE, MOLAB will be employed to develop the CaDO documentation protocol for historical keyboard instruments. The analytical programme will generate the first systematic, multi-technique diagnostic dataset for this category of instruments, providing a robust scientific foundation for conservation and restoration decisions, historically informed physical reconstructions, and the development of their digital twins.