Members of Kent State’s Design Innovation Initiative created a 3D-printed replica of the Liberty of Poetry statue that enabled visitors to see the Italian predecessor to the U.S. Statue of Liberty.
Kent State University and the Opera di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, collaborated on the creation of “Sisters in Liberty: From Florence, Italy, to New York, New York,” an exhibition that was presented at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in late 2019.
The exhibition featured two distinct sculptural personifications of liberty: New York City’s Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World and Florence’s Liberty of Poetry. Exhibit visitors participated in a multimedia experience as they considered the question “What does liberty mean to me?”
As a part of this collaboration, the partners leverage existing unique and innovative tools and platforms of the university, including Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, Design Innovation Initiative and the digital visualization technologies from collaborating faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Aeronautics and Engineering, the College of the Arts and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
Kent State sent a multidisciplinary research team to 3D scan and digitally capture Pio Fedi’s Liberty of Poetry statue, located in the Cathedral Santa Croce in Florence. Utilizing very high-resolution scan data to create a 3D-printed replica, the 80 percent scale reproduction allowed visitors to see the Italian predecessor to the U.S. Statue of Liberty located directly across Ellis Island to Liberty Island.