Digitization, Virtual Reality and Robotic Sculpture for the Preservation and Enhancement of the Public Heritage of the Sculpted Rocks of Rothéneuf

Abstract

The sculpted rocks of Rothéneuf, located between St-Malo and Cancale, are one of Brittany’s best-known spontaneous environments in the form of monumental sculptures in the Outsider art. They were made between the end of 1894 and 1907 by “Abbé Adolphe Julien Fouéré”, known as “Abbé Fouré” (1839–1910), and range from bas-relief to fully exposed faces. The site welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each year. Old photographs of the sculpted rocks, the “Abbé Fouré” and his Hermitage have been digitized and can be consulted on the internet. “Abbé Fouré” also produced wooden sculptures which he kept in a hermitage with a garden which was transformed after his death into a museum in the village. The wooden works disappeared at an unspecified date. The hermitage has also been extensively modified since that time. The sculpted rocks of the site are increasingly eroded by maritime conditions (salt, wind, water spray and run-off), mosses and lichens, as well as by the frequentation of the site (repeated passage of visitors). This erosion seriously compromises the legibility of the sculptures, which are clearly seriously altered when compared with old photographs of the site. Created in 2010, the association Les “Amis de l’Œuvre de l’Abbé Fouré” has set itself the mission of memory: to make the “Abbé Fouré” known. The association organizes exhibitions, guided walks and other events to promote the site and Outsider art. A collaboration between this association, a national school of land surveyors and a public research organization has led to the creation of a methodology combining virtual reconstitution and real reproduction by robotic sculpture. This is now presented in an interpretation centre to seal the dissemination and preservation process.