Postgraduate Profile Michael Ann Bevivino

Biography: Michael Ann Bevivino was born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, DC, and received her BA from the University of Virginia (in Art History and Archaeology) in 2007. After a year teaching at a boarding school in England, she moved to Ireland in 2008 and completed her Masters in the UCD School of Classics in 2010.

She has worked with the Discovery Programme: Centre for Archaeology and Innovation Ireland on various projects since 2005 and was appointed as their Collections Manager (part-time) in 2022. Michael Ann served as a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland from 2013 to 2015, and as the Society’s Honorary General Secretary from 2015 to 2018. She began her PhD in the School of Art History and Cultural Policy in 2015.

Research: Breaking the mould: Ireland’s replicas of cultural objects from the historic to the digital is investigating the use of replicas of archaeological and other heritage objects in cultural institutions in Ireland. It will achieve this through a study of the parallels between historic replicas (such as those created in the nineteenth century and held by the National Museum of Ireland) and the current digital replication techniques being used by cultural institutions and heritage practitioners. These include methods such as laser scanning, photogrammetry, 3D modelling and 3D
printing.

The research asks a number of key questions, including: Why do we feel the need to replicate objects of cultural significance? With (digital) replicas all around us, do we still value ‘authentic’, ‘real’ objects above copies that can be mass-produced? How can cultural institutions like museums and galleries, and the general public, benefit from the use of new technologies and their collections of replicas? What is the long-term, intrinsic value of digital replicas, and what will happen to this data in the future? Finally, many of the digital replicas are being created for the same purpose as the historic replicas (cultural, educational and commercial), but will the fate of the digital replicas be the same as those created in three dimensions?

Keywords: Replica; Plaster cast; Mould; Reproduction; Digital technologies; 3D model; Object biography; Copies; Sculpture; History of collections; Classical reception

Contact: (opens in a new window)michael.bevivino@ucdconnect.ie

Supervisor: Professor Lynda Mulvin

Professional Activities:

•  Bevivino, M.A., ‘“A Rampage by Vandals”: The History and Destruction of the Plaster Casts of the National College of Art and Design of Ireland’, in A. Alexandridis and L. Winckler-Horacek (eds), Destroy the Copy: Plaster Cast Collections in the 19th–20th Centuries, De Gruyter, 2022.
• Bevivino, M.A. with E. Bhreathnach and L. Shine (eds), Discovery Programme Report 9, A Research Miscellany, Wordwell Books, 2018.
• Bevivino, M.A., 'Lost and (re)found: investigating Roman artefacts in Ireland', in M. A. Jankovic and V. D. Mihajlovic (eds), Reflections of Roman Imperialisms, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.
• Bevivino, M.A., 'The Laocoön’s painted toe nails: some thoughts on copies of Classical sculpture in Ireland', in J. Fenwick (ed.), Lost and Found III: rediscovering Ireland’s past, Wordwell Books, 2018.
• Bevivino, M.A. and R. Shaw, 'Embracing Historic Replicas Through a Digital Medium: the Irish Context’, in C. Haak and M. Helfrich (eds), Casting: a Way to Embrace the Digital Age in Analogue Fashion? A Symposium on the Gipsformerei of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2016.
• Bevivino, M.A., 'Two recently restored high cross replicas in the collection of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 142/143, 2015.

• Conference paper: '"Spoiled incurably for want of a six-penny feather brush": the rise and fall of Ireland’s collections of classical copies’, Casted Plaster, Art or Craft?, Maastricht Institute of Arts of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, 22 November 2023.
• Lecture: 'Replicating the crosses of Kells', Tara Lecture Series, Tara Visitor Centre, Tara, Co. Meath, 18 July 2022.
• Conference paper: 'Replicating the crosses of Kells’' Monuments Matter (online), Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 16 June 2021.
• UCD Classical Museum Seminar: '"Spoiled incurably for want of a six-penny feather brush": the rise and fall of Ireland’s collections of classical copies’, Online, 15 October 2020.
• Conference paper: 'Replicas of Artefacts from Ferrycarrig, Co. Wexford', Digging the Lost Town of Carrig Conference, Irish National Heritage Park, 19 October 2019.
• Conference paper: 'Truly Immaterial? Using Applied Technologies to Investigate the Historic Plaster Casts of the National Museum of Ireland', Lasting Impressions Study Day 2019, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 28 June 2019.
• Conference poster presentation (with Robert Shaw): 'From Plaster Casts to Laser Scans: Applying Digital Technologies to Historic Reproductions in Ireland', Celebrating Reproductions: Past, Present and Future Conference, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 17–19 January 2019.
• Conference paper: 'Analogue or digital, what’s the difference? Exploring the parallels between historic and digital replicas of cultural objects', Seeing Through Time: Exploring the Use of 3D Models of Objects in Archaeological Research Conference, UCD, 15–16 October 2016.
• Conference paper (with Robert Shaw): ‘Embracing historic replicas through a digital medium: the Irish context’ (with Robert Shaw), Casting: a Way to Embrace the Digital Age in Analogue Fashion? Seminar, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 27 November 2015.
• Conference paper: 'Breaking the Mould: Ireland’s Replicas of Cultural Objects from the Historic to the Digital', Virtual Heritage Network Ireland Conference, Maynooth University, 20 November 2015.
• Conference paper: 'The “Brave Celt” Versus the Roman Empire? The Case of Ireland’s Plaster Casts', Destroy the Copy II Conference, Freie Universität, Berlin, 9 October 2015.
• Conference paper: 'Replicating replicas: from 19th-century plaster cast to 3D digital replica', Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) Conference, Siena, 31 March 2015.