Lee Monument Comes Down in Virginia, Goes on Display in Switzerland

Maryland-based 3D capture artist Terry Kilby, president of Kilby Imaging, LLC, announced today his inclusion in the upcoming exhibit Deep Fakes: Art and Its Double, at EPFL Pavilions in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kilby used drones and ground cameras to 3D scan the recently removed Robert E Lee monument multiple times, in ultra fidelity, between June 2020 and August of this year. The monument saw months of protest, leaving it covered in layers of graffiti that evolved with each of Kilby’s scans. EPFL developers created an interactive art display that seamlessly merges Terry’s 3D models, 360 VR photographs and audio to recreate the specific environment he encountered on each scanning session. Deep Fakes opens to the public on September 17 and runs through February 6 of 2022.

While exhibition goers can view the whole experience on large interactive displays at EPFL Pavilions, Mr. Kilby also made the monument available to the public through several methods, including a free AR smartphone experience and upcoming NFT drops on the Foundation marketplace. A portion of the profits from NFT sales will fund drone and 3D scanning STEM education for school kids in Richmond, VA. Based out of Baltimore, Maryland, Global Air Drone Academy has already signed on to provide training. The AR experience was built by another Baltimore company, Baltivirutal, with a long-standing relationship with Kilby. “I wanted to work with companies from my hometown of Baltimore to give back to the people of Richmond. Baltivirtual and Global Air Drone Academy are both leaders in their respective industries, and I’m excited to have them on board,” Kilby stated in a recent interview.

Mr. Kilby has been a long-time advocate of using 3D scanning as a leading method of documentation for historic sites and current cultural events. “Future generations of students will not be limited simply to books and photographs to learn about history; they will be able to visit the past themselves through 3D captures while having a fully immersive experience with their subject of study. Several colleges and high schools are already using the Lee monument capture to open dialogue about the racial tension that erupted in 2020,” Kilby said. “I honestly believe that some of our nation’s most cherished historical artifacts of the future will include 3D captures of transitional moments taking place around us right now,” he continued. Kilby is in early talks with some top museums to make the Robert E Lee 3D captures available for future generations and hopes to make an official announcement on that later in the year.

Throughout his career, Terry Kilby has worked on 3D projects for the U.S. Department of State, NASA, and The Smithsonian Channel, among others. He specializes in aerial photography and drone photogrammetry and is among the nation’s first drone pilots using the technology. For more information about Deep Fakes: Art and Its Double, click here.