UNESCO / Blue Shield Denmark: Backup Ukraine

As Ukrainian citizens bravely fight for their lives and country, groups and individuals among them are working to physically save Ukraine's architecture and cultural heritage. Untold numbers of antiquities and monuments are being actively removed from harm's way, where possible. But many others have already been, or will be, lost. The loss of art, and its cultural value, occurs in almost every armed conflict. The challenges in saving artifacts during an active war are many, and rarely a priority as infrastructure and resources are rightfully dedicated to more pressing priorities.
Agency: Virtue (Vice)
But in the digital era, mobile 3D scanning technology available through Polycam offers a way to save full renderings of any physical object. Backup Ukraine is an initiative inviting civilians to digitally preserve their nation. The Danish UNESCO National Commission, Blue Shield Denmark and Polycam, a powerful prosumer app that allows anyone with a newer iPhone or iPad to completely capture objects or even rooms in 3D, are partnering to repurpose the core Polycam product and distributing it to create a means for any person in Ukraine to quickly and easily scan and upload digital renderings of important architecture, statues and monuments. The initiative is creatively initiated and co-ordinated by the research and innovation arm within Virtue, the agency powered by VICE. Ukraine has been under nearly constant bombardment for over a month, during which time brave citizens subjected themselves to great risk to try and physically remove Ukrainian artifacts from harm’s way. In many cases, those items are very large or altogether immovable, leaving them vulnerable to destruction.