For more than a decade, museums around the world have been making high-quality 3D scans of important sculptures and ancient artifacts. Many institutions freely share their 3D scans with the public, allowing us to view, copy, adapt, and experiment with the underlying works in ways that have never before been possible.

But some museums keep their scans hidden, and I’ve been trying to help them see the light.

At the links below you can read how I used German Freedom of Information law to force the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation—one of the largest cultural organizations in the world—to publish their secret 3D scan of their most prized possession, the 3,300-year-old Bust of Nefertiti.

You can also read about my efforts in France’s supreme court for administrative justice to establish the public’s right to access 3D scans of Auguste Rodin’s works and public domain artwork held by the French Ministry of Culture and French national museums.

There are a few more scans and institutions I have my eyes on, and I hope to be able to share more about those soon.

• MUSÉE RODIN
• RÉUNION DES MUSÉES NATIONAUX
• NEFERTITI
• SMITHSONIAN
• STANFORD/CANTOR RODINS
• MICHELANGELO’S DAVID