The Wolfsonian–FIU debuts photographer’s new work documenting World War I legacy

Taken 100 years later, photographs of Alpine front by photographer Luca Artioli show the remnants of First World War trenches and complement major exhibition Myth and Machine. (Photo courtesy of Luca Artioli)

This spring, The Wolfsonian– FIU unveils an installation of new photographs by contemporary artist Luca Artioli that document the enduring legacy of the First World War.

Comprised of seven black-and-white inkjet prints installed throughout The Wolfsonian’s lobby, A Fatal Pass: Entrenchments on the Alpine Front reveals the scarred landscape of northern Italy’s Stelvio Pass—a significant combat zone still disfigured a century later by the remains of trench warfare—as it appeared during the artist’s visit to the mountain region last year.

Marking the first time these images will be displayed publicly, the installation is an extension of The Wolfsonian’s efforts to honor the recent centenary of the war and coincides with the museum’s exhibition Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture, on view through April 5, 2015.

“Artioli’s photographs show the tangible traces of the First World War in the natural Alpine landscape as it can be experienced today,” said curator Silvia Barisione. “They stand in stark contrast with the violence and despair of trench warfare as seen in the sketches of the soldier artists on view in Myth and Machine.”

The photographs were shot during Artioli’s June 2014 visit to the Stelvio Pass with Italian General Antonio Pennino. The Stelvio Pass was a key site of contention between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies, and as the soldiers readied the area for war— leveling peaks, opening roads, digging tunnels, and constructing trenches for shielding soldiers and positioning artillery—they left an indelible mark on the land that remains recognizable today.

Set in the midst of expansive Alpine vistas, the images in Artioli’s series belie the brutal conditions that soldiers endured on the front lines, from sub-zero temperatures and avalanches to the confines of claustrophobic, chaotic quarters.

For more information on exhibits at The Wolfsonian-FIU, visit the museum’s website.