Client: Fondazione museo storico del Trentino (TN)

Project: "The People of Trentino and the Great War"

August–November 2008

Exhibiting history: The reinvention of a genre. Black and white. Two abandoned tunnels, which are dark and empty (useless) because the traffic has been routed elsewhere. This pair of tunnels are about 300 metres long and bore through the rock from South to North and North to South, parallel to each other
and the River Adige. The town centre is a stone’s throw away.
Many, perhaps too many metaphors come to mind: to do with speed and traffic and flows. But the oxygen of this urban project comes from just a few clearly defined assumptions. The straightforward (intelligent) reuse of a defunct urban structure (analogy: the High Line planted routeway in New York); the reinvention of a well-established typology (the ultra-traditional historical museum); the team work (Trento-Stanford-NYC-Bolzano) which networking makes possible in today’s world; and close collaboration between local institutions (the Trento Province’s governing council and the Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino) which decide the themes for this space but allow them to be interpreted freely. The tunnels reopened in 2008 with an exhibition called “I Trentini e la Grande Guerra” [The People of Trentino and the Great War]. The idea was that, if it proved to be a success, this inaugural exhibition would be a kind of a prototype, and that’s exactly what has happened. Using very much the same formula – sequencing in sections, immersion in black darkness and educational material in white – though with a rather different layout, a second exhibition called “Storicamente ABC” [Historically ABC] is now due to open. This time, one major spin-off landmark in the area will be two themed gardens at the Southand North entrances to the tunnels. (anna foppiano)


2008 Edition: “The People of Trentino and the Great War” To traverse the tunnels is to set out on a march among long-buried individuals, documents brought back to life, objects that have survived the years. The black tunnel (South to North) contains a phantasmagoria, a parade of ghosts that weaves together the voices and images of ordinary people into a choral account of the war’s unfolding. The white tunnel (North to South) is built around three separate sections. The first contains a sequence of eight small structures modeled after the temporary buildings in the refugee camps, known as “cities of wood”, each of which documents a key moment of the war; the second displays objects, artworks and material remains that document how the war was lived by common citizens; the third is mainly divided between temporary exhibition and educational areas. (jeffrey t. schnapp)

Filmwork / Schnapp / Terragni / Gruppe Gut  The Tunnels project team – an interdisciplinary group located in several different places – is coordinated by FilmWork-Trento, an independent production company that operates across a wide range of fields (art-history-architecture), and comprises Jeffrey T. Schnapp (USA, 1954), who teaches Comparative Literature at the Stanford University, where he founded the Stanford Humanities Lab; Elisabetta Terragni (Italy, 1961), an architect who lives, works and teaches in Como and NYC (Studio Terragni Architetti); and the Gruppe Gut (Bolzano), for the graphic design. A virtual version of the project can be found on Second Life.