Military service (the “naja”) was compulsory in Italy from 1861 to 2005. Mandatory military service aims to prepare young adults for a possible war, as well as give them discipline, order, obedience.

A process that started from research into military service, the places it had occupied and a collection of experiences, brought me to the “Tallone d’Achille” of Kronplatz, its “hidden” weakness: a disused military building. Through a first call with Thomas Reiter, a short piece of research and a visit I was able to collect information on it. The building was an accommodation for transmitters, and a radio relay for the military. Temperature, snow height, and wind speed were also measured and communicated through “Meteomont”: the mountain weather service of the alpine troops. Conscripts were sent there to make sure the equipment was working and to do a transmission test with Condor 1 which was then the army corps command.

What if the military, due to their need to be on high spots to communicate by radio and collect and transmit information, were the first inhabitants of Kronplatz? What if “thanks” to them, Kronplatz became the industrial mountain it is now? And what consequences has it brought? With my work and its process, I want to tell a story and raise a concern for the future, starting from the beginning and concluding here, on Kronplatz.

Live performance
Metal container (9.5 x 6 cm), USB flash drive, shovel

Gallery

shovel against white wall

installation view