Forewords by Karl Hartwig Kaltner
Prefazioni di Karl Hartwig Kaltner

At the entrance to the exhibition rooms on the First World War in the Museum of Military History, visitors encounter the large-format canvases by Salzburg artist Karl Hartwig Kaltner. Under thick layers of colour, they reveal textiles and models of destroyed vehicles from the First World War. They in turn frame an installation work with shovels and text fragments by Giuliano Orsingher, whose joint works with his brother Renato can be found in the adjoining exhibition room. In their installation ‘MEMORIA’, Kaltner and the Italian-born Orsingher brothers deal with the traces of the First World War in the psyche of the survivors and the apparent impossibility of ever coming to terms with them or even forgetting them. In doing so, they pose the question of how these traces provided the breeding ground for the totalitarian systems that soon re-emerged in Europe.

A catalogue accompanying the exhibition will be published in January 2025. The artistic intervention can be viewed until 31 March 2025. It is part of the programme commemorating the start of the First World War 110 years ago.

© Karl Hartwig Kaltner, Renato Orsingher