Atelier des Armes et des Bombes Atelier van Lieshout, 1999

The curators Florian Matzner and Angela Vettese, on the occasion of the IV edition of Arte all’Arte, invited the group Atelier van Lieshout, who intervened in Montalcino inside the fortress.

"Atelier van Lieshout intervenes in the fortress of Montalcino, commenting on its military vocation with sculptures whose recent materials (plastic fibers, fiberglass, steel) deliberately contrast with the ancient stones of the fortress. Outside, visitors are greeted by a truck that contains a sort of arsenal and is conceived as a mobile weapons factory; inside, the truck proves to be fully habitable, with a bed and a small kitchen area, as if its inhabitant should never detach from his work and his personal obsession.

Not far away stands a modified Mercedes with a cannon, a curious hybrid between a civilian status symbol and a military one. In a room inside, a managerial meeting room is set up, where stylized plastic figures lie on the ground. On the towers and along the walkways, fake cannons are scattered.

Due to their material and form, the works have the harmless appearance of toys, but their dimensions make them threatening. They are situated at the boundary between irony and the acknowledgment of a harsh reality: war is not a part of our past.

It has abandoned some places, such as the Fortress of Montalcino which has mainly become a gastronomic destination, but it has claimed others as its own and will never cease to exist. Aggressive behavior is inherent in the animal-man and has always been expressed in his childhood games.

In history it has not diminished at all; on the contrary, today it makes use of synthetic materials, industrial and repeatable weapons, and increasingly sophisticated reasons to channel primitive energies. Although the work has more playful than moral intentions, it tells us that failing to realize all this would be absurd and culpable."

“Arte all’Arte IV Edition 1999” curated by Florian Matzner and Angela Vettese