War
against war

For decades following the Second World War, war existed as memory, as a celebration of resistance, and as attention to struggles for liberation from colonialism and dictatorships; it was the seemingly endless war in distant Vietnam, it was the Cold War with all its tensions and precarious balances. Such themes resonate throughout Vietri’s works, until, at the beginning of the 1990s, war once again crossed the borders of Europe, soon involving Italy both inside and outside the continent. A shocking shift in perspective that gave war growing centrality in Vietri’s production throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Stories of wars that never really ended unfold — wars that still reverberate in our present and that Vietri compels us to confront through reason, critical reflection, and historical consciousness. The analysis is ruthless, the imagery grows progressively more dramatic, as does the call for peace — a universal moral principle and the very foundation of freedom and justice.

Over forty works on display embody this sustained reflection, bearing witness to its vivid relevance today.