The multifacted project Echo is the result of artistic research that deals with the archive of the Austrian Alpine Club in Innsbruck. Starting from a collection of over 40,000 photographs taken in the mountains and high alpine areas, Florence Cardenti was interested in images and scientific study devices from the surroundings of Innsbruck and the Tyrol region. This raw technical data enabled early maps to be made of the Alpine territory, which was still relatively uncharted before 1930. The artist developed methods to bring to light the aesthetic potential of photogrammetric imagery of mountain peaks.

Taking an archaeological approach to studying this particular media, Florence Cardenti collected stereoscopic images from the Alpine Club archive and reinvested them using contemporary spatial design techniques. Her interactive installations bring together the strength and the fragility of the alpine environment and offer viewers the opportunity to place themselves at the very heart of the experience. The three works presented, Vertigo, Gratwanderung and Stone Survey, invite the public to reinvent or rediscover the great mountain massif that evokes fear just as it inspires dreams. The project’s technical output aims to engage its viewer in a sensory experience as a way of reminding us of the power of imagination and our capacity of “being-in-the-world.”

ON THE CREST LINE

Cibachrome, black frame under glass. Size 70 x 93 cm. It is the last bath of Cibachrome available in France and echoes the obsolescence of techniques as well as the environment.

Four glass plates printed with silver bromide gelatin and four red negatives (reproduction of the card's tracings) printed with plexi. Size: 2 large formats, 40 x 50 cm and 2 long formats, 24.5 x 50 cm.