Alps – Macromicro

The “Alpi 2020” expedition was divided into three main stages: the first two on the Italian side for two consecutive summers in 2019 and 2020, the third on the French, Swiss and Austrian foreign sides in 2021.

In the summer of 2019, the group began exploring the Alps, focusing on the entire western area: the glaciers of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and Bernina. In the summer of the following year, 2020, the expedition travelled the entire Alpine arc from west to east, starting again in the Aosta Valley, reaching as far as Friuli Venezia Giulia, and concluding, at the end of the expedition, on the Gran Sasso to photograph Europe’s southernmost glacier, the Calderone. Monte Bianco, Gran Paradiso, Monte Rosa, Bernina, Ortles-Cevedale, Adamello, Dolomiti, Alpi Giulie and Gran Sasso. These are the mountain groups explored, photographed and monitored.

The main objective was to create the most consistent archive of photographic comparisons in the Alps and to collect scientific data on the condition of Alpine glaciers.

An objective that was successfully accomplished, considering the large number (211) of photographic comparisons carried out preceded by more than three years of iconographic research on more than 70 photographic archives in more than 150 fonds including museums, foundations, geographical societies, national and civic libraries throughout Europe, as well as the scientific authority of the research institutes involved:

ESP (Department of Environmental Sciences and Policies) of the State University of Milan, DIATI (Department of Environmental, Territorial and Infrastructural Engineering) of the Polytechnic University of Turin, SGL (Servizio Glaciologico Lombardo), CGI (Comitato Glaciologico Italiano), Université Savoie Mont Blanc, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich, the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS).

The researchers were present in the field together with the expedition team, carrying out their research activities with different methodologies each time.

With this latest expedition, the field phase of the entire 12-year project has come to an end. In addition to combining photography, scientific research and popularisation, it has created the world’s largest archive of photographic comparisons of the planet’s main mountain glaciers, making it possible to monitor the changes in glacier masses over the last 170 years thanks to the discovery of photographs that also predate 1850.

“In these 12 years of expeditions to glaciers around the world,” said Fabiano Ventura, “I have observed with my own eyes the damage humanity has inflicted on Planet Earth. By now there is little to talk about, but there is much to do: stop the predatory overexploitation of natural resources, convert production from impactful to sustainable, plan a fair redistribution of natural wealth among all peoples. In short, understand once and for all that we cannot live healthy and happy in a sick world. If politics does not act in this direction, it is we citizens who must resolutely demand it by taking action on a daily basis. But to do this we must be aware of the seriousness of the situation. This exhibition is meant to be one more tool for everyone’s awareness.