In 2021, the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the collaborative team of DAMSS premiered a monumental installation inspired by his Inferno, a work of art approximately 13 by 39 feet (4 meters tall by 12 meters long). DAMSS are continuing their visions on the future of humanity, previously expressed in the textile masterpieces of their art quilts dedicated to the cities of Milan, Rome, and Venice.
The Inferno 3000 project took form very slowly, developing into a unique composition of nearly 50 square meters—a powerful narrative that addresses our recent history, which Dante never could have imagined. Flowing across the visual expanse of the installation, we can witness the most distressing chapters of the 21st century, with many references to the future
DAMSS tell us: “We would like for Inferno 3000 to have significance for the past, for the present day, and for a distant future, portrayed through a dystopic vision of a turbulent inferno stemming from the characteristics of contemporary society.
On the one hand, viewers of our artwork will be moved to reflect on the dangerous state of planet Earth, and to consider the succession of natural and biological phenomena which our planet is sacrificing because of our activities. In our monumental art quilt, this millennium is represented by terrorist attacks, massive fires caused by arson, devastation of our forests, overpopulation especially in our huge cities, uncontrolled extraction of petroleum, maddening industrial production, unregulated use of fossil fuels, and irresponsibile nuclear testing.
On the other hand, nature is manifest through furious volcanic activity, catastrophic tornados, successive earthquakes, melting of large glaciers triggering severe climate change, with increasing drought and destruction of our major water reserves. To all this are added asteroids crashing into Earth, acid rain, and awakening of an implacable millennial virus released upon the world by uncontrollable melting of the permafrost.
Incapable of confronting these subjects, with their inevitable consequences, humanity is abandoning the planet, looking for alternative solutions in outer space, with numerous launchings of astronauts.
The malady of this millennium will be an anthopocentric view of life on our planet, about which DAMSS are depicting the effects of several dilemmas hostile to our very survival.