Quiet Ensemble's 'Fragile' in a Florence WWII bunker turns digital errors into art

The Roman collective Quiet Ensemble presents 'Fragile', a site-specific digital art exhibition at Rifugio Digitale in Florence, an air-raid shelter tunnel built during World War II and renovated by Archea Associati. Sixteen screen panels hung on the bunker walls project images of broken monitors, with irregular lines and colors mapping a fragile, invisible limbo. The installation is accompanied by a soundtrack of sonified gravitational waves detected by VIRGO at the Cascina Observatory and ambient noises from the bunker's intercom. The exhibition, curated by Serena Tabacchi and Vincenzo Napolano, results from a collaboration between Quiet Ensemble and the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO). 'Fragile' builds from an imperceptible vibration to a collapse, inviting quiet contemplation of nature through imperfection. Rifugio Digitale, opened in 2022, hosts about seven exhibitions per year, bridging digital art and history. Quiet Ensemble, founded in 2009 by Fabio Di Salvo and Bernardo Vercelli, explores the relationship between technology and nature, embracing randomness and error as symbols. The bunker, located near Piazzale Michelangelo, was originally built to protect Florentines from WWII bombings.