In September 2012 The Dolomiti Contemporanee was asked to manage a permanent centre for Contemporary Art in the town of Casso. The venue, former a primary school is now finally being reused after 50 years of neglect.

The building in fact was partially destroyed by a wave of water caused by a landslide falling into a nearby artificial lake. The event, infamously known as the tragedy of the Vajont was in 2008 declared by UNESCO one of four “cautionary tales”, caused by “the failure of engineers and geologists”1

Completed in 1959 the Vajont dam was built to create an artificial lake in order to produce electric power and hailed as one of the tallest in Europe and an example of progressive engineering. Signs of geological instability around the mountain Monte Toc, on the southern side of the basin became evident during the early stages of filling but were ignored by the authorities. On the night of 9th October 1963 a landslide of over 200 million cubic metres fell into the lake producing two waves. One hit the towns around the basin and the primary school which is now the centre for Contemporary Arts. The second came over the top of the dam and acquired a tremendous power of destruction running down a narrow valley. The fury of the water and the consequent shockwave lead to the complete destruction of the town of Longarone and its surrounding area. Over 1,500 people died and no buildings were spared.

The Dolomiti Contemporanee occupies the space of Casso’s primary school that had been left abandoned since that night of 1963. The visible signs of that tragedy are carved in the entrance wall which has been left untouched by the restoration, in memory of the terrible tragedy.

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