Drawing its title from Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, Jacopo Mazzetti’s The Sleepwalkers (2025) brings together objects from disparate origins. The assemblage resonates with the ominous sense of somnambulism attributed by Clark to the march toward catastrophe.  Central to the composition is the monumental Bugatti column, an emblem of opulence and refined artistry. This symbol of wealth encases within it a spectral presence—a flayed skull, fully visible only when the viewer bends down, almost forcing an act of reverence or submission. Elevated on the uppermost pedestal rests the delicate figure of Saint Cecilia—a virgin martyr—here portrayed lying lifeless, her face covered by a shroud, embodying the immolated victim and byproduct of this structure. The work’s interplay of concealment and revelation draws attention to the subtle mechanisms of systemic violence, through which suffering is both produced and obscured.

Drawing its title from Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, Jacopo Mazzetti’s The Sleepwalkers (2025) brings together objects from disparate origins. The assemblage resonates with the ominous sense of somnambulism attributed by Clark to the march toward catastrophe.  Central to the composition is the monumental Bugatti column, an emblem of opulence and refined artistry. This symbol of wealth encases within it a spectral presence—a flayed skull, fully visible only when the viewer bends down, almost forcing an act of reverence or submission. Elevated on the uppermost pedestal rests the delicate figure of Saint Cecilia—a virgin martyr—here portrayed lying lifeless, her face covered by a shroud, embodying the immolated victim and byproduct of this structure. The work’s interplay of concealment and revelation draws attention to the subtle mechanisms of systemic violence, through which suffering is both produced and obscured.