Walking Backwards

“In a garden everything is green and nothing is the same.Tree after tree, step after step, the story of this garden and its plants is revealed, until it merges with our own. When we walk backwards, we leave the future behind, and the past presses in the distance in front of us, on the horizon. We have the chance to say your goodbyes. And if a branch touches our back, or a flower gently caresses our hand, suddenly it will become apparent that images do not depend on light – as we dream with our eyes closed, don’t we?” In this site-specific work by Alex Cecchetti, the spectators are invited to walk backwards along a narrative path. With a guide walking on their side and stories of trees, plants and herbs whispered in their ears, they are accompanied in this immersive experience until they become the garden itself and realise that there are no beginnings and no ends: the path welcomes all choices.

Alex Cecchetti is an Italian artist, poet, painter and performer based in Paris. His performances have been presented in museums throughout Europe, including the Centre Pompidou, the Jeu de Paume and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Serpentine Galleries in London, the MAXXI in Rome and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin. In 2012 the CAC in Vilnius hosted his solo exhibition. In 2015, on the occasion of FIAC in Paris, he developed the project Voices of Urgencies at the École de Beaux Arts, blending poetic interventions with the social sciences. In 2017 two solo exhibitions at CCA Ujazdowski in Warsaw and at the Ferme du Buisson in France showcased his latest “post mortem” work Tamam Shud. In 2018, Spike Island in Bristol (UK) and Void in Derry (IR) have hosted exhibitions focusing on his research on musical sculptures, “At the Gate of the music Palace”. The Serpentine Galleries in London will present this year The Astronomic Weather Choir, a choir singing atmospheric events. Forthcoming this year are also collaborations with Castello di Rivoli in Turin for the Cerruti collection.