SENTIERO is a mountain path designed by artist Alex Cecchetti in Val Gardena (Bolzano, Italy), a journey into more-than-human presences and ecologies. Curated by Valerio Del Baglivo and exhibited for the first time at the 8th edition of the Biennale Gherdëina, SENTIERO is a two-hour one-to-one walk-piece, the result of a year of performances, hikes, art, and conversations between Alex Cecchetti, his collaborators, and local people. Accompanied by twelve guides to places where there is little human presence and invited to experience and engage with their surroundings, visitors are led to reflect on their relationship with nature, ecological practices, and thoughts, and to use all their senses to fully immerse themselves in these intricate forests.

The volume opens with an introduction by Valerio Del Baglivo, who contextualizes the project within Cecchetti’s practice. The second chapter SENTIERO is a readaptation of the performance experience through text and images; this is followed by a conversation between the artist and Lucia Pietroiusti, co-curator of the 8th Biennale Gherdëina (together with Filipa Ramos), accompanied by landscape watercolors made by the artist for the occasion; the third chapter is a letter to the artist from Nina Tabassomi, director of the Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, where the work was also exhibited; finally, it concludes with a text by philosopher Emanuele Coccia, who reflects on Cecchetti new art forms produced in collaboration with other species.

Publication produced by Biennale Gherdëina and Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol. SENTIERO was supported by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity by the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council Program (2021). -Publisher