antonio rovaldi - dreaming of thoreau's home, 2006

dreaming of thoreau's home, 2006

TRACKING HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Why is Henry David Thoreau still so important for us today?
Because we’re paying attention to him, at last.
Where does the topicality of this XIX Century anarchist lie?
For example in the fact that there are governments very different from one another that jointly continue to menace the preservation of our planet. Our true interests are not of a political kind, but of a global nature.
When I read Thoreau I am always amazed at discovering that all the ideas that I have had in fact do have a solid foundation. I find Thoreau’s thought to be extremely vital, it conveys energy. For example, take this excerpt that I recently chanced upon: “If when I am in the woods the woods did not live inside me, what right would I have to be in the wood?”

from “Conversing with Cage” (Richard Kostelanetz, ed., Routledge 2002) - adapted from the Italian translation

A few years ago, after discovering his name on a book about John Cage, I began to study Thoreau’s works: the reading of ‘Walden, or Life in the Woods’, then ‘Walking’ and finally ‘The Maine Woods’ more than once drove me to think about a project to be dedicated to the great American transcendentalist writer who spent part of his life in complete solitude in the woods, far from civilization.

In this particular occasion, Thoreau represents only the point of departure for a crossing through the places that are described in his works. The project proposes to undertake a true journey, in which to set up a private dialogue with the great writer: from beginning to end, Thoreau would not merely figure as a “spiritual” guide in this case, but more as a floating voice leading me through the landscape.
Where does the city begin, and where does it end?
What is landscape, where is it and where does it bring us?