Altalena

2022
Bronze, rope; variable dimensions, seat dimensions in bronze
cm 60x33x3

A sentence is engraved on the bronze axis of a swing: All present days are alike, each past day is different in its own way.

It is my elaboration of the famous opening of Anna Karenina by Tolstoy: All happy families are alike but every unhappy family is in its own way. My sentence is engraved divided into two parts:

"All the present days are similar to each other" is engraved in one direction of the axis while "each past day is different in its own way" is engraved in the opposite direction, the two senses correspond to the two directions traveled by the swing when it is in motion , back and forth.

When someone uses the swing by hiding the writing with his body, he will make it visible with his voice by enunciating it while swinging.