In the Garden of Idne (Solo show)
Dec 12, 2014 / Jan 11, 2015
Oxholm Galleri, Copenhagen (DK)



Nunzio Paci, in the body of work conceived for the show “In the Garden of Idne”, recovers the myth of the Vegetable Man belonging to ancient Jewish Folklore. In this new series, the Italian artist (b. 1977) continues to explore the theme of closeness to Nature, imagining a return to the beginning. 


Some verses of The Book of Genesis, according to alternative interpretations, suggest that before our world, God had created 1.000 different worlds which were destroyed and then forgotten. Others indicate that God had made various attempts at making man. 


Little record remains on these early attempts, but it is known in Jewish mythology that the first one was Idne or Adne Sadeh. Idne was described as a manlike creature who was regarded a plant rather than a man. As told by Louis Ginzberg in “The Legends of the Jews”, “His form is exactly that of a human being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel-string, upon which his life depends. The cord once snapped, he dies”. 


“In the Garden of Idne” is Paci’s attempt to evoke our lost bond with Mother Earth. But it is also a journey in a land of primitive experimentation, a garden laboratory where the artist analyses the origins of human life.

(Monica Zaghi)
Installation view
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