Palindromos
Wunderkammer Festival, Trieste, Italy
22 | 25 October 2024

Do you know when they say “Could you please design a WOW project!”?
Well, this time I did it for real.

Palindromos, a term or phrase that can be read the same way in both directions. Palindrome,
a concept symbolized by the number 3, the quintessential palindrome, the essence of the circle,
the Trinity, of being ancient and modern. Palindrome, meaning to run backward, which
captures the spirit of Wunderkammer: rediscovering music and instruments from our “yesterday,”
performed in our “today”: from the Present (contemporary performers) to the Past
(ancient musicians) and back to the Present (concerts featuring ancient music played by
contemporary performers).

To translate the theme of the Festival into visuals, I worked with 3-letter palindrome words
and use them throughout all communications. Wunderkammer is therefore a WOW / astonishing
Festival, a SOS / salvific Festival, an ORO (meaning Gold) / precious Festival, and a POP Festival,
made to include everyone. And many other things…

The decorated rosettes of harpsichord and lute – the main instruments of this edition’s program –
become pure geometry. Circles built of circles, intersecting lines, segments, the “idea” of a star,
symmetries, palindrome forms ante litteram. And then red and purple, non-complementary
but adjacent colours, that run backward and “chase each other”, merging into each other.
Once again, palindromes.

See you in a month in Trieste for Wunderkammer Festival 2024.
It’s going to be fun – actually, astonishing – truly, WOW!
8 concerts in a single weekend.

Will you be there?

Palindromos
22 | 25 October, 2024
Trieste, Italy

(Music: Variations Goldberg played by Frédérick Haas)