Alex Cecchetti - the post-mortem investigation of the victim into his own assassination. The only clue—found in a secret pocket sewn inside his trousers—that detectives have recovered is a fragile piece of paper torn from the pages of a book with the words Tamam Shud, “this is the end,” written on it. Experts, antiquarians, and opium smokers have been consulted

Alex Cecchetti, Tamam Shud, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw + Sternberg Press, 2018.


http://www.alexcecchetti.com/tamam-shud/

http://www.alexcecchetti.com/texts-alex-cecchetti/official-website/
excerpts




“I am dead. Homicide, assassination, accident, suicide, the detectives have come up with nothing. The labels in my clothes, my fingerprints, my shoe size, everything has been unstitched, erased, wiped away, blanched, bleached, and consigned to oblivion. As the only clue, in a secret pocket sewn into my trousers, the detectives found a flimsy slip of paper torn from the pages of a book. On that folded bit of paper just two words, Tamam Shud, ‘this is the end.’ Experts, antiquarians, and opium smokers have been consulted, and all agree that these are the last two words in the Rubaiyat, an ancient collection of esoteric poems written by a Persian poet named Omar Khayyam. What the hell do I have to do with poetry, Persia, and hidden pockets? I can’t even sew on a button. My identity is still unknown and not even I remember much. This is why I have decided to investigate my own death.”
The Tamam Shud narrative emerged through a series of episodic performances and an exhibition by Alex Cecchetti at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw. For two years the writing process and the artistic process were interwoven, feeding each other as they evolved. The art project and the artist’s novel are linked together as much as the life of the victim is connected to the piece of paper found in his pocket.


I am dead. My body has been found somewhere between Los Angeles and Warsaw, dismembered. Murder, accident, suicide, detectives haven’t found anything relevant, my identity is still unknown and me also, I don’t remember much. This is why I have decided to investigate over my own death myself. Only clue, in a secret pocket sewn inside my trousers, I have recovered a fragile piece of paper torn from the pages of a book, written there, the words "Tamam Shud, this is the end".

"To die without memories, this is the horror. You know, life is short, but death never ends. And now I have no one to love and no one to hate for eternity. This is why I have decided to investigate my own death."

http://moussemagazine.it/alex-cecchetti-tamam-shud-la-ferme-du-buisson-centre-contemporary-art-noisiel-2017-2018/

http://www.zerodeux.fr/en/essays-en/alex-cecchetti-pierre-paulin-maxime-rossi/