‘With every step’ installation unfolds in the Italian Dolomites
As part of SMACH 25, the seventh edition of the international open-air art biennale, a large-scale installation titled ‘With Every Step’ by graphic designer Hans De Backer, also known as Drukdoenerij, has been realized in the landscape of the Italian Dolomites. The work explores perception and movement through spatial composition and site-specific intervention.
Installed across a mountain valley, the piece comprises 146 vertically positioned wooden poles. Arranged with precise alignment, these elements collectively form an anamorphic message that becomes legible only from a singular viewing point. This approach relies on the principle of forced perspective, where disparate elements align visually only from a designated position, activating the work through spatial engagement.
all images by Gustav Willeit
Drukdoenerij’s work emphasizes time, space, and perceptual shift
The installation responds directly to its environment, integrating into the alpine terrain of the Dolomites, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site. Designer Hans De Backer’s (Drukdoenerij) work is one of ten proposals selected for SMACH 25, chosen from over 300 international submissions by a jury chaired by designer Stefan Sagmeister.
This year’s biennale operates under the theme La cu, a Ladin term meaning ‘the whetstone.’ The curatorial framework references sharpening tools as a metaphor for shaping the future while acknowledging historical context. De Backer’s intervention addresses this theme by requiring physical movement through the landscape for the message to become visible, foregrounding the relationship between time, space, and perception. ‘With Every Step’ installation is accessible to hikers and visitors throughout the summer, forming part of a wider dialogue between contemporary art and the Dolomites’ natural and cultural heritage.
146 wooden poles span a mountain valley in the Italian Dolomites
an anamorphic message emerges only from one precise viewpoint