From September 15th to December 13th, 2020 the gardens of Villa Borghese, one of the most famous and beloved historical parks in Rome, will host the outdoor exhibition ‘Back to Nature’. This project showcases contemporary art installations, which dialogue with nature and connect to the spaces of the Roman park, following the principles of transparency and light.
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An extensive exhibition project that reflects on our future and on the need to build a new relationship between man and nature. On display, a series of installations by contemporary artists, designed to be exhibited outdoors and appreciated by the public. The artworks are located in a way to offer the visitors the opportunity to rediscover the spaces of the park in a contemporary key. In fact, for this occasion, the green areas of the park have been designed and reinvented by internationally renowned artists such as Andreco, Mario Merz, Mimmo Paladino, Benedetto Pietromarchi, Davide Rivalta, Grazia Toderi, Edoardo Tresoldi, and Nico Vascellari.
‘Back to Nature’ represents an absolute novelty within the cultural programming of the city. It is the first project to showcase contemporary art installations as part of a strategy aimed at enhancing the historic parks of the capital city. The artworks find common ground on the theme of transparency, by establishing a unique harmony with the surrounding nature and creating a perfect coexistence between each other. The artworks are increasingly meant to immerse the visitor within the green areas of the park. In this way, the public becomes the main character of the exhibition and experiences the park in its entirety by interacting with the works proposed by the artists.
The exhibition path unfolds within the Parco dei Daini and the area of Piazza di Siena, extending to the Carlo Bilotti Museum and the Pietro Canonica Museum. The work that will inhabit the Parco dei Daini is the ‘Double Igloo’ by Mario Merz, created on the occasion of a large exhibition that the Fundacao Serralves of Oporto dedicated to the artist in 1999. Carrying on with the exhibition, Mimmo Paladino has created a new work for this occasion, taking inspiration from the details of the sculptures that once decorated the small streets and hidden corners of Villa Borghese.
Andreco, instead, intervenes inside Villa Borghese with ‘Drops’, an installation of five new sculptures created from the study of geometric forms. Moreover, Davide Rivalta will showcase a large bronze buffalo fused with the lost wax method, in close dialogue with his lions exhibited on the steps of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Edoardo Tresoldi, engaged for the first time in a public installation in Rome, brings to Villa Borghese ‘Etherea’, a large transparent and inhabitable sculpture aimed to dialogue with the trees of the Parco dei Daini. Among the institutional spaces involved in the event and located inside the Villa, there is Casa del Cinema, where Benedetto Pietromarchi will hold a solo exhibition, curated by Paolo Falcone, with works created with the recycling of some of the villa's arboreal elements.
The initiative is produced by Romarama, the program of cultural events promoted by Roma Capitale and organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura. The project is in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, which participated in the development of the contents and choice of the artists. Finally, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, are the promoters of the performance program that will animate the festival during the opening period, through appointments on weekends and in some evenings.
Cover image: ‘Back to Nature’ at Villa Borghese, installation view, Photo credits: Simon d’Exéa
Written by Maria Eleonora Piva
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