‘Videocittà’, the Digital Vision Festival returns to Rome and focuses on water

The Festival – which makes use of a new governance which sees Natalia Bagnato in the role of strategic consultant and the support of Eni – will be able to count on the artistic direction of Anna Lea Antolini, on the creative direction of Michele Lotti, will propose light installations, immersive, interactive and Virtual Reality experiences, video art, live A/V and DJ sets, talks and performances. A rich and composite program animated in particular by the presence of various digital works. Also this year the large G4 Gazometer will light up with a light installation, visible from the southern quadrant of the citywhile ‘In Lympha’, the large immersive installation conceived and produced by Eni in collaboration with Videocittà, will invade the spaces of Opificio 41 interpreting water as an origin and generative principle: that which nourishes, sets in motion and from which every form evolves and expands.

An environment in which the forms of life emerge, transform and dissolve, in an open and continuously evolving system in which the spectator is crossed by vision. Images of oceans, rivers and rains from all over the world will give shape to the immersive and multidisciplinary installation ‘Water: always the same, always different’, combining the research of Giuseppe La Spada – an Italian artist with collaborations ranging from Ryuichi Sakamoto to Franco Battiato – the sounds of Francesca Heart and the bodily research of the Brazilian performer Amanda Lana. “Videocittà – said Federico Mollicone, president of the Chamber’s Culture Commission – is a great festival supported at a national level also by Mic. The relationship between Rome and water is age-old, let’s not forget that Rome is the city of spas”. In this sense, the theme of water “is the most suitable” for the city”.

For the first time, Cao Yuxi, a Chinese artist among the most relevant figures on the contemporary scene, will be attending the festivalwhich will present the Italian premiere of its famous immersive installation ‘Nature’s Computility’: an enveloping waterfall which, through the use of algorithms, decodes the beauty of nature and returns the flow of water in very high resolution dynamic visualizations. Cao Yuxi’s work will be in perfect harmony with the space that hosts it: the Opificio 60 Nord – which Videocittà uses thanks to the collaboration as experience partner of eFM, an international platform company leader in digital real estate and co-founder of ROAD, which opens its new space for the first time: a PlaceTech Lab that can be crossed by different realities and languages ​​- art, technology, innovation, research – capable of generating experiences and therefore value.

The event will open on July 10th with Sara Persico and Mika Oki, winners of the Videocittà Awards 2025 in the AV performance category for a live performance that blends experimental electronics, sound art and radical vocality. Following, Mace, one of the most influential producers on the contemporary Italian music scene, who after two sold out forums and the recent participation in the Opening of the Winter Olympics, will bring an audiovisual DJ set to Videocittà, built together with Sugo Design, which translates sound into landscape and vision. On 11 July Adrian Paci will present in dialogue with the curators the work ‘Turn on’ and two of his works that have water at their centre: ‘Di questo luci si servire la notte’, a video installation born from a performance created in the Arno river, and ‘The Column’, a visual metaphor on work, cultural identity and the dialogue between East and West, which intertwines art, migration and the dynamics of globalisation.

Finally, this year Cinecittà will also be involved in the event and will launch a prize for young people. “It is necessary to open the doors of Cinecittà so that the myth is passed down. We are also doing this thanks to the collaboration with the Archivio Luce which turned 100 last year. Therefore in July we will launch an initiative aimed at under 35s which concerns a contest that Cinecittà will finance by making the Archive and the entire structure available”, said CEO Manuela Cacciamani.