A multifunctional space, MagmaLabSpace, located in Via Pietro della Valle 15, in collaboration with Oroincentri, opens for the first time to the public with “Arcacci - contemporary views on Roman aqueducts”.

The exhibition focuses on Rome historical water supplying system, with special reference to aqueducts. These monumental buildings provided large quantities of water to the ancient city -as much as one billion litres per day-. Over the centuries, they stir up great admiration, suggesting evocative descriptions in images and words in modern and contemporary artists and writers.

The intent of the exhibition is to stimulate reflection on the paradox of the situation of the city during of last summer, considered as one of the hottest in the last decades. After months of drought, when finally rain came, we assisted, at the same time, to the start of an alarming number of fires, with critical conditions of water emergency and flood problems, due to insufficient drainage. Aqueducts and extraordinarily decorated Baroque fountains, tell us the story of a city which, from antiquity, has met the needs of Romans and always surprised visitors for the copiousness of available water.

The contexts in which the artists have worked are very different, and all the three have described aqueducts according to their personal vision, each one investigating the subject in dissimilar circumstances and practices.

Andrea Aquilanti, in accordance with his expressive style, which combines the statical bi-dimensionality of drawing and painting with the illusory play of depth of field in the video projection, proposes an    elaboration of the Roman aqueduct architectural profile.

Stefano Esposito chooses the uncommon snow silence of the Roman suburb,  to unroll a film, a running train in the unusual whiteness of a passed winter, an ephemeral, odd image, so unreal, that it seems artificially created.

Gianni Fiorito, stills-photographer in Paolo Sorrentino’s movie, La Grande Bellezza, presents a work on the main character Jep Gambardella, elegant in a white suit, walking along the arches succession of the aqueduct Claudio. In addition to the easy comparison with the nineteenth-century aristocratic visitors of “Grand Tour”, Fiorito's shot suggests a second reading that brings back the character played by Toni Servillo to his role, as  a disenchanted observer who does not delay moralism, but observes with disillusion the moral and cultural deterioration of his time, revealing, with a little bit of cynicism, the cunning of those who try to sell themself as artists or intellectuals.

Aqueducts, the giants of water, now seem to be groups of prisoners, narrowed in the suburban landscape of crammed constructions; yet, despite barbaric invasions and modern carelessness, they add rhythm and solidity with their poor materials to an horizon that still irresistibly attracts our gaze.

During the open, on Monday 9 October 2017 from  18:30, a little anthology of ancient and modern authors will be read by actor Teo Bellia.

ARCACCI - contemporary view of roman aqueducts

works by Andrea Aquilanti, Stefano Esposito, Gianni Fiorito

curated by Maria Arcidiacono

MagmaLabSpace via Pietro della Valle, 13c

from 9 to 14 october 2017

Opening time
from Tuesday 10 to Thursday 12 October: 10.00-13.00 / 14.00-18.00;
Friday, October 13: h.10,00-13,00 / 14,00-17,00;
Saturday, October 14: h.10,00-13,00 / 14,00-20,30