From November 30, 2024, to January 6, 2025, the Botanical Garden of Rome hosted, as part of the Festival Trame di Luce, the interactive installation “Aetherea”, focused on the Fountain of the Tritons (1742) by Giuseppe Poddi, one of the gems of the 18th-century garden of Palazzo Corsini.
This extraordinary site, one of the most important botanical gardens in Europe, offered a unique experience combining history, architecture, and nature, with over 3,000 plant species, evoking magic and wonder at every step.
The installation Aetherea presents a dual perceptual register that unfolds around the Fountain of the Tritons. It is an inner journey where Earth, represented by Trees, symbols of grounding, structure, and stability, meets Water, associated with emotions, memory, and the unconscious. Two worlds that seem distant but are truly connected, in a constant dialogue.
From a distance, it appears as an abstract three-dimensional volume, but as one approaches, the sensation arises of entering the structure of a giant tree—or perhaps we are shrinking, like Alice in her journey?
The suspended elements above abstractly recall the concentric rings of a tree, but in this “magical” site, where nature and architecture are more intertwined than ever, the Fountain of the Tritons is the geometric matrix, and the concentric rings of the tree take its shape. Inside this volume lives the “space of the dream”.
Here, the second perceptual level comes to life, the more intimate and dreamlike one, interactive, as when the water is touched, a series of “dreamed” visions spring to life, allowing the two planes of reality—the concrete and the unconscious—to finally meet.
A semi-transparent external “skin,” made of polyester threads and illuminated by dynamic lights with “water” effects, is visible from the entrance to the Botanical Garden. This vertical volume recalls the aquatic element of the site, but as visitors approach, they are drawn to the more hidden inner world of the installation. By pulling back the curtain and approaching the water, an interactive and sensory experience unfolds, enhanced by projections and immersive sounds. The upper part of the structure replicates the shape and dimensions of the Fountain of the Tritons, with smaller concentric elements arranged inside, evoking the rings of a giant tree. The varying lights suggest the entrance to the section of a tree, amplifying the feeling of an emotional journey.
Aetherea is structurally composed of a 14-meter-diameter circular truss, covered with a black cloth to minimize its visual impact. 10 lighting fixtures with a gobo effect are placed around the perimeter to illuminate the exteriornal skin, while at the center, two lattice elements support 5 video projectors for the interactive projections. The concentric rings, reminiscent of tree rings, are made of forex, with their inner sides lined with mirrored PVC to capture and reflect the indirect light emanating from the water. The outermost element supports a polyester curtain that softly grazes the fountain’s edge.
The dynamic and interactive effects are controlled by a DMX controller.
