The first edition is titled 'Open at Night' and the aim is to offer an experimental vision of the gardens in the form of a labyrinth of open-air installations by 17 internationally renowned contemporary artists, based on a layout of 16 squares.
Open at Night is a reference to 'Ouvert la nuit', a collection of short stories by French writer Paul Morand, each of which takes place in a different place on a different night," explains curator Chiara Parisi.
"Here, in an uncertain twilight, the visitor enters as the artworks play out before him: this is a mysterious, nocturnal project shaped by different generations of artists, to be discovered in the same spirit of boundless freedom they have brought to it. For each artist, the gardens have been a haven for inventing or elaborating on remarkable works." The project features works by Rosa Barba, Camille Blatrix, Christian Boltanski, Nina Canell & Robin Watkins, Maurizio Cattelan, Trisha Donnelly, Jimmie Durham, Elmgreen & Dragset, Felix González-Torres, Douglas Gordon, Joan Jonas, Hassan Khan, Lee Mingwei, François Morellet and Otobong Nkanga.
Festival of Lights is "a nocturnal stroll, an illuminated, illuminating tour of contemporary creativity, a project we will come back to every year and which, each time, will help us discover a new facet of the Villa Medici gardens," says Academy director, Muriel Mayette-Holtz, who conceived the project. The exhibition will be open to the public from December 16 to January 28 2018, from Fridays to Sundays. (ANSAmed)