THE SONG OF THE SIRENS – Water told by artists

For its autumn exhibition, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici offers a journey around the theme of water through the works of around 30 contemporary artists of international standing, and 10 of these creations are conceived expressly for the exhibition.

On earth and in the atmosphere, at the same time an element and a resource, water constitutes us and transcends the world. With its infinite forms – rain, sea, drop, dew, stream, cloud, fog and tears – it is the essential source of all life. Diverted, exploited and polluted, water has now become a fundamental element of the current ecological crisis. But if on the one hand it has been made an object of conquest, on the other the abysses are still more mysterious than the Moon, coveted territories, inhabited by imaginary monsters.

After the Storie di pietra exhibition (2023), Villa Medici continues its exploration of the elements with the exhibition Il canto delle sirene. Water told by artists. Starting from Rome, where water seems to be eternal, the exhibition brings together the works of around 30 contemporary artists of international level, and 10 of these creations are conceived expressly for the occasion.

The exhibition follows the cycle of water, from submerged civilizations to ritual practices passing through the murky waters of trade routes. The hybrid figure of the mermaid, sometimes evil and sometimes protective, half woman, half animal, plays the role of guide to navigate between these worlds, from the depths to the surface. Its ambivalence resonates with that of water, a space of metamorphosis between waters of youth and fatal waters.