From Saturday, September 20, starting at 8 p.m., until October 15, 2025, Piazza Tevere in Rome will host the inauguration of the Luminis project, conceived by Mario Carlo Iusi and curated by the Tevereterno association. The square, located along the right bank of the Tiber between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini, is thus transformed into a public space dedicated to contemporary art. The initiative is realized in collaboration with Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto, Artivazione and Acqua Foundation, and marks the arrival in Rome of a traveling project that has touched Alatri, Albano Laziale, Terracina and Barcelona since 2024.
Luminis takes the form of a monumental light installation spanning 500 meters on the river wall, composed of a series of rectangular frames of varying sizes. Light is the focus of the project: through it, the empty frames do not remain mere structures of absence, but become instruments of attention and observation. The viewer is guided to dwell on points that would otherwise go unnoticed, establishing a dialogue between emptiness and fullness that is the hallmark of the artist’s research.
“It is precisely from this legacy that Iusi’s work fits critically into the vast symbolic scope of the element-wall,” reads Claudia Pecoraro’s critical text. "In human history, the wall has represented-and continues to represent-a line drawn to defend and separate, a barrier that has divided territories, peoples, cultures, becoming an instrument of exclusion. Luminis proposes a semantic reversal of this: the wall, from an impassable border, becomes a plane of relationship. Light does not frame the past as a relic, but relaunches it in the present as a living, sharable, interpretable experience. In a world marked by material and symbolic barriers, the work invites coexistence: it places people side by side, listening, not only to the place, but also to the other who observes with us."
“We are delighted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tiber Square with an intervention on the monumental scale that the imagined space of U.S. artist Kristin Jones requires,” says Giorgio de Finis, president of Tevereterno Association for the past year. “That of Piazza Tevere is a truly unique ’frame,’ because here in the heart of Rome contemporary art is invited to confront a public space that contains a river.”
The arrangement of the frames and their luminosity create an interstitial space, defined but not filled, that invites every passerby to confront broader, contemporary issues that cut across the present. The work is designed for a dual mode of viewing: the panoramic view from the opposite bank or nearby bridges offers an overall perception of the light sequence, while the close-up perspective from the Tiber Square quay allows one to grasp the minute details and internal arrangement of each frame. In this way, the project promotes an active and meditative relationship between viewer and urban environment. Luminis stands in continuity with previous artistic interventions in the same space, such as William Kentridge’s 2016 frieze Triumphs and Laments , which represented over 500 meters of visual narrative about the history of Rome. Iusi, through his installation, takes up and renews the link between contemporary art, historical memory and the urban landscape, proposing a slow and conscious mode of enjoyment in contrast to the hectic pace of the city.
The installation will be accompanied by free events open to the public, by reservation. On October 2, 2025 at 8:30 p.m., fLuminis - The Hidden Life of the Tiber, a walk interweaving art and science, will take place. Geologist and naturalist Umberto Pessolano, director of the Nazzano River Museum, will guide participants to discover the river’s microfauna and microflora, showing the coexistence of nature and the urban context. Luminis light frames highlight insects, plants and other inhabitants of the river, often invisible to the eyes of citizens, making visible life forms normally overlooked. The meeting aims to offer the public a deeper understanding and an informed look at urban biodiversity.
A second event will be held on October 12, 2025 at 8:30 p.m., entitled Breathing the Light. On this occasion, the Tiber quay becomes the setting for a yoga and meditation session open to the public, led by teachers Patrizia Toti and Andrea Cappella. The light installation accompanies breathing and mindful movement exercises, inviting participants to observe their bodies and their surroundings. The flow of water becomes a symbol of the passage of time and the possibility of harmonious coexistence between individual, community and urban space. The experience, in addition to being individual, is proposed as a collective moment of sharing, in which the synchronized breathing of the participants creates a common rhythm and transforms the perception of public space.
Mario Carlo Iusi was born in Alatri in 1995. He graduated in Philosophy in Rome with a thesis in Analytic Philosophy and Aesthetics, and developed a theoretical-practical path centered on imagination in artistic creation. The concept of interconnectedness characterizes his work: in 2016 he presented the first cycle of works employing light frames to amplify the relationship between work and viewer. In the same period, he made the installation Acrosomes, a precursor to “simple objects,” recurring elements of his production and the foundation of Semeion theory.
Through light and color, these objects take on ever new forms and establish a dialogue between matter and perception. Since 2014, Iusi has been exhibiting and collaborating with institutions and galleries including La Nuvola in Rome, Museo Cambellotti in Latina, Mucciaccia Gallery and Angie’s in Rome, with the solo exhibition The Container. Recent participations include the Riscarti festival at La Vaccheria in Rome, the XXIV Biennale d’Arte Contemporanea in Alatri, Fuorisalone in Milan and Arte in Nuvola in Rome.
In 2024, during his artistic residency at the Pistoletto Cittadellarte Foundation in Biella, Iusi consolidated his path of experimentation between light, space and memory, developing the Luminis project in collaboration with the Artivazione Cultural Association. Selected by the public call “Lazio Contemporaneo 2022,” the project debuted between September and December 2024 with traveling exhibitions and monumental installations in Alatri, Albano Laziale and Barcelona. In September 2025 Luminis also illuminated the restored frescoes of the Benedictine Oratory of the Angeletto in the archaeological area of the Temple of Jupiter Anxur in Terracina.
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| Luminis: Mario Carlo Iusi's light installation illuminates the banks of the Tiber River |
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