The sounds of two thousand years ago return to the Baths of Caracalla thanks to a sound installation by Alvin Curran

From Oct. 23, 2018 to Jan. 13, 2019, the Baths of Caracalla will host Omnia flumina Romam Ducunt - All Rivers Lead to Rome, an installation conceived by U.S. composer Alvin Curran that will animate the baths with reproductions of natural sounds and human voices, interspersed with moments of silence. “The sounds that animated the great Baths of Caracalla nearly 2,000 years ago,” Curran said, “are no longer audible, but the ruins themselves are there as a scratchy sign-an architectural score-awaiting to be transformed into sound, into a universal symphony.”

More than 20 loudspeakers placed in different, almost invisible places will recreate sounds that, according to the artist, could be heard at the Baths of Caraculla when they were used in the 3rd century: roars of water, animal cries such as horses, eagles and the ever-present she-wolf, and ancient poems recited in Latin are just some of the sounds visitors will hear along the way.

The artist adds, “The musical composition of pure spatial design and poetic imagination is a minimal work of electronic sound art. The architecture of the Baths is like a large canvas that accommodates brushstrokes of sound. A canvas that with each cycle and motif of sound elements will appear new and original.”
The exhibition is promoted by Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma with Electa and curated by RAM radioartemobile.

Ticket price: full 8 €, reduced 4 €. For all information you can call +39 06 399 67 700 or visit the official website of the Special Superintendence of Rome.

Pictured: the Omnia flumina Romam Ducunt project.

The sounds of two thousand years ago return to the Baths of Caracalla thanks to a sound installation by Alvin Curran

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