COMMUNICATING VESSELS
Villa Medici, Rome (2016)

Communicating Vessels was a project conceived for the Loggia di Cleopatra located in the gardens of the Villa Medici in Rome. It attempted to convey the foundational relationship of water and water engineering to the city of Rome. The hydraulic principle of “communicating vessels” underpinned the elegant gravity fed systems devised in antiquity that enabled reticulated supply of water to elevated villas of the Roman aristocracy, like the Villa Medici. Water was collected from specific fountains that were originally fed by Rome’s 11 aquaducts each with a different water source and mineral variations. Displayed on the floor in almost invisible vessels, the water forms a symmetrical terrazzo-style formation symbolic of the classical association between order and purity.

Water collected from Roman fountains, silicone, pvc. Dimensions variable. Exhibited as Part of Art Club 9 "Bois D'Amour" at the Villa Medici, Rome IT. (curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto).