Digital Art at Videocittà Festival Inspires Action on Water Scarcity
ROME — Water scarcity took center stage at this year’s Videocittà festival in Rome, where digital artists used immersive installations to explore the ecological, political, and cultural significance of the resource.
The festival, held at the Gazometro di Roma, featured light installations, augmented reality, video art, and talks. Among the works was Italian artist Tommaso Cherubini’s “Invisible Ecologies: Tevere,” a data-driven audiovisual installation tracing the River Tiber’s history from 1900 to 2024 through hydrological and water quality data.
“Water scarcity is difficult to grasp when it’s presented only as data,” Cherubini said. “Art can create a bridge that connects a scientific fact to something people actually feel.”
Francesco Rutelli, Videocittà president and former Italian deputy prime minister, told Arab News that water challenges remain crucial and that “scarcity has always been the mother of ingenuity.” He emphasized bringing decision-makers together with digital artists and the public to foster pragmatic and visionary collaborations.
Rutelli noted his special relationship with Saudi Arabia, collaborating through Proger’s art and culture branch on the Riyadh Art project. He expressed confidence in opening new horizons through cultural diplomacy in what he called “troubled and complex geopolitical times.”
The festival’s approach dedicated the entire edition to water, trusting art to validate an urgency typically communicated through numbers and reports.
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