ROME – Casa di Goethe, Rome’s only German museum, will be featuring work by Austrian artist Robert Gschwantner on May 30 to Oct 23. The exhibition, “Grand Tour in Objects and Images” (Eine Gran Tour in Bildern und Objekten), will focus on Italian water landscapes that have been forced to assume particular shapes or forms as a result of human activity throughout the years.

 The two landscapes that his works concentrate on are Marmore’s Falls (Cascate delle Marmore), the impressive man-made waterfall created by the Romans in 271 B.C. near Terni (Umbria), and the ancient harbour of Portus (Lago di Traiano) in Fiumicino, near Rome. Water is presented as the basic element that determines and preserves both these settings.

 Gschwantner provides his viewers with a fascinating visual experience of both past and present aspects of these landscapes. He combines nature, technology and architecture to highlight the achievements made by mankind.

 The group of works entitled “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” are inspired by Marmore’s Falls and the English poet Lord Byron, who dedicated four verses of an epic poem to this “horribly beautiful” waterfall when he came across it on his “Grand Tour” through Italy. Gschwantner manages to emulate Bryon’s sentiments of romantic melancholy, freedom and disbelief in his artwork. He also uses geometric motifs, mirrors, panes of glass and a network of PVC tubes filled with water from the waterfall itself against the work of classical landscape artist Johann Christian Reinhart (1761-1847) to create a complex and shifting image with various perspectives.  

 Gschwanter’s other group of works labelled “The Reflected Hexagon”, is built on a hexagonal layout and is dedicated to the ancient harbour of Portus in Fiumicino. A series of antique wall hangings map out the various places of cultural exchange through the linking of a plastic substance. It encourages viewers to travel into the past and awakens stories of former emperors, whose traces emerge from amongst the harbour's ancient ruins. The silence of these ruins are contrasted with the noise and bustle of the German airport in Giorgio Cappozzo’s video.

30.05.2018 – 23.10.2018

Address: Casa di Goethe, Via del Corso 18, 00186 Roma  

Open: 10.00 - 18.00. Closed on Mondays | € 5,00/ € 3,00. Family card € 13,00