There is very little time left to witness one of the most striking artistic spectacles of the Roman autumn. Until tomorrow evening, Oct. 15, the right bank of the Tiber turns into a sculpture of light thanks to Luminis, the monumental work conceived by young artist Mario Carlo Iusi.
For 500 meters – between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini – the river wall will light up every night from 8 p.m. with a sequence of light frames of varying sizes. An installation that does more than just amaze the eye: it invites us to slow down, observe and rediscover the urban landscape through light.
Curated by the Tevereterno association in collaboration with Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Artivazione and Acqua Foundation, the project was presented in Rome after touching other stages in Italy and Spain, including Alatri and Barcelona.
Luminis: light that redesigns the wall and our gaze
Luminis is not a simple light installation, but a poetic reflection on the border, time and perception. Iusi’s frames do not enclose images, but frame absence, forcing the viewer to dwell on what usually escapes: the matter of the wall, its memory, the stratifications of time.
Light becomes the real subject of the work, not to decorate but to reveal. Each frame opens a visual gap in the landscape, transforming the wall – always a symbol of separation – into a plane of relationship.
As curator Claudia Pecoraro writes, “light does not frame the past as a relic, but relaunches it in the present as a living, shareable experience.”
The observer thus becomes an integral part of the project: his or her gaze completes the work, rewriting the meaning of that space every night.
From Kentridge’s frieze to the new voice of the Tiber.
Those familiar with the recent history of Tiber Square will remember William Kentridge‘s majestic “Triumphs and Laments,” the frieze over 500 meters long created in 2016. Today, on the same stretch of wall, Mario Carlo Iusi renews that dialogue between contemporary art and historical memory.
But if Kentridge narrated Rome through images and figures, Iusi chooses the purity of light and emptiness: the story is no longer engraved, but suggested. It is the viewer, walking along the quay, who recomposes with his gaze his personal luminous narrative of the city.
Mario Carlo Iusi, the young artist who speaks with light
Born in Alatri in 1995, Iusi belongs to a new generation of artists who combine conceptual research and environmental sensitivity. His work explores the relationship between sign, space and light, bringing slowness and contemplation to the center of the urban experience.
With Luminis, the artist invites an almost meditative gesture: stop, breathe, look.
In a world that runs, his project proposes a silent revolution made up of attention and presence.
Tiber Square: 20 years of contemporary art on Rome’s river
The arrival of Luminis coincides with an important milestone: the 20th anniversary of Piazza Tevere, the public space imagined by Kristin Jones as a place of dialogue between art and the river landscape.
In two decades, this stretch of the Tiber has become an open-air laboratory for contemporary art, where works dialogue with the city of Rome and its river.
As Giorgio de Finis, president of the Tevereterno association, points out, “Piazza Tevere is a unique setting, a place where contemporary art can finally confront the monumental scale of the heart of Rome.”
Luminis fits perfectly into this vision: not as an isolated event, but as a living continuation of a tradition of urban artistic experimentation.
Where and when to see Luminis in Rome
📍 Where: Piazza Tevere, between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini, Rome
🕗 When: every evening from 8 pm, until October 15, 2025
💡 A dmission: free and free of charge
🌐 More info: tevereterno.org | culture.roma.it