Lavinia - Parte IV

The works of artists Ruth Ewan and Lili Reynaud-Dewar are at the center of the fourth phase of LAVINIA, the contemporary art project curated by Salvatore Lacagnina, produced by Ghella and promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato della Cultura, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, in collaboration with Zètema Progetto Cultura.

The three-year project pays tribute to the late Mannerist painter Lavinia Fontana, one of the first female artists recognized by art history and featured in the Borghese Gallery collection, and runs parallel to the various phases of restoration of the Loggia dei Vini, the elegant pavilion built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the Villa Borghese gardens. The cardinal’s guests were entertained with wines and sorbets in the pavilion, which is why each LAVINIA inauguration is associated with the creation of a new ice cream flavor. Strawberry grapes is the flavor chosen to celebrate the arrival of autumn.

Based in Glasgow and a leading figure on the international scene, Ruth Ewan has focused her research on alternative systems of knowledge and the possibility of making creativity a tool for social and environmental justice. For the exterior wall of the loggia, Ruth Ewan has conceived an intervention inspired by the French Republican Calendar of 1793: a clock from the series We Could Have Been Anything That We Wanted to Be (2011), which adopts decimal time, dividing the day into ten periods instead of twenty-four. The work intertwines history, ecology, and political imagination, inviting viewers to reflect on the construction of historical narratives while questioning our perception of time.

Co-founder of the feminist magazine Petunia and lecturer at the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva, French artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar has always used her own biography, bodies, literature, and relationships as raw material for her research. Composed of casts of her body and placed at the center of the loggia, the site-specific work Sarcophagus (2025) reflects on the relationship between identity, memory, and self-representation, while evoking themes of vulnerability and permanence. Taking inspiration from both ancient bas-reliefs and the loggia itself, the sculpture interacts with the space through its monolithic presence, suspended between archaeological memory and contemporaneity.

The two new works join those already created in previous phases of the project: Monika Sosnowska’s “Recinzione” for the railing and her handle for opening the entrance gate, Gianni Politi’s seats, Piero Golia’s infinite water fountain and Enzo Cucchi’s sculpture of a wolf, a sort of grate that offers a glimpse of the ancient nymphaeum. The projects is completed by Johanna Grawunder’s light installation along the retaining walls and Ross Birrell & David Harding’s “Dante Desire Line Poetry Path”, which guides visitors towards the Loggia, accompanying them with the words of Dante.

Loggia dei Vini, photo Francesca Senatore