MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome and Promu – All For Music, presents the preview of AVA Ambiente Virtuale per l’Ascolto, an immersive platform created to foster cultural connections through listening.  

AVA is a space of gathering and collaboration on the sonic arts – classical and contemporary music, sound art, electronic and ambient, jazz, world music and soundscapes – which offers a space for unconventional aural experiences. A cultural metaverse that merges iconic architectural settings with abstract, imaginary and utopian contexts, creating an innovative location available to artists, musicians, labels and institutions, getting beyond the boundaries between real and virtual.  

Presented to the public for the first time, the initial iteration of AVA takes form in the Danteum, the project never implemented by Giuseppe Terragni and Pietro Lingeri, envisioned in 1938 to translate the myth of the Divine Comedy into architecture. This masterpiece of Italian Rationalism, reinterpreted as a virtual space for listening, will host sonic contributions submitted for the occasion by various artists: Donato Dozzy, a creator of electronic, ambient and techno music, in collaboration with Anna Caragnano, for Logos Infinito (2023); Invernomuto, an art duo composed of Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi, with Vernascacadabra(2023); Jonah Haven, a composer of contemporary music, with I view it as a smooth body (2022); and Quartetto Mirus, performers of classical and contemporary music, with Schnittke, Stravinskij, Adès (2023).  

The event will alternate listening sessions and exploration of the evocative virtual architecture of the Danteum with a conversation on space, sound and materiality in imaginary places. The artists will be joined by: Emanuele de Raymondi, composer and artistic director of AVA; Jacopo Carreras, electronic music producer and technical-creative director of AVA; Ilaria Puri Purini, artistic director at American Academy in Rome; Antonino Saggio, architectural theorist at the Sapienza University of Rome; Maria Clara Ghia, architectural historian at Sapienza University of Rome; Alessandro Muller, violoncellist and co-founder of Promu – All For Music; Enrico Loprevite, cultural designer and co-founder of Promu – All For Music; Francesco Sapio, game designer and developer. 

AVA is a project conceived and implemented by Auditorium and funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU, PNRR M1C3 Investment 3.3.2, Support to cultural and creative sectors for innovation and digital transition.