iNational Roman Museum - Palazzo Massimo · Esquilino
AEGYPTUS. Dal Nilo al Mediterraneo. Oasi e deserto in epoca romana
Immersive video-art and AI installation on the Roman presence in Egypt's western desert oases, with archaeological finds, in the Octagonal Hall of the Baths of Diocletian (Museo dell'Arte Salvata).
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The last film in the Octagonal Hall follows a little girl through an oasis of the fourth century: market stalls, temples, irrigation channels and a fortress at the edge of the desert. Riccardo Boccuzzi made it with artificial intelligence, advised by the archaeologists Paola Davoli and Corinna Rossi.
You start with the objects. Cases around the walls hold finds from the museum's storerooms and pieces recovered by the Carabinieri art squad, on Rome's pull towards Egypt, burial and religion, local crafts, and modern fakes and the antiquities trade. Study the fakes before your next Sunday at Porta Portese. Then a large curved screen runs three films in turn, ending on the oasis.
There are no reviews yet, and the museum calls it more an event than a traditional exhibition. The hall is on Via Giuseppe Romita at the Baths of Diocletian, open Tuesday to Sunday, last entry 18:00. A hall-only ticket is €5, the €15 museum ticket covers it, and entry is free on 1 and 4 November.
Look for
I Doni della Grande Oasi
An AI-made short follows a girl through a fourth-century oasis, past markets, temples, irrigation systems and forts on the empire's desert edge.
The dig films
Footage from Italian excavations at Soknopaiou Nesos in the Fayyum, Umm el-Dabadib in Kharga, Aswan's Roman necropolis and Kom al-Ahmer shows archaeologists working the sand.
Studio Convertino's AEGYPTUS
The video artwork that opens the screen sequence closes in on desert monuments' small details: inscriptions, traces of colour, worn surfaces.
The fakes and the antiquities trade
Cases on modern forgeries and the antiquities market sit among works the Carabinieri recovered after thefts or had handed in voluntarily.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
With kids
Under-18s go free. The closing AI film follows a little girl through a Roman oasis, and the museum says the show was made for children as well as adults.
Also at National Roman Museum - Palazzo Massimo
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Image credits
8
- AEGYPTUS. Dal Nilo al Mediterraneo. Oasi e deserto in epoca romanaCourtesy of National Roman Museum - Palazzo Massimo
- Hank Willis Thomas & Man Ray: Tomorrow I shall contradict myselfPhoto: Giorgio Benni
- Contiamo l'Italia, contiamo per il futuroCourtesy of Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- Richard Avedon. In the American West. 1979-1984Courtesy of Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- National Roman Museum - Palazzo MassimoRicardalovesmonuments, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Galleria Continua Romarandreu, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
- Palazzo Barberini - Gallerie Nazionali di Arte AnticaPubblicUsername / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Palazzo delle EsposizioniSzilas, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0