St Sebastian: Plague Memory is a multi-channel AV immersive installation responding to the pandemic. The project shows infected tissues of the human body undergoing pathological transformation under the witness of St Sebastian who represents the archetype of mortality and protection. The passage of the light and sound reveals a series of infectious manifestations of the body’s material form. Layers of physiology and psychology are seen to appear and disappear in successive stages, as the skin, then organs degenerate alongside emotional and behavioural disturbances, leaving only the essential luminosity of St Sebastian’s image.
“Your project is a poetic reflection on disease and vulnerability that undergoes transformation into something other; metabolizing our past with the present, through historical art and the permanent installation of the museum’s plaster casts. I believe that your ability to affect architectural spaces with an altered sense of reality, fits perfectly into our mission.”
Professor Marcello Barbanera, Director of Sapienza Museum of Classical Art (Museo dell’Arte Classica).
The project reflects upon pandemics and vulnerability, metabolizing our past with the present. The work spatialises the story of St Sebastian the “protector of plague victims” and draws particular attention to Saint Irene who heals St Sebastian’s wounds with ointment.
St Sebastian, born in 3rd century, continued to be the patron saint of the plague through centuries of recurrent epidemics. Tied to a tree and shot by arrows during Diocletian’s persecution of Christians, was rescued by Saint Irene of Rome, healed in the catacombs and later clubbed to death for warning Diocletian of his sins.
Visitors are immersed within a space reminiscent of an ‘intercessory prayer’ formed by light, video and sound. The architectural settings of the museum are transformed into a discomforting narrative of necrotic flesh-like forms, and through the projection of light evoke the catacombs of Rome to reimagine earlier artist interpretations of the Martyrdom of St Sebastian. As the sonic turbulence subsides, opposing walls and existing sculptures are bathed in an intense gold liquid representing Saint Irene’s ointment. The museum façade, together with permanent sculptures act as 3Dimensional screens that both reveal the pathological journey, but their forms are also illuminated by piercing rays of red light representing the arrows piercing St Sebastian. A minimalist soundscape recalls the breath and pouring on of the ointment of St Sebastian.
Curated by Camilla Boemio in partnership with Museo dell’Arte Classica and Sapienza Universita di Roma, the project included a multi-channel AV installation and later, a façade projection for La Notte dei Musei, May, 2022.
St Sebastian (Gian Lorenzo Bernini) Digitally reimagined by Mathew Emmett, Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
The Martyrdom of St Sebastian by Mathew Emmett, Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
The Healing of St Sebastian by Mathew Emmett, Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
Sebastian Interceding for Plague Victims by Mathew Emmett, Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
The Martyrdom of St Sebastian (I) by Mathew Emmett, Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, AV immersive installation (photographed by Gabriele Mizzoni), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, AV immersive installation (photographed by Gabriele Mizzoni), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian Plague: Memory, AV immersive installation (photographed by Gabriele Mizzoni), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, AV immersive installation (photographed by Gabriele Mizzoni), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, AV immersive installation (photographed by Gabriele Mizzoni), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.
St Sebastian: Plague Memory, La Notte dei Musei, façade projection (photographed by Elisabetta Villa), Museo dell’Arte Classica, Rome 2022.