“NEOn NERO”: An in situ multimedia digital arts installation at the historic site of Hadrian’s Aqueduct

EYDAP, in collaboration with the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF), presents “NEOn NERO”, an in situ multimedia digital arts installation at the historic site of Hadrian’s Aqueduct, in Dexameni Square in Kolonaki.

The installation will be presented from 15 to 30 April, daily from 19:30 to 22:30, while on the weekends of 18–19 and 25–26 April additional live actions (performances) will take place from 20:30 to 21:20.

It is an audiovisual experience that reapproaches Hadrian’s Aqueduct as an active system, a heart that continues to beat beneath the city.

The installation reveals a condition, highlighting the relationship between the infrastructure’s past and the present of sustainability, as well as the relationship between the city’s upper world and the underworld of water. Water ceases to be merely a resource and becomes pulse, memory and circulation.

The installation draws on real data concerning water quality, which affect the audiovisual environment and transform it into a dynamic system. It uses actual three-dimensional scans of the reservoir space and structures that evoke neural networks and the hydrological routes of the network. Through tesserae and digital flows, the image does not simply represent, but reconstructs and simulates the space.

The dramaturgy of the installation unfolds as a gradual revelation through four conditions:

Darkness, Before the Flow
Water, Tracing the Network
The Heart / Aqueduct, Convergence of the Underground and Surface Worlds
Memory, The passage into the ceaseless, invisible flow

The audience experiences the work without entering the site, maintaining a distinct observational relationship with the interior of the aqueduct.

On the days of the live performances, the installation is further activated through the presence of an intermediary being that connects the surface and underground worlds and acts as an initiator of the installation’s ritual activation, enhancing the audience’s immersive experience.

Hadrian’s Aqueduct is approached as a crossroads between two worlds: the visible and the invisible, speed and continuity, water and light. Just as the heart gathers and distributes blood, so the aqueduct gathers and channels water into the city, still doing so to this day.

Strategic dimension

At the same time, the project highlights EYDAP’s contemporary strategy for harnessing the natural resource of Hadrian’s Aqueduct for non-potable uses. Through the development of new urban networks, EYDAP promotes the use of this available water reserve for needs such as irrigation and urban applications, encouraging consumers to reduce their use of drinking water. In this way, the historic aqueduct is transformed into a tool for sustainable resource management, linking cultural heritage with contemporary environmental challenges.

THE ARTISTIC TEAM

The project is realized by an interdisciplinary team of Greek artists working across digital and performing arts, covering a wide spectrum of practices including sound, image, light, interactivity, scenography and choreography.

Participating artists:
Manolis Manousakis, Alexandra Niaka, Giannis Kranidiotis, Chrysanthi Badeka, Margarita Kostoglou and Konstantinos Chaldaios.

Artistic Curation:
Elli-Anna Peristeraki – Artistic Director, Athens Digital Arts Festival

Production:
Producer: Ilias Chatzichristodoulou – Organizer, Athens Digital Arts Festival

A production by the Athens Digital Arts Festival, the International Digital Arts Festival of Greece, for EYDAP.