Artist
Barnaby Evans
Choreographer
Linda Foster
In 2003, Kristin Jones was enthused by the flaming braziers designed by Barnaby Evans for his WaterFire project, and invited him to bring his braziers to the Tiber River in Rome. In 2006, Evans led Tevereterno and a host of volunteers in a fire procession that circled Piazza Tevere. The project drew the public to the River’s edge and emphasized the area’s potential.
Over the next few years, Jones and composer David Monacchi encouraged Evans to collaborate with contemporary Italian composers for a larger event at the Piazza Tevere site. In 2012, Evans worked with Fortunato Productions to secure permits for a reduced preliminary program, including thirty floating braziers and a performance by choreographer Linda Foster. The fires burned from sunset until midnight, tended by a silhouetted team aboard a boat. The sound was a melange of recordings by Evans’s favorite composers, ranging from ancient chants, to Vivaldi, to contemporary pop music. A contingent of WaterFire volunteers, as well as the mayor of Providence, came to Rome to support the project.
WaterFire is a prime model for fruitful partnerships between corporate sponsors and cultural institutions, which allow artists to realize large-scale projects, bring the public together and draw attention to the location and all entities involved.
Artist
Barnaby Evans
Choreographer
Linda Foster
Composer
Stag of Marco Guazzone
Producer
Fortunato Productions
Conceived by American artist Barnaby Evans, WaterFire was first installed on the rivers of downtown Providence, Rhode Island in 1994. Produced by Fortunato Productions and Art For Promotion Association with the partnership of Tevereterno, the work was presented with a performance of Moveable Space by choreographer Linda Foster, original music by Stag of Marco Guazzone and a reiteration of Robert Hammond’s Chance Encounter, commissioned by Tevereterno in Spring 2010.
The ambitious two-night program was realized with the assistance of dozens of volunteers from both Rome and the United States, sponsored by GTECH, the Lottomatica Group, the De Agostini Group and Il Gioco del Lotto, as well as the City of Rome.
