Italia Media Art Festival brings AI and immersive art to Zagarolo

The Italia Media Art Festival will conclude its third edition with a Grand International Exhibition at Palazzo Rospigliosi in Zagarolo, Italy, from Nov. 20 to 22. The programme will bring together video art, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, immersive environments, audiovisual experiments and interactive installations alongside traditional visual art.

The exhibition is curated by Marinellys Tremamunno and Mariia Plekhova. It is scheduled to include 17 video artworks and 11 installations, selected through international open calls alongside works by invited artists.

The festival received a record 144 international submissions for its 2026 edition: 113 in Video Art & Performance and 31 in Video Installations. Seven installation proposals were selected from the latter pool through a Snam-supported open call, an acceptance rate of 22%.

The video-art programme combines 13 works chosen through an Enel-supported open call with four invited artists’ works. One featured piece is Bruno Cerboni’s “Lux Humana”, an AI-generated visual poem on human-centred energy transformation, made entirely using artificial intelligence in the METAMORPHOSIS DÉCO language.

The exhibition follows a programme that began with a world premiere in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on Oct. 20, followed by an Italian premiere in Rome on Oct. 22, a Maker Faire Rome presentation from Oct. 23 to 25, and a Caracas event on Oct. 30. At Maker Faire, IMAF presented 17 video works and two interactive installations, including Claudio Marani’s “Prabhā Aura” and Maria Korporal’s “Breathearth”. In “Breathearth”, visitors’ breathing activates a digital ecosystem intended to make the interdependence of human life and the environment visible.

Maker Faire Rome drew about 55,000 visitors, 22% more than its previous edition. Tremamunno said the response reinforced the case for taking digital art beyond museums and making it accessible to a wider public.

The festival’s theme this year is “The Energy That Transforms: Human and Spiritual Strength Becoming Action for the Future.” Tremamunno has described technology, including AI, as part of that inquiry, while saying its questions arise from human experience, relationships, memory and responsibility.

IMAF was founded in 2024 by Tremamunno and is promoted by Associazione Piccola Venezia APS. Its first edition used the theme “Artificial Intelligence: a Tool for Peace,” and its first screening was held at Palazzo Michiel in Venice in September 2024.

The Zagarolo exhibition is organized with the Lazio Region through Lazio Innova and the Palazzo Rospigliosi Institution of the Municipality of Zagarolo. It opens at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20. The festival’s release lists free public admission from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Nov. 21 and 22, while Rome Art Week lists opening hours until 7 p.m., with last admission at 6 p.m.