Inspired by the enchantment scene from Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide (1686), itself based on Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata, Il giardino di Armida transforms the spectator into the protagonist of a gradually unfolding illusion.

Unlike the traditional theatrical experience, where the audience observes Armide's magic from a distance, the installation places the participant at its centre. Through the passthrough capabilities of a Meta Quest headset, the surrounding physical environment initially remains entirely visible. As the Passacaille unfolds, virtual forms slowly emerge within the real world, progressively replacing it until reality itself dissolves into an oneiric landscape.

Like the enchanted knight Renaud, the participant experiences a gradual seduction of perception rather than a sudden transition into a virtual world.

The immersive environment is constructed from photographic fragments of the contemporary urban landscape—torn posters, weathered surfaces, traces of walls and discarded objects—abstracted and transformed into translucent three-dimensional structures. Familiar elements of the city mutate into unstable architectures suspended between memory, ruin and imagination.

The soundtrack consists of the Passacaille from Armide, performed by the artist on the harpsichord in Jean-Henri d'Anglebert's transcription. Originally accompanying the opera's enchantment scene, the music becomes here the temporal framework governing the progressive transformation of the visible world.

Within the Passacaille cycle, Il giardino di Armida represents the culmination of the investigation into repetition, variation and perception. Here the spectator no longer observes the work from outside but becomes the very space in which the transformation takes place.

Meta Quest Edition

Il giardino di Armida has been developed as a standalone application for Meta Quest devices (optimized for Quest 3).

The experience lasts approximately 8 minutes 30 seconds and can be presented either as an individual mixed reality experience or as a shared installation by mirroring the headset view onto a large projection.

→ Visit the dedicated Meta Quest page → Play a preview as web app