progetti Arvalia Street Art

Muri Lab is the winner of “Arvalia Street Art” public notice announced by Municipality of Rome Municipio XI in 2025.

Two new murals literally “come to life” in a specific area of Municipality XI, the Marconi-Portuense district, specifically on two façades of the viaduct at the intersection of Via Portuense, Via Quirino Majorana, and Via Pozzo Pantaleo. These two new urban art murals, created in a public space that is highly suitable for street art projects and their free enjoyment by the community, is a sort of “window on the past.” They will be visible both to those driving through Via Portuense and to the locals who live in the neighbourhood, helping to enhance an area currently perceived only as a road junction, and recovering its cultural and social significance.

The mural Via Campana – Paolina – Portuense faces the archaeological area of Pozzo Pantaleo and overlooks the Drugstore Museum, with the purpose to create a strong connection with it. The street poetry artwork by Er Pinto creates a past-present connection by evoking the ancient Roman history of the origins, when Via Campana linked the salt pans near the sea to an increasingly expanding Rome. At the same time, it updates this history with verses that refer to a contemporary context. Er Pinto’s mural evokes the timeless nature of this portion of territory as a place of transit and passage, and was designed to dialogue in a strong semantic connection with the mural Esterno Notte by the artist Daniele Tozzi on the opposite wall of the viaduct facing Via di Pozzo Pantaleo. Daniele Tozzi, lettering artist known in the Roman scene, and for years throughout the peninsula and internationally, restores the more recent memory of the neighbourhood through the representation of the refinery known at the beginning as Permolio and later Purfina, active until 1964. For many years, its chimneys and the continuous glow of the uncondensable gas flame were both the emblem and the symbol of the conflict characterizing the neighborhood, caught between industrial development and residential needs.

Muri Lab project for Arvalia Street Art is unlike any other in the current Roman landscape because it is the first experiment with augmented reality on the walls of the capital. In recent years, digital technology -and in particular augmented reality- has gained imprortance in urban art as a tool for interaction with city space and for its ability to broaden the accessibility and usability of artistic proposals, creating a connection between the local community and a global audience. Augmented reality is an interactive experience that enhances the real world with computer-generated perceptual information, offering the chance to completely transform the artistic experience. Thanks to the integration of sounds, images, and videos, the artwork becomes immersive, offering the public an engaging and multi-sensory experience that goes far beyond simple observation. In some other Italian cities, urban projects with animated and interactive murals already exist, but until now, “augmented reality” had never been experimented with in urban art initiatives in Rome. Augmented reality created by Bonobolabo: by scanning the QR codes on the plaques with a smartphone, animations and digital content are activated, creating an interaction between physical and digital art.

The artworks were promoted through urban walks involving citizens, schools, and local organizations, with the aim of spreading and enhancing the project within the community. The initiative wants to connect residents and visitors, offering both the opportunity to share experiences, stories, and knowledge.

Videos on the project by Badtoast are available on the Muri Lab YouTube channel.