A cascade of theatrical backdrops plummeting from the ceiling of the covered courtyard at the pedestrian passageway of Via Mazzini 4 invites visitors to step beyond the gate and unleash their imagination. The immersive installation Play fully embraces the theme “The Stage of Imagination,” constructing a parallel universe made of colour and light.

The flags recall theatre drapery—the element that traditionally separates the stage from its audience. In Play, however, this convention is dismantled. By removing this boundary, the installation becomes a scenography in which actors and spectators merge, sharing the same role. Even the title Play carries a dual meaning: it nods to theatre—play as theatrical work—while also calling to playfulness itself, as to play means “to play” in the sense of “to have fun.”

This playful dimension emerges through the use of simple, evocative shapes and bold symbols such as the circle and the rectangle, vibrant colours, and an unexpected layout. There are no declared rules; instead, the work celebrates a return to childhood, when stories and games were invented from the simplest objects.

The rectangle, the essential form that allows us to build a stable table, possesses corners and boundaries and thus represents solidity, rationality, delimitation. It stands in stark contrast with the circle, a symbol of movement, intuition, the elusive. For the spectator-turned-actor, breaking these patterns may become the key to imagining their own personal stage—without necessarily tipping into chaos. To borrow a line from the Dalai Lama, the installation seems to whisper: “Learn the rules so you know how to break them.”

Play is an installation commissioned by Studio BNC from designer Filippo Emiliani—professor of Graphic Design at the Politecnico delle Arti di Bergamo—for the space at Via Mazzini 4 in lower Bergamo.

PLAY

At the center of the famous fountain in Largo Rezzara, a one-meter-tall bronze figure is completely enveloped in an ethereal cloud, suspended between presence and dissolution. The material exists, but is veiled. The image exists, yet is unreachable, enclosed in a mass resembling cotton wool, without defined geometric contours, almost smoky. This milky “shell” becomes a metaphor for the hazy memory of a dream, that intermediate time when the mind tries to retain what it is beginning to forget.

The figure does not fully reveal itself: it is hinted at through the LED light emitted by the installation, much like certain dreams that seem present in the morning yet slip away, losing clarity. Over the days, rain and winter humidity gradually dissolve the cotton, allowing the figure to emerge—perhaps partially, perhaps entirely. The delicate, fragile material of the enclosure reacts to the elements: rain, wind, and time all contribute to transforming it, occasionally revealing glimpses of the underlying sculpture or, with the passing days, uncovering it fully or partially. Time thus becomes part of the unveiling process, just as it does in memory.

The work inhabits a public space but behaves like an intimate vision: a hidden body, a memory that persists, an image whose completeness is determined by time itself. It is up to the viewer to imagine the work in its entirety, creating a non-univocal but personal reading, noticing details and entering a close relationship with both the sculpture and their own memories. Each gaze captures a different detail; each passerby perceives a unique fragment.

Memoria Onirica aims to evoke the fragile and suspended moment of awakening, when the memory of a dream remains uncertain and fragmentary: one struggles to retain it, to reconstruct it, yet it remains elusive. The theme addressed is the fragility of memory, but also the freedom to imagine what remains hidden.

Memoria Onirica is an installation commissioned by Laboratorio 31 Art Gallery and Laura Di Bella Restauro & Architettura to the artist Giacomo Scarpellini, to be exhibited in Largo Rezzara, Bergamo bassa. Technical partners: Restyle by Emporio Ceramiche, Fondart, and Marmi Remuzzi Bergamo.

Memoria Onirica

A calendar that opens not with hands, but with the gaze. This video installation was conceived to bring the enchantment of awaiting the Nativity back to the heart of the urban space, reinterpreting an ancient gesture: opening a new window of the Advent calendar each day. Here, this tradition engages in dialogue with contemporary light, architecture, and design.

The facade of the Coin store transforms into a collective narrative, where each date becomes a small poetic world to discover. As a participatory and narrative artwork, Il Calendario dell’Immaginazione invites the public to pause daily, observe, and let themselves be surprised. It becomes a stage within the “Palcoscenico dell’Immaginazione” (Stage of Imagination) defined this year by Christmas Design. Each day, the city is renewed with a new luminous story.

The facade itself becomes a canvas where light, color, and numbers come alive. Every day a different window opens, revealing the date through animations, textures, and visual impressions that combine simplicity and wonder. It strikes a balance between the geometric rigor of architecture and the freedom of imagination. Each opening window is a small gift, a reminder that wonder can inhabit everyday spaces.

This project speaks of time, community, and imagination—three essential concepts of the holiday season. The facade is not merely a surface, but a living element that actively participates in the story, balancing the precision of videomapping with the exercise of creativity, and technical skill with poetic expression.

Il Calendario dell’Immaginazione is a video installation commissioned by Coin and produced by Dugongo for the facade of the store at Via Zambonate 11, in Bergamo’s lower city.

Il Calendario dell’Immaginazione

E uscimmo a riveder le stelle was commissioned and realized by the Bergamo-based company Mutti Marmi, with a project by designer Luca Schieppati. Their collaboration began years ago and is grounded in a shared mission of tradition and innovation, a deep respect for materials, and a constant focus on continuous improvement. The title of the installation is taken from the final verse of Dante’s Inferno, conveying a profound sense of rebirth: after darkness and disorientation, one returns to breathe in the light and contemplate the stars.

Within the context of Christmas Design 2025, under the theme Palcoscenico dell’immaginazione, the work invites viewers to lift their gaze and rediscover the possibility of dreaming again through the contemplation of the sky. The installation consists of five designer chaise-longues crafted in polychrome marble, arranged in a radial pattern in Piazza Matteotti in Bergamo, with the aim of creating a ritual-like circle, a space for rest and sharing.

The choice of the number five is deliberate: in numerology, five is associated with freedom, change, adventure, and versatility. It represents experience through the five senses, symbolizing movement, evolution, and the search for new experiences. In numerology, five corresponds to the heart chakra, and in the Tarot, the fifth Major Arcana, the Hierophant, represents spiritual guidance, moral authority, and tradition—a bridge between the divine and the human.

The materials themselves become an integral part of the narrative: the different marbles transform stone from a static covering into living matter, capable of generating three-dimensional and airy forms. Thanks to modern adhesive techniques, the marble reveals its nature as a fragment of the earth which, despite its millennia-old solidity, becomes a tool to direct the gaze toward the sky. The work takes on the role of a threshold. It is a poetic device inviting the viewer to pause, lie down, and surrender to silence in order to rediscover that “emergency room of dreams” that art makes possible. Sit, look, imagine: in this way, the circle formed by the five chaise-longues opens to an inner journey, transporting each of us to a space where reality and imagination blend, and where we can truly “go out and see the stars again.”

E uscimmo a riveder le stelle is an installation commissioned by Mutti Marmi to designer Luca Schieppati and realized by Mutti Marmi for display in Piazza Matteotti, in the heart of Bergamo Bassa.

E uscimmo a riveder le stelle

In Darkness, Gaze Upon a Fallen Star transforms the façade of the historic Hotel Cappello d’Oro into a vast stage of light. A projection inspired by the forms of spiral nebulae envelops the building in a cosmic vortex, evoking the cycle of life, the birth of stars and the energy that renews itself. The spiral—laden with universal meanings that cross cultures and civilizations—also becomes a festive pinwheel, an invitation to share the collective dimension of light as a universal language.

This double register—cosmic and celebratory—opens the work to multiple interpretations, from intimate contemplation to shared experience. Beside the spiral, a phrase — “In Darkness, Gaze Upon a Fallen Star” — introduces a poetic and ambiguous dimension. It invites us to lift our gaze to the sky even in darkness, searching for desire and possibility, looking beyond the shadows and refusing to stop dreaming, finding in starlight a horizon still within reach.

The linguistic ambiguity of the title, due to the phonetic proximity between gaze and Gaza, subtly evokes the present without explicitly referencing it, weaving the poetry of light with the complexity of our time. The unexpected source of the quotation — taken from the animated series The Dragon Prince (2018) — reinforces both the accessibility and universality of the message.

The installation stems from the desire to offer, in a moment marked by uncertainty and darkness, an image capable of opening a window onto another, more poetic dimension. In doing so, the project brings the history of the place into dialogue with a cosmic imaginary, transforming the hotel into an urban device that welcomes the city and reflects it back in a renewed form.

The work does not aim to provide answers, but to create spaces of imagination: between celebration and contemplation, between darkness and light, between earth and stars. The visitor’s gaze becomes an integral part of the piece, called to imagine and let themselves be carried beyond the present. Through this shared experience, the public space becomes a theatre of visions and possibilities.

In Darkness, Gaze Upon a Fallen Star is a work commissioned by Hotel Cappello d’Oro from artist Francesco Pedrini to illuminate the façade of the historic four-star hotel just steps from Porta Nuova, in lower Bergamo.

In Darkness, Gaze Upon a Fallen Star

The Bosco di Natale, commissioned by DUC, returns for its second year in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, in the heart of the city. Here, a small enchanted village comes to life, featuring Santa Claus’s house, where children can meet him and deliver their letters, and the UNICEF house nearby.

At the center of the installation stands the Tree of Light: a ten-meter-high structure made of thin steel cables from which colorful spheres and luminous snowflakes are suspended. It is a tree not meant to be touched, but to be experienced with the eyes and the heart, symbolizing the wonder and magic that light up the darkness of a snowy forest. Surrounding it, large wooden benches invite visitors to pause and soak in the Christmas atmosphere, while red benches and low tables recreate a small lounge area.

The entrance and exit of the forest are marked by two arches woven from willow branches, the same material used in some decorative trees and the spheres hanging from the lampposts. Giant lanterns and illuminated willow stars echo the theme of light, while wood chips on the ground diffuse an authentic forest scent. The main pathways are made accessible through OSB panel walkways. Wreaths of dried flowers, delicate and poetic, further enhance the welcoming atmosphere.

Bosco di Natale is an installation commissioned by DUC Distretto Urbano del Commercio of Bergamo, Associazione Bergamo In Centro, ATB, Euroconsulting Intermediazioni Assicurative, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Fideuram - Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking to landscape designer Lucia Nusiner of Studio GPT for Piazza Vittorio Veneto, in Bergamo bassa. Technical partners: Il legno dalla natura alle cose, Cesti dell’Orso, Platek, Pedrali, La Floroteca, Cooperativa della Comunità, and Az. Agr. Guido Mascheretti, Vivaio Erbe e Fiori, Locatelli & Mapelli, Onlight pf.

Il Bosco di Natale

proDIGA is conceived as a message of hope, drawing on the inner strength that each of us must be able to feel to reach new levels of awareness, maturity, and human solidarity, breaking through the barriers and obstacles that life often presents. With a sense of responsibility and courage, we are called to harness difficulties, turning them into a source of strength that sparks change and helps us imagine a better world.

proDIGA represents a dam, a barrier, and reminds us that encountering a challenge does not mean failure, but the accumulation of energy—just as a river, when blocked, gains power and eventually breaks through, forging a new path. In an era where human fragility is more evident, proDIGA urges us to recognize that every obstacle, when approached with the right attitude, can become a means to rise and move forward with greater awareness.

The installation invites passersby to go beyond barriers, embankments, fears, controls, resistances, and the complexities and difficulties of life, drawing strength from them to realize personal dreams and projects in collaboration with the community, with the goal of creating a better world. As people move through the work, they can pause to observe their reflection in the fracture. The image is not defined but fragmented, symbolizing the perfection of imperfection. This fracture is deliberate and conscious: the need to destroy in order to rebuild on solid foundations.

Just as flowers can bloom from asphalt, dreams can arise from the rubble. Here, a snowdrop emerges—a symbol of hope, beauty, spontaneity, rebirth, courage, purity, innocence, and delicacy. The work is crafted with laminated wood panels, coated with decorations in cement, mortar, resins, and iron rods, and incorporates fragments of mirrors. Streams of verdigris, silver leaf, and Swarovski crystals complete the piece.

proDIGA was conceived and realized by Diego Armellini and Giuseppe Lorenzi of Soqquadro for display along the Sentierino in Bergamo’s lower city as part of Christmas Design Artisan.

proDIGA. Sorgente di sogni

With this highly spectacular artistic lighting intervention, the curtain rises right from the façade of the Gaetano Donizetti Theatre, which comes to life through a cascade of micro-LEDs animating the designs of Pier Luigi Longo. Short animated clips, produced by Cieli Vibranti and Scena Urbana, narrate the theatre, its history and its protagonists in a journey through music, poetry and playfulness. The magic of opera leaves its traditional home to become accessible to all — because today we all have an urgent need for dreams, and an equally urgent duty to keep dreaming.

From the very façade of the Donizetti Theatre — a landmark for the Bergamo community and for the worlds of opera, drama and ballet across the centuries — each animation invites viewers to explore the “theatre planet” from a different angle, discovering its spaces, figures, magic and history through a contemporary, pop-inspired language.

The work is the result of a collaboration among several partners, coordinated by the artistic direction of Cieli Vibranti, active in Brescia since 2011 in the field of cultural engagement. At the heart of the project are the illustrations by Pier Luigi Longo, brought to life by Scena Urbana, a collective of professionals specialised in light design, scenography, interactive installations and mapping.

A2A’s long-standing partnership with the Donizetti Theatre in Bergamo extends to the co-design of charitable initiatives in support of Fondazione Banco dell’Energia, a philanthropic organisation committed to combating energy poverty. Within this framework, the concert Wit Matrix – Pink Floyd, featuring special guest Carlo Massarini, will be held on Tuesday, 16 December at 8:30 pm.

Il teatro è is a lighting design project promoted by A2A S.p.A. in collaboration with Fondazione Banco dell’Energia, created for the façade of the Gaetano Donizetti Theatre in lower Bergamo. Artistic conception and direction are by Cieli Vibranti, video animation by Scena Urbana; illustrations are by Pier Luigi Longo, and lighting design by Open Staff SRL.

Il teatro è

The project Architetti del sogno: Gaudì e Don Chisciotte, commissioned by the Associazione Culturale X Bergamo ETS, licensee of TEDxBergamo, to José Molina Lab, draws inspiration from two great visionaries. Through what Gaudì and Don Quixote represent in the collective imagination, the installation celebrates the role of imagination as a driver of human progress, evoking the enchantment of Gaudì’s visionary architecture and the tireless dream of Don Quixote.

In the structure, the whimsical patterns of Gaudì are combined with images from Gustave Doré’s illustrations depicting Don Quixote. The Catalan architect, with his sinuous forms and vibrant colors, demonstrated how imagination can shape matter, transforming buildings into works of art that defy gravity and conventions. Don Quixote, the “wandering knight,” embodies the courage to believe in a better world, even when reality seems hostile. His madness is not escapism, but an act of resistance, a drive to see potential that others fail to recognize.

The installation consists of a wooden sculpture in the shape of an X, inspired by the TEDx logo, decorated with a mixed-media technique combining collage, acrylic, and relief materials. Its surface reproduces Gaudì’s architectural motifs interspersed with Gustave Doré’s illustrations of Don Quixote. At the base of the structure lies the Book of Dreams: an invitation to dream that will give rise to a virtual collection. Visitors are encouraged to write down their aspirations and desires, transforming the installation into a collective, participatory artwork.

This synthesis of architecture and visual art celebrates imagination as the most powerful tool we have to design and build a better future, in keeping with TED’s spirit. In this way, artistic creation transcends its representation, becoming a meeting point for people. Each visitor becomes an integral part of the project, contributing to an experience that reflects collective aspirations and fears. Architetti del sogno: Gaudì e Don Chisciotte reminds us that imagination not only pushes us to dream, but also provides the tools to innovate and overcome the limits perceived in reality.

Architetti del sogno: Gaudì e Don Chisciotte is an installation commissioned by the Associazione Culturale X Bergamo ETS, licensee of TEDxBergamo, to José Molina Lab for the Quadriportico del Sentierone, in Bergamo Bassa. Technical partner: Cometti Falegnameria.

Architetti del sogno: Gaudì e Don Chisciotte

Specchi e Radici is a participatory installation that transforms urban space into a symbolic stage, where care reveals itself as a shared experience. The work is composed of beauty-salon chairs fitted with artistic capes—surfaces that no longer serve their original function but instead become collective canvases. At the center, a large three-dimensional head made of reclaimed wood (both raw and refined) gathers contributions and thoughts that accumulate over time, forming a collective narrative.

The mirrors, too, are not reflective surfaces but poetic devices that return phrases and images dedicated to memory, roots, and identity. The entire environment becomes a space of exchange, where participation is a creative act and care becomes a shared language. Visitors are invited to write, paint, sew—to leave marks that express emotions, memories, or reflections. The mirrors do not reflect physical appearance but instead offer words, symbols, and images that evoke stories, lineage, and belonging.

The work invites a slow, intentional gesture: not to observe, but to take part. Specchi e Radici explores care, the search for hidden beauty, and the depth of the self. It encourages an intimate and cultural grounding—not a reflection of appearances, but the recognition of one’s own inner and ancestral roots. It is a collective meditation on care as a way of knowing. Every trace left on the capes or on the central head becomes a sign of belonging and transformation. In this way, Specchi e Radici celebrates the concealed beauty within each person and weaves it into a shared narrative.

Specchi e Radici is an installation commissioned by Il Salone di Bellezza di Maria Tibaldi and created by artist Emanuele Grazioli for display along Viale Vittorio Emanuele II, in Bergamo’s lower city, as part of Christmas Design Artisan.

Specchi e Radici

The installation Essere luminosi nel buio consists of a white neon inscription that temporarily interacts with the facade of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, following the horizontal lines of its neoclassical architecture. Essere luminosi nel buio is both a dedication to Etty Hillesum and a free interpretation of her precise and profound thought amid the horror and anguish of history.

The phrase is handwritten by Matteo, a child and the son of the artist Emma Ciceri, who has recently begun practicing cursive writing. In this way, the words—and the meaning they carry—reach the adult world through the hands of a child. Etty Hillesum’s deep reflections have the power to embrace and contain existential and universal movements, guiding them within a shared human experience.

What is essential to imagine today? Reflecting on this existential level, Emma Ciceri proposed an answer that is both intimate and revolutionary: to make one’s own life a laboratory for continuous self-experimentation in the world. Etty Hillesum was able to be a “thinking heart” even amid one of humanity’s greatest disasters. What could be more urgent today than revisiting the life and biography of someone who shone light in the darkest pages?

Essere luminosi nel buio was born from the desire to engage with the architecture of the facade without overwhelming it, seeking instead a dialogue. This concept resonates with the democratic openness of the museum, which welcomes visitors willing to engage with works and ideas, weaving connections, memories, and experiences.

Essere luminosi nel buio is an installation commissioned by Winter Garden Hotel to the artist Emma Ciceri for temporary display on the facade of the Accademia Carrara, in Bergamo’s lower city. Technical partner: Neon Umberto.

Essere luminosi nel buio

Mirabilia, from the Latin mirabĭlis, means “worthy of admiration”: it is the wonder that surprises, transforms, and opens us to unexpected visions, like a dream taking shape. It is an intimate and precious space where one can cherish what enchants, blending beauty, imagination, and awe.

Mirabilia is an installation in three acts, hosted in the most evocative locations of Bergamo’s Città Alta. Like a universal story, the three stages narrate the human journey: Awaiting, Birth, Epiphany. Three moments of revelation that intertwine the mystery of humanity with the fragility and strength of each of us.

In a time dominated by speed, Beplano invites viewers to slow their gaze, immersing themselves in a reflective time that opens the way to the wonder of being. Each of the three moments, installed in Piazza della Cittadella, Piazza Mascheroni, and Piazza Vecchia, was commissioned by a different company.

1. Attesa. In Piazza della Cittadella, Awaiting evokes the suspended time before something happens. Luminous doors emerge from the darkness in a rarefied silence, symbolizing promise and mystery. Designed by Beplano and realized by Nicro, this installation guides the visitor along seven stems of increasing size, representing the emotional growth of those who await life.

Attesa | Mirabilia

Nascita. In Piazza Mascheroni, Birth tells the story of the world’s first breath. Commissioned by Mesh&Arch, a brand of TB Group, it is a Nativity hut made from metallic fragments salvaged from industrial waste. Here, discarded materials are transformed into a meaningful form, creating a contemporary and powerful vision of Christmas, where abandonment gives way to renewal and transformation.

Nascita | Mirabilia

Epifania. In Piazza Vecchia, Epiphany represents the revelation of oneself to others. Commissioned by the Antistatus network, founded by the Soliveri family, and realized by Nicro, it appears as a light that illuminates and invites a living testimony of ethics and vision. Six reflecting prisms arranged around the Contarini Fountain stimulate a deep dialogue with oneself, with others, and with the beauty surrounding us.

Epifania | Mirabilia

A bus that not only transports but invites people to travel: it carries passengers through the heart of the city while simultaneously leading residents and tourists on a carousel of stories and wonder. Every ride becomes an act of sharing, every stop a fragment of urban magic. The installation Xmas Carousel. Gira la città, si accende il Natale! transforms the ATB bus into a living artwork, presenting the holiday as a traveling spectacle. The vehicle becomes an urban music box that sparks imagination.

On the sides of the bus, a carousel is depicted with symbols and surprises of Christmas: the tree, the star, the pinwheel, Santa Claus, the snowman… The wordplay in the title, “gira la città” (“turn the city”), refers both to riding the bus and the rotation of the carousel, turning a routine gesture—using public transport—into a moment of enjoyment. Each stop along the route is like a scene unfolding, each leg of the journey a story in motion.

The goal is to create wonder among passersby and passengers alike, bringing holiday cheer and creativity to the streets of Bergamo, turning the simple act of taking the bus into a shared moment of joy. The dominant green color and gold and red details on the bus evoke the childlike joy of Christmas and the aesthetics of fairy tales, while also reflecting ATB’s commitment to a greener path aimed at improving air quality and promoting increasingly sustainable mobility. Front and rear graphics complete the narrative, transforming the bus into a moving fairy-tale object—recognizable and iconic.

Xmas Carousel. Gira la città, si accende il Natale! is a traveling installation created by Dugongo on commission from ATB to dress a 12-meter electric bus that will circulate through the city streets as part of the daily local public transport service.

XMAS CAROUSEL. GIRA LA CITTÀ, SI ACCENDE IL NATALE!

Dugongo

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