
HELP the Ocean
The artist-activist’s most recent creation is her work “HELP the Ocean”, now on display in one of the world’s most famous locations, the Roman Forum in Rome. The installation comprises 76 plastic cages, each measuring 1 metre by 1 metre by two, standing in the area of the Basilica Giulia and configured in such a way as to spell out, when viewed from above, the single word HELP, a stark, powerful appeal.
Seen from up close the cages communicate another message, not in words but in a visual form with an intense aesthetic impact. Every cage is covered with a net full of millions of plastic bottle tops originally adrift in the environment and then collected by thousands of volunteers specifically for this artwork, helping reduce environmental pollution.
In this way the cages appear as a multi-coloured patchwork, with a similar shape to the foundation blocks of the ancient Roman structures that surround them, but with a striking chromatic contrast that is sure to inspire a strong emotional response from the visitors to the site.
The work was opened on World Oceans Day, 8 June. The date was doubly symbolic due to the fact that the day’s theme this year was the fight against plastic pollution, almost as if it were a sort of national event for the Garbage Patch State, in fact.




Enel X inside


We’re very happy to have made a contribution to publicising and promoting the HELP message to protect the seas and the environment and to encourage a more aware and rational use of resources. That’s why Enel X works every day to develop technologically innovative solutions with the aim of improving our lives and safeguarding the environment we live in.
CEO of Enel X
Another step forward
For Venturini, an artistic spirit, energy efficiency and innovation are the principles that inspired Enel X’s solution for this installation, and for all the others – over 1,300 in all – that Enel X has contributed to during over twenty years of experience in artistic lighting.
One of the most recent and spectacular examples, as Venturini reminded his audience, was the system put in place for the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, also in Rome, but the full list ranges from the Alcázar in Seville to the Tower of Pisa, the archaeological area of Pompeii and more recent structures like the futuristic Ponte Cittadella in Alessandria designed by American architect Richard Meier.

This time, though, we’ve taken a step forward. For the launch of the installation on 8 June the Colosseum Archaeological Park held a Blue Carpet event in the presence of Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi, Enel CEO Francesco Starace and figures from the worlds of show business, sport and culture who lent their support to the initiative. During the event we put on an innovative show, projecting a video onto the facade of the Palazzo Senatorio in piazza del Campidoglio showing the early development of the HELP installation and aerial views of it at night taken from an overflying drone. The projector and computer used for digital management, concealed from the audience and shielded from the weather, especially the wind, provided a 4K resolution even at some considerable distance from the façade, as well as high-quality lighting and contrast. All in all it was an event that gave increasing urgency to the light-based cry for help and the message of sustainability.