Thomas De Falco's 'Arbor Vitae' Performance in Rome's Sant'Ignazio Church

On October 29, 2020, artist Thomas De Falco (born 1982) staged the performance 'Arbor Vitae – le jardin noir' inside the Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, Rome. The work explores the tension between technology and nature, featuring a central sculptural installation of fabric and electrical materials such as cables, magnetic devices, and circuits. Performers Sofia Odescalchi, Elena Orsini Baroni, and vocalist Virginia Guidi moved through the piece, which symbolizes the Tree of Life as a female figure—a mother enveloped by a red mantle invaded by inorganic elements. De Falco, who practices ancient vertical loom weaving using natural materials like cotton, wool, hemp, and silk alongside electric wires and plastic threads, sees the work as a reflection on digital contamination of the human and natural body, ultimately asserting nature's triumph. The performance, created with collaborators Erica Ravenna Fiorentini and Veronica Siciliani Fendi, gained additional resonance amid COVID-19 restrictions that closed theaters and cinemas, relocating performance art to unconventional spaces like churches. The event took place in the Baroque church known for Andrea Pozzo's frescoes of Saint Ignatius.