Archipelago Ocno
Arcipelago Ocno is an archipelago of floating islands that functions as an aquatic piazza for the city, extending Mantova’s urban fabric onto the lakes that surround its historic centre. Throughout the year it will host concerts, events, performances, lectures and screenings on Mantova’s lakes, transforming them from a picturesque backdrop to an active site of urban life. The islands form modular units which can be reconfigured, relocated and extended according to the activities they host, and will continue to provide a venue for Mantova’s cultural activities in years to come.
The archipelago is named after Ocno — a demigod son of Manto and the god river Mincio. Legend has it that in honor of his deceased mother, Ocno founded the city of Mantova on the river Mincio, where he fled after his father was recalled to live among his fellow Gods
The installation’s outline recalls the form of the lotus, or Nelumbium nucifera, an extensive presence in the lakes that bloom in July and August.
The Mantuan lakes, draw the city perimeter of Mantua functioning as a protective belt that is perceived to date, as a sharp boundary that seems not allow dialogue with the outside world. The Ocno Archipelago stitches up the shores of the lake offering a new point of view of the city finally going beyond the limits of the shore and enhancing the strong relationship that the city has with the water.
The floating stage system represents an always evolving organism capable of compressing itself and dilate as needed. The modular composition of the unit allows a paradoxically infinite development of the system it consists of in the addition of new connected floating units / platforms to those already installed always with the same method as assembly.
Each platform is independent from the others and constitutes a body in itself equipped with paths defined by steel railings. This allows you to easily change the configuration and generate new compositions by changing the arrangement of the platforms or simply by rotating them around at their center.
