The dream is never observed from the outside; it is walked through all the way to the end. This is where Mimesi del sogno begins, the site-specific installation that Mindshapes, Luca Meraviglia and Stefano Turconi created for the boathouse of Villa Erba, on Lake Como, on the occasion of Orticolario 2026. A project that brings together art, landscape and design, and shifts the focus from the object to the experience.
Orticolario is an international cultural event dedicated to research and experimentation, where botany, design and art come into dialogue through themed gardens, immersive installations and outstanding botanical collections. The 2026 edition, held from 1 to 4 October, chose En Reverie as its guiding theme, a space suspended between dream and illusion. An invitation to which the project responds quite literally, building a path that leads those who walk it towards a deeper understanding of reality.
Mimesi del sogno unfolds as an ascending path. It is made up of two platforms. The first welcomes a meadow inhabited by species traditionally associated with the world of dreams, such as Artemisia and Salvia, plants that guard imagination, memory and vision, while the second leads into the heart of the dream, with dense, lush tropical vegetation inspired by the suspended universes of Henri Rousseau, where nature becomes story, apparition, wonder.
At the centre stands La Cascata che Sale. A sculpture of sinuous lines, the shapes that have long defined Mindshapes’ work, it evokes natural patterns and fractals capable of connecting humans and nature. The gesture is double, as it suggests descent and ascent at once. The dream seems to fall from above in a play of reflections that opens a thin gap between the real and the surreal, while the waterfall connects earth and sky, like a bridge to another dimension. Perception changes with the point of observation, in a dynamic, spatialised 360-degree effect.
The technique behind the work cannot be overlooked either. The sculpture was designed by Mindshapes and Stefano Turconi and produced with Totum 3D, a partner company that oversaw its process and engineering through 3D printing. The choice of technology reflects a precise idea of sustainability, as it reduces processing equipment, energy consumption and the material used. 3D printing makes it possible to build complex geometries directly and to integrate three-dimensional lattices inside the form, ensuring structural strength while keeping the weight down. Once printing and assembly were complete, the sculpture received a metallic finish with a reflective chrome coating. Its surface thus absorbs light, lake and landscape, evoking water in an abstract, dreamlike dimension.
Completing the experience was the sound performance by IDRA. Presented as part of the artistic residency of the 40Hz project, conceived by Francesco Piccolomini Bandini for Casa degli Artisti, it grows out of research into 40 Hz gamma oscillations, a subject of growing interest in contemporary neuroscience. Sub-frequencies become compositional material and build a relationship between sound, space and perception. For IDRA, sound is a sprout, something that does not accompany the landscape but is born from it, gathering its silences, rhythms and resonances. Waves, light and plant matter transformed the installation into a living organism, and the audience stopped, letting perception extend beyond sight.
Just like a dream that has just ended, Mimesi del sogno will remain indelible in our memories, and we hope it will soon find a new home where it can live again.
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