“Locus Amoenus is the garden I imagine.
A mental and immersive garden. A place built with light. With color. With rhythm.”
Franz Cerami

It is not the locus amoenus of the Latin tradition. It is not a refuge. It is not an elsewhere. It is not nature as an escape from the city.

It is the opposite.
It is a garden that contains the city. The city inside the garden. An urban space crossed by contemporary life that nevertheless opens a threshold — a pause, a possibility for meditation within the metropolis.

Metropolitan elements enter this garden: pulsation, accelerations and suspensions, chromatic contrasts, sounds, the density of the present. Light becomes force and inspiration. It becomes a form of writing in space, transforming trees, leaves, architecture, and shadows into a single visionary landscape.

Locus Amoenus is an oasis, yes — but not far from the city.
It is an oasis within the city. 

Tokyo  2024
Cerami brings Locus Amoenus to Tokyo as a site-specific installation in the historic garden of the Italian Embassy — a powerful, layered Edo-period garden that becomes a living surface for projection.

On the occasion of the 20th edition of Giornata del Contemporaneo, on October 8, 2024, the Embassy hosts the work as part of the initiatives promoted by AMACI, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the MAECI.

“We are proud to host Franz Cerami and Locus Amoenus,” states Ambassador Gianluigi Benedetti. The event is part of the ongoing restoration and enhancement of the garden, which has been the Embassy’s residence since 1930. From the 17th century until 1867, it belonged to the feudal Matsudaira family of Matsuyama, and later to Matsukata Masayoshi, a key figure of the early Meiji period. Historical, architectural, and environmental studies, together with archaeological investigations, have reconstructed the site’s history and strengthened its public narrative.

With Locus Amoenus, the ancient spirit of the garden is rekindled in the present. Japanese tradition and Italian contemporary art enter into dialogue, and light becomes a bridge between memory and the future.