What happens when you turn a colossal gasometer into a canvas for sound, light, and vision? You get Videocittà — Rome’s boldest fusion of electronic music and visual experimentation.
From July 3rd to 6th, the festival returns for its 8th edition, continuing its mission to reimagine what a cultural event can be. With over 550 artists featured since its launch, Videocittà has become a magnet for those seeking the unexpected — where music is just the starting point.
In our new NIGHTMAG interview with Francesco Dobrovich, Creative Director of Videocittà, we dive into the origins of the project, the creative risks that fuel it, and what makes this year’s edition a glimpse into the future of festival culture.
You describe Videocittà as a “festival of vision.” What does that mean to you in 2025, and how has that vision evolved over 8 editions?
When we say “festival of vision,” we’re really talking about how we see and experience the world through screens, apps, and digital tools today. It’s about understanding how these technologies change the way we connect with each other and create community. So in many ways, it’s also a festival about people coming together.
We’ve always tried to stay close to what’s happening right now – sometimes we catch things a bit early. Like in 2019, we were already exploring TikTok’s creative side when most cultural spaces in Italy weren’t paying attention yet. In 2020, we started conversations about deepfakes and AI-generated images. We move with the times, but we’re always looking around the corner to see what’s next.
You’re not a music festival in the traditional sense. How do you strike the right balance between artistic experimentation, music, tech, and mainstream interest?
Exactly, we’re not a traditional music festival – that’s intentional. Every performance here has a strong visual concept behind it, with carefully designed lighting and interactive elements. Music is never just music for us – it’s always part of a bigger visual and technological experiment.
We don’t chase what’s already popular. We’re more interested in finding artists who are creating new aesthetics and stories – people who might not be famous yet, but probably will be. In 2024, we invited Tommy Cash because of his incredible visual language, both on stage and on social media. A year later, he broke through with Espresso Macchiato. That’s not luck – it’s about recognizing something before it becomes obvious to everyone else.
We take creative risks every year, not just to be different, but because we want to offer our audience a glimpse of what’s coming. Videocittà is where things start, where innovation meets culture before it becomes a trend.
From AI-powered documentaries to VR rituals and digital sunsets on Rome’s industrial relics – what’s something you programmed this year that made you think “this could only happen at Videocittà”?
There are many moments this year that feel uniquely ours, but what really sets us apart is working inside the Gazometro – Europe’s tallest gas holder, almost 100 meters high.
This year, Solar by Davide Quayola, produced by Eni, will be a completely immersive experience that really defines what we’re about. We’ll have over 100 VR and mixed reality headsets available, including a 25-minute Ayahuasca VR journey and a mixed reality tour by French artist Adelaine Schwazer around the Gazometro area.
Then we have our signature audiovisual performances with Spanish collective Bromo, Ela Minus, Ascendant Vierge, okgiorgio, and many Italian artists bringing together energic sets with innovation. For some artists like Victoria De Angelis, we also curate the audiovisual show ourselves, creating something unique for their performance.We’re also dedicating time to artificial intelligence through talks and debates. We want to help people understand this revolution in a clear, thoughtful way – looking at both the challenges and opportunities. This mix of site-specific art, technology, and meaningful conversation is what makes Videocittà unique.
Music is never just music for us – it’s always part of a bigger visual and technological experiment. Francesco Dobrovich, Creative Director of Videocittà for NIGHTMAG (2025)
A lot of festivals chase trends. Videocittà seems to create them. How do you stay ahead of the curve without losing your roots?
Living in Rome, it’s impossible to forget where you come from. We’re constantly surrounded by the past, and that reminds us that strong roots are essential for building a solid identity. Videocittà doesn’t chase trends – we grow deliberately, year by year.
This gradual approach has helped us build a community that increasingly sees our festival as an important reference point for Italy’s creative scene. At the same time, we’ve been cultivating our international audience for years now, and it keeps growing. We stay ahead not by rushing, but by staying grounded in our heritage while fostering genuine innovation.
What does Rome bring to the table as the home of an innovation-first festival like this? Would Videocittà even make sense in another city?
Rome has been evolving for over two thousand years – it’s a city that knows how to change while staying itself. Everything that happens in Rome has this weight to it, this global resonance, which definitely benefits Videocittà.
From a practical standpoint, Rome is also the city of cinema, with incredible cultural heritage in audiovisual arts. This has created a pool of skills and expertise around the city that naturally supports what we’re doing.
Could Videocittà exist without Rome? At this point, Rome has been absolutely essential in making the festival what it is today.
Do you think the Italian festival culture (or the scene in general) is still evolving? Is it going to explode?
When we talk about Italian festivals, we shouldn’t forget that Italy already hosts some of the world’s most important cultural events. The Venice Biennale keeps expanding – they even added a growing music section recently. This year, with Caterina Barbieri involved, it’s definitely worth watching.
Then there’s Milan’s Salone del Mobile, which is design-focused but undeniably a major cultural force. And festivals more tied to digital culture – like Club To Club in Turin, and now Videocittà.
So I wouldn’t say the Italian scene is about to explode. It’s already strong – what we’re seeing now is the opening of new frontiers.
We take creative risks every year, not just to be different, but because we want to offer our audience a glimpse of what’s coming. Videocittà is where things start, where innovation meets culture before it becomes a trend. Francesco Dobrovich, Creative Director of Videocittà for NIGHTMAG (2025)
With audiovisual performance at the core, what’s your take on the future of “live shows”? Do you think traditional DJ sets will become obsolete in the long term?
Culture needs to be free to evolve – and so do live shows. I’m not nostalgic. I’m always drawn to new energies and emerging forms.
That said, I don’t think DJing is going anywhere. Personally, I still love being in a dark club, dancing and getting lost in the music – there’s something timeless about that. But at Videocittà, the visual component is in our DNA. Audiovisual performance is what defines us.
So no, DJ sets aren’t becoming obsolete. Nothing truly dies in culture – it all transforms. And if that format ever hits a crisis, it just means it’s time to make space for the next wave of creativity from young people.
From the Gazometro’s transformation to immersive installations – what’s the biggest production challenge you’ve faced this year?
Filling a massive empty cylinder – 96 meters high, wrapped in a metal frame, with a 200-meter diameter – is without question our biggest production challenge. There’s nothing comparable to it. But that’s also what pushes us: turning an industrial relic into a living, immersive experience.
We also face the challenge of constantly raising the bar for our audience. This year we’ve introduced new professional areas, fast-track access, and backstage experiences with artists. We’re also working on optimizing how people experience large-scale works like the Gazometro installation, including timed access.
But perhaps the biggest challenge remains bringing innovation to the public before it’s widely recognized – staying ahead because we believe in shaping the cultural conversation.
If you had zero limits – budget, tech, logistics – what’s the one wild idea you’d bring to life at the next edition?
If there were truly no limits, I’d create a large-scale immersive and meditative experience inside the Imperial Forums.
Imagine ancient Roman ruins becoming a living canvas for sound, light, and reflection. A collaboration between Paolo Sorrentino, whose cinematic vision could bring an emotional, dreamlike dimension to the space, and Björk, whose music and presence would transform it into a spiritual journey.
It would be a dialogue between past and future, silence and sound, history and imagination – a moment of collective pause and deep presence, right in the heart of Rome.