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On Friday 7 November 2025, the book Livia’s Room: Researching, Reflecting, and Staging will be presented at the Norwegian Institute in Rome. Edited by Lene Therese Teigen (writer/director) and Lovisa Brännstedt (classical historian, Lund University), the volume presents contributions from scholars and artists reflecting on history, performance, and cultural memory. The launch event is free and open to all, and will be followed by a reception on the Institute’s roof terrace.
The event will be held in English.
About the project
“Livia’s Room” is a collaboration between artists and academics. It is a work of art with the Roman era as a historical backdrop in a feminist perspective. It started through encounters at the Circolo Scandinavo in Rome, continued with a workshop at the Norwegian Institute in 2019, continued to develop, and premiered with a performance in Bergen in 2022. The aim of the project was to create a forum for discussion on how history is communicated both within academia and in the performative arts.
The book has eighteen chapters, both artistic and academic, and also includes the stage text Livia's Room. The book shows how the collaboration has worked across disciplines within academia and the art field, and across national borders for five years.
The room is the main character in the performance and lays the foundation for a story about the position of women then and now. With the desire to reread history, and look at the portrayal of powerful women from new perspectives, Livia and the women around her are put under the microscope.
“Livia's Room" invites you to an interdisciplinary meeting between past and present. Livia was a key adviser to her husband Emperor Augustus, and thus challenged the limits of what a woman could allow herself to do. Her reputation as one of the most evil women in world history is based on texts written by historians from the Roman era, who could not accept that women had power.
The book is an anthology with contributions from 14 different authors.
Event 7 November
Kindly register if you wish to attend the event at the Norwegian Institute in Rome in Viale Trenta Aprile 33: Livia's Room registration 7 November
Launch Performance
On Saturday 8 November 2025, the artistic program continues with Livia’s Room – The Launch Performance at Circolo Scandinavo in Via di Santa Sabina 8. This unique evening combines fragments of theatre, music, textile art, and light design, offering a poetic experience inspired by the Livia’s Room project. Kindly see the website of the Circolo Scandinavo for more information and registration.
Both events form part of Novembre Nordico 2025, celebrating Nordic culture in Rome through art, scholarship, and collaboration.