Senza Titolo, 1971. Mario Merz, Venice.

Mario Merz. Senza titolo, 1971.

Neon lights illuminate a sequence of numbers in the installation entitled “Senza titolo” (Untitled), signed by the Italian artist Mario Merz (1925-2003) and presented at the exhibition “Fragile?”  held on the San Giorgio Maggiore Island in Venice between April and July. Each number was placed in a corner of a square sheet of glass that stood, perpendicular to the wall, on a layer of earth. The glass sheets followed one another at irregular intervals and just the end of the wall seemed to stop their endless progression. Numbers were not random but complied with the Fibonacci’s sequence, the mathematical sequence discovered by the Italian monk and mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci at the beginning of the 13th century. The rhythmic progression of numbers is considered expression of the energy of the universe, as its increasing trend can be found in several natural forms, from the number of petals in a daisy to the pattern of the scales in a cone.

Mario Merz. Senza titolo, 1971. Detail.

From 1969, the Fibonacci’s sequence became a distinctive element in Merz’s works, declined in canvases, photographs, performances and installations. In this installation dated 1971, the neon lights immediately caught the attention on the sequence of numbers, symbols of energy and of growth. A process of creation that is expressed in a variety of forms, as exemplified by the different materials used for this work: the long strip of earth, with its colour and texture, combined with the cold transparency of the sheets of glass.

Mario Merz. Senza titolo, 1971. Detail.

 
The exhibition “Fragile?” explored the Venetian glassmaking tradition observed in contemporary artistic forms, where everyday objects are the medium to express and interpret ideas, experiences and moments of our life. In one of the rooms, I saw a long strip of earth cut by numbered sheets of glass, and the name Fibonacci. I had just discovered his work visiting a garden at the Moscow Flower Show: A la Mode Dining. (see my post: answer your questions... Caspian Robertson, A la Mode Dining - An edible garden, Moscow Flower Show, June 2013
http://travelinagarden.blogspot.it/2013/08/to-answer-your-questions-caspian.html) and this different representation of the medieval formula struck me.
I’m looking forward to being surprised again by the Fibonacci’s sequence.

Joseph Beuys. Terremoto in palazzo, 1981. Detail.

Mona Hatoum. Drowning Sorrows (wine bottles), 2004.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Venice, July 2013.

Links:
“Fragile?”
Le Stanze del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venezia.
http://www.cini.it/en/events/fragile-2
Fondazione Merz, Milano.  
http://fondazionemerz.org/en