Mario Merz: the light of Volta

Within the celebration for the Bicentenary of the invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta (1799-1999), the town of Como pays homage to the illustrious scientist, dedicating to him a contemporary art work of large size which blends into the environment. The luminous installation, created by Mario Merz for the occasion on Porta Torre, has been made by the artist with electric light.
The polychrome installation of large size, made with tubes of fluorescent light, consists of 14 elements which form several words: on the side facing South the artist created the writing “città irreale/unreal city”, while in the arches of the Northern facade one can read “torre/tower – oriente/Orient – rebus/puzzle – radice/root – elemento/element”. The work, devised with light from electricity, creates a dynamic relationship between art and environment and it is visible to whom approaches the centre of Como.