by Sofia Coletti
An aluminum deer stands out on a double igloo of metal and fagots, embraced by a neon sign with the first numbers of the Fibonacci sequence. Thus opens, in the Courtyard of Honor of the Rocca Albornoz, the journey of visual wonders and creative intuitions of “If the form disappears, its root is eternal”, the exhibition by Mario Merz, master of Arte Povera, who inaugurated yesterday and which until 6 October will offer some of the artist’s most significant historical installations in the ancient Spoleto fortress. But the exhibition also marks the opening of “The thin line of Umbria”, a strategic and unprecedented project of the National Museums Directorate of Perugia-Regional Directorate of National Museums of Umbria and of the Region which throughout the summer will involve, in a fusion of ancient and contemporary, the 14 national museums of Umbria, another 10 in the area, plus a special project at the ‘Cosmic Magnet’ of Foligno. Not only that, since yesterday the single ticket for 15 euros (10 reduced) has been active for four months, which will allow you to visit the 14 state museums animated by contemporary art. “This offer – says the director of the Museums Costantino D’Orazio, supported by the president Donatella Tesei – aims to connect and provoke the sharing of ideas and suggestions between places that design a new path in Umbria for an increasingly wider audience”.
The first act is therefore celebrated at the Rocca Albornoz with installations and paintings by Mario Merz, which allow the public to immerse themselves in the artist’s world, made up of architectural signs, reflections on the relationship between Poetry and Science, invitations to experiment with a collective space. After the work in the Courtyard of Honor, “If the form disappears, its root is eternal” continues in the two monumental halls of the Rocca. The famous Merz igloos are back, a tool for building sharing areas and reflecting on the mystery of Nature and History. The Fibonacci sequence returns in neon writing on the ceiling, an installation reproduces the title of the exhibition, another – “A Mallarmé“ – outlines an enigmatic neon aphorism on reams of newspapers, flanked by the large painting “Red Cloud at sunset”, with clouds that become increasingly larger geometric signs,
“The thin line of Umbria” will continue from Saturday 22nd with the inaugurations of the exhibitions in all the national museums of Umbria, to be admired until 6th October. Among the artists, Paola Gandolfi at the Archaeological Museum of Orvieto, and then Di Stasio at Sant’Agata in Spoleto, Luigi Spina at the Palazzo Ducale in Gubbio, Gianni Dessì at the Archaeological Museum of Perugia, Paolo Canevari at the Archaeological Area of Carsulae, Marco Tirelli at the Tempietto sul Clitunno.
