Ito’s red wineglass set in a block of transparent methacrylate will be a toast to the city, to its activity and to humanity in general. In anticipation of the building of Toyo Ito’s design, the city council has requested a piece to provide information. This has given architect Lucio Rosato not just the chance to conceive an autonomous though not prevaricating idea that offers an original interpretation of the sculpture, but also the possibility of transforming the occasion into a creative act. Like a kaleidoscope in reverse, his installation captures the piazza’s colours and gives them a fresh and original appearance. The game of references and sensory perceptions results from the non-existent sides of the block and the unexpected behaviour of light. The “stand-in” installation is all highly minimalist: the transparent methacrylate walls, the shape of the glass, the volumetric measurements. The numbers, as well as providing quantitative parameters on the dimensions of the red masses (the wineglass) and the transparent ones they contain, take on a graphic dimension and define the ascending lines of the glass by clinging to its sinuous shape. This skilful overlaying of the parts portrays Ito’s idea in three dimensions. The installation moves between evocation and narration, using a terse and poetic language; it provokes curiosity and attention, and like a siren, it enchants with its evanescent and gleaming reverberation. In the meantime, Ito is working on his sculpture – a jet of water and light – due to be inaugurated between September and October. Fernando Baldassarre

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