In Milan, installation by Federica Marangoni, pioneer of multimedia art

A work by a pioneer of multimedia art at Milan’s Palazzo Reale. Indeed, at the Milanese institute one can admire the multimedia sculpture work The Light of the Mind - an urban sign by Federica Marangoni (Padua, 1940). The light installation, promoted by Comune di Milano - Cultura and produced by Palazzo Reale, conceived as a site-specific work for the Palace’s Cortile d’Onore, will be on view from November 15 to December 10, 2023.

A multimedia artist known for her innovative use of glass, light and video in her works and installations, Federica Marangoni(Venice, 1940) was a pioneer in research on new materials through the innovative use of emerging technologies. Between the 1970s and 1980s she began working with performance, producing works that explore concepts such as light, artifice, ephemeral, transparency and virtual mobility of the image and breaking with traditional concepts of sculpture. Glass represents a central element in her research, which leads her to work consistently with Murano companies.

The work The Light of the Mind - an urban sign, a large-scale evolution of Federica Marangoni’s cycle of works on the theme of books, language and memory, was made of corten iron, cracked blue neon always in motion, and blue Murano glass scrap. The fulcrum of the installation is the book sculpture Light, which is half-open and inserted in a cage from which neon words come out, signs of a new vital energy that is released upward. The large volume emerges from a luminous pile of blue glass scrap, which seems to give life to the light of words. The message of words related to the drama of humanity, a recurring theme of Federica Marangoni’s work, is expressed here almost like a throbbing urban advertisement, where the presence of the monumental book and its open pages reflects the soul of our existence. Memory and testimony of learning, the very symbol of human thought, this book rusted by time seems to make words come out of its pages, illuminating the mind and inviting those who pass by and pause to grasp its meaning. A light installation that beckons the passerby with its familiar form of an urban sign.

"Federica Marangoni, who has already created public works for Spain, in Seville, Tenerife and Barcelona, and installed the work The Tree of Life in New York, continues to spread artistic messages in the squares and streets in defense of the values of ethics and aesthetics, of the vitality of a project for a livable world," comments Viana Conti, a journalist and art critic who has been following the artist’s work for decades.

The work was made possible thanks to the support of Assicurazioni Generali, which is committed to promoting art and culture throughout Italy through Valore Cultura. Generali recognizes in the Italian cultural and artistic heritage an immense value, both as a founding element of the country’s identity and for innovation and as an engine that generates emotions capable of uniting people. With Valore Cultura, the Group is committed to protecting these emotions with actions aimed at supporting art and culture to make them accessible to an increasingly wide audience and to enhance the territory.

Federica Marangoni lives and works in Venice and is an internationally recognized artist. She was an adjunct professor in the Department of Art and Art Education at New York University from 1976 to 1990. Marangoni has created important multimedia public works, such as Continuity, Embassy of Madrid, The Tree of Life, New York and Jacob’s Dream, Fondazione Rossini Briosco (IT). His art is an intersection of technology, light and image, and he creates unique and incisive works that explore and denounce. In 2022 he created a site-specific light and video intervention at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, the exhibition entitled Memory: the light of time was accompanied by the laser performance Wake up in Piazza San Marco.

He has exhibited abroad in major museums, galleries and foundations such as: MoMA, Corning Museum, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York; Hara Museum, Tokyo; Casa de Vacas del Parque del Retiro, Madrid; Ivernacle, Barcelona; Bellerive Museum, Zurich; Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara; Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, DE; Ernsting Stiftung Alter HofHerding, Coesfeld -Lette DE.; Centro d’Arte Contemporanea CAC Ticino, Bellinzona CH; Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Madrid, anthological exhibition and large multimedia sculpture Continuity Rainbow; Castello Sforzesco, Milan; Carnagie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA; Museo di Villa Croce, Genoa; Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York; Italian Pavilion of the 54th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, with the Multimedia Installation ESCAPE.

For all information, you can visit the official website of Palazzo Reale.

Click here for the artist’s official website.

In Milan, installation by Federica Marangoni, pioneer of multimedia art

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