In the late 1950s, Nanda Vigo returned to Italy after studying architecture in Switzerland and America. Growing close to the Italian members of the Zero group, she embraced kinetic and perceptual experimentation through her own hybrid language. Vigo harnessed the use of natural and artificial light to great sensory effect, using industrial technology and materials like textured glass, mirrors, neon, Perspex, and aluminium. According to the artist, light has no dimension, and as in Manifesto cronotopico (1964), it adapts to any physical configuration. Her Cronotopi (1962–1968) are rectangular structures of aluminium and industrial glass set on the floor or on pedestals, reflecting the light that illuminates them from inside or outside. The artist also called them Spazi-tempi – in Greek, chronos means “time” and topos means “space” – and said the iridescent effect of the ribbed glass could transport viewers into another dimension. When installed so that visitors can walk through them, these sculptures give the illusion of constantly shifting surfaces. In 1967, Vigo began constructing Ambienti cronotopici with additional, complementary units. Though similar to Cronotopi, her Diaframmi (1968) have a tubular metal frame covered in textured glass. Vigo stacked or grouped these sculptural elements to mark out areas where space and time seem suspended, in a shimmering experience of the senses.
Stefano Mudu
