- Art & Culture
The Grande Disco
A revelation of movement beyond the static, the art of Arnaldo Pomodoro between order and chaos, just a short walk from the city centre
In the heart of Milan, just a stone’s throw from Palazzo Marino and the Teatro alla Scala, is a sculpture all about contrasts and revelations. It arrived in 1979, after being removed from another city that did not see it as being in line with the style of the piazza in which it had been placed.
From Vigevano it came to Piazza Meda, raised above the pavement level, inside a flourishing flower bed. It’s easy to get very close, thanks to the pedestrian walkway, and from there, to understand its details - first and foremost the metal surface and the grass underneath. Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Grande Disco incorporates many elements that are dear to the artist, in particular the contrast between perfect, closed forms and internal splits, between static and movement, which can be seen here in the use of smooth polished bronze surfaces marked by splitting and cracks that thin out into a halo, like the sun’s rays, and reveal a chaotic interior, a mysterious inner mechanism. The Disc is reminiscent of the sun itself, as well as of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, surrounded by a circle. This piece has four twin versions in other parts of the world, including the Bank of America Plaza in North Carolina and on the campus of the University of Chicago.
