Mario Merz

Mario Merz (Milan, 1925–2003) connected natural growth, political urgency and the structures through which human beings organise space. A central figure of Arte Povera, he combined industrial and organic materials such as metal, glass, clay, stone, branches and newspapers with neon words and numbers. His works transformed apparently simple forms into unstable models of shelter, energy and collective existence.

This archive gathers articles, exhibitions and critical readings of Merz’s work, from Che fare? to his iconic igloos, tables and installations based on the Fibonacci sequence. For Merz, numbers were not abstract signs but evidence of a living force expanding through plants, animals, crowds and architecture. His practice rejected any clear separation between nature and culture, artwork and environment, individual body and social space. Every structure remains provisional, while every number appears capable of continuing beyond the limits of the work.