There's currently a trend for escape rooms, but there is only one escape room-like environment where fashionistas and art fans may want to be locked in – Arnaldo Pomodoro's labyrinth.
This visionary space was developed throughout 16 years (1995-2001) and is located in the basement of Fendi's Milanese showroom (in via Solari 35, previous headquarters of the Riva Calzoni factory).
Pomodoro developed a fascination with labyrinths as a child and, in the '90s, he made an entry portal conceived as a wall installation for an exhibition dedicated to Babylon.
Two years later, the piece became a proper entry door for a space recreated in another exhibition and, little by little, Pomodoro decided to develop an entire installation at the Fondazione in Via Solari, revolving around the theme of the labyrinth.
Until 2011 the work was a work-in-progress in constant evolution, but, when the Fondazione Pomodoro moved to another headquarter, it became impossible to relocate the labyrinth that was left as it was and incorporated in the basement of Fendi's showroom.
Pomodoro's labyrinth evokes ancient worlds and explorations: you access it through a revolving door and are immediately surrounded by walls covered in unintelligible hieroglyphics and geometrical signs and symbols.
These alien-like alphabets are actually inspired by Sumerian tablets narrating the Epic of Gilgamesh, but there are also echoes of the Aztec, Babylonian, Egyptian, and ancient Greek cultures. These signs hint at the power of communication and at a clash of cultures and alphabets.
The spaces are dark and mysterious, they are populated by sculptures that look half-finished or that evoke other pieces by Pomodoro, and feature corridors and rooms with a great tactile power as the walls are covered with three-dimensional bronzed elements.
In the centre of the labyrinth there is a room that features a sort of stone bed with a beam of light that comes from above: this space reproduces the cell where the Palermo-born alchemist Cagliostro died (the beam of light is a reference to the fact that the only access to the "Cella del Pozzetto" where Cagliostro was imprisoned at the Fortress of San Leo, outside Rimini, was a trap in the ceiling).
Informed by art, architecture, set and jewellery design, Pomodoro's labyrinth is a metaphor for the human condition: the artist, designer and sculptor often stated in interviews that he often feels locked in a labyrinth from where he can't escape.
Yet, if you search well, you will find the way out of Pomodoro's "escape room": the exit is not to be discovered in his unintelligible signs sculpted on the walls, but deep inside each of us and that revelation will come to you while exploring in silence these spaces and meditating about life.
Pomodoro's labyrinth will also be open during Milan Design Week (8th – 14th April, but remember to book your visit) – expect your average influencer or fashionista to visit it in search of photo ops.
Images in this post by Dario Tettamanzi
Rispondi