Cinquantasei nomi (Fifty-Six Names)

During the course of his investigations, Bagnoli has often focused on places outside the traditional museum spaces. Working with the relics of an ancient fountain placed outside the Castello building, he designed Cinquantasei nomi (Fifty-Six Names), 1999–2000. The work is made up of fifty-six aluminum rods, shaped like bamboo, but painted blue and red. Their arrangement follows the “quincunx,” the configuration of staggered parallel rows used in arboriculture. Adopted in the West since ancient Roman times, the quincunx can also be found in the East, particularly in Tibetan mysticism, as a central element from which the mandala develops.