Marco Merendi with Roberto Giovannini 1958, Arcadia, Davide Groppi, Gerflor, Samsung

Cortile d'Onore - Università degli Studi di Milano

The installation by Marco Merendi is a pure, essential container for the faithful reproduction of the reading stand touched by the Virgin in the painting of the Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. A stand made in solid arolla pine, carved by hand by the master craftsman Roberto Giovannini.

Marco Merendi

The greenhouse designed by Arcadia is a transparent architectural structure, light and impalpable, that protects without covering. It wraps the reading stand like a cloak of light that retains reflections and colors, unveiling a world, connecting earth and sky, human and divine.

Inside, thanks to the application of dichroic films on the glass, the setting generates the play of transparencies, lights, shadows. The flow of time across the day alters the perception of the reading desk at the center of the greenhouse, in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that change depending on the vantage point.