AUTONOMOUS FIELD (1970)

As part of the Fantastic City project, Fogliati decided to create a device that would self-program on a constantly variable basis, so that no two events would ever be the same. Like a sort of control tower, the device would then trigger a variety of content in the city, depending on the constantly changing input. The system would guarantee the non-repetitiveness of the output in each environment.

Campo autonomo achieves his objective in full; it consists of a series of individual and “mutually determining” movements, where the movement of each element influences and conditions the movements of the adjacent elements. The elements are discs suspended from wires; the wires are connected to a box on the ceiling containing a motor that makes them rotate in the same direction and at the same speed.

Each disc has a hole through which the wire linking it to the motor inside the box is inserted. The holes in the discs are placed slightly off-centre, to create a situation of tension. The decentring of the wires creates a relationship of tension and calm among the discs. In a condition of tension, the wires accumulate energy. When released, the energy makes the discs in contact with one another rotate fast. At the same time however, the other discs mutually influence their own rotation, creating constantly changing non-chaotic movement. At first, the rotary movement (produced by the mechanical system in the box) is the same for all the wires; but the movement of the various discs produces an ever-changing organised result (hence the title, Autonomous Field)