ANEMOPHONE (1968)

The work is the exhibition transposition of the Wind Instrument Producing Pure Harmonic Sounds. It belongs to one of the visionary projects that emerged from the artist’s reflections on what might constitute an ideal space for human existence and for nourishing the imagination: the Fantastic City. Positioned on a hill—within which the motors driving it were housed—the Anemofono was conceived to give voice to the wind through rotating blades of different shapes. In other words, it was a true instrument capable of influencing the wind by sonifying it.

Fogliati explains that “the Anemofono is a phonoplastic instrument acting upon air and wind.” According to him, “a body shaped as a circular blade produces a very sweet sound, while blades of quadrangular form generate a richer range of harmonics; finally, thin steel rods rotating at high speed produce a whistle.”