SVOLAZZATORE CROMOCANGIANTE 1
SVOLAZZATORE CROMOCANGIANTE 2
IRIDESCENT “FLUTTERER” (1967)
In the 1960s, Fogliati worked on a series of urban‑scale intervention projects. He sought to endow the city with aesthetic presences by acting even upon atmospheric events through unusual actions. One of these was the coloring of rain. The aim was not to trivialize the idea by using simple colored light beams, but to create unexpected phenomena through a light endowed with “its own particular behavior.” Around the middle of the decade, he succeeded in conceiving and producing a type of light he would name Fantastic Light.
When this light illuminates a stationary object, it appears white; however, if the object is in motion, the light decomposes, revealing the colors that compose it (since, as is known, white is the sum of all hues in the chromatic spectrum). Fogliati realized that by projecting Fantastic Light onto a moving body, the body itself would take on its colors. This is precisely what he imagined for his Fantastic City: raindrops that, as they fall, carry the colors of the rainbow.
Thus was born the Svolazzatore Cromocangiante, a work consisting of a projector of Fantastic Light directed onto a helical screen. The screen is composed of a cylindrical base housing a motor that drives the rotation of a steel rod, which ends in a white propeller free to spin on its own axis. When the motor is activated, the entire assembly begins to move, and the propeller traces a circular trajectory. The dual rotation—the spinning of the rod and the independent rotation of the propeller—describes a complex volume in space, similar to a propeller wrapped around a torus.
Onto this dancing movement the beam of Fantastic Light is projected, generating the illusion of a small floating creature that, in its light and fluttering motion, seems to trail the colors of the rainbow through the air like a chromatic echo: the Svolazzatore Cromocangiante. As in other works by Fogliati, the luminous effect—here a colored one—detaches itself from the reflective support and becomes visible in mid‑air. The result is an image that appears to hover in the void, evoking the sensation of a form suspended in nothingness.
Synthetic Light (1965)
During the 1960s, Fogliati worked on the development of his urban projects. He wanted to introduce aesthetic presences into the environment and to act on atmospheric events in unusual ways. One of these was the colouring of rain.
Instead of trivialising the idea with simple beams of coloured light, Fogliati intended to create a truly unusual event with a light that “behaved in a ‘particular’ way”. In the mid-1960s, he designed and produced a type of light he called Luce Sintetica, Synthetic Light, or Luce Fantastica, Fantastic Light.
When the light is used to illuminate a motionless object, the beam appears to be white. When the light illuminates a moving object, then it breaks down into its constituent colours. In other words, the distinctive feature of this type of light is its ability to adapt to the characteristics of the object it illuminates. Fogliati realised that when a beam of Synthetic Light was projected on a moving object, the object would be coloured by the colours of the beam. This is what he wanted to do with rain, and he demonstrated the idea with the Prisma meccanico, the Rivelatore cromocinetico and the Svolazzatore cromocangiante.