Libeskind’s artwork is the size of a tree and opens towards the top like the petals of a bloom. Its two pairs of wings anchor at the four corners of the Piazza Italia at the Milan Exhibition Centre in northern Italy. The piece was commissioned by the Siemens conglomerate, which has this year managed to fascinate thousands of visitors with this interactive technology experience. The sculpture’s matte, shimmering aluminium surfaces are fitted with large numbers of LEDs that together create multicolored lighting effects.

Image loops on the surfaces of the piece address the four key issues facing our society: health, sustainability, energy and technology. Anyone standing close enough can use their tablets and smartphones to contribute to the light display themselves and even project their own image onto it.

“We were delighted to be able to make this spectacular piece of art possible with our material,” says Wolfgang Rempe, Head of Special Products at Hydro.

The approximately 58 tonnes of aluminium sheet used for the project were provided by Hydro. The sheet metal was rolled by Alunorf and the Hamburg plant and then cut into individual sections measuring 2 x 8 metres by our supplier Decomecc, before being delivered. Hydro’s customer Ostseestaal, a subsidiary of the Centralstaal Group, then formed the panels into the required shapes and drilled the holes needed for the LEDs.

Libeskind’s Wings (go to http://libeskind.com/work/the-wings/ to see them) are as imposing as they are inspiring and may only be gracing ‘their’ Piazza Italia at the Milan Exhibition Centre for a little while longer. What Siemens will do with them afterwards has not yet been decided. Siemens is the strategic smart grid technology partner of Enel at the Expo Milan 2015.