The Fibonacci Sequence

In the Dallas Museum of Art show "Silence and Time" the pieces are inspired by John Cage's 1952 composition 4'33". These different works of art represent silence and time, however they also delve into the ideas of absence and presence shown or not shown in the pieces. The piece I chose to focus on was Mario Merz's, Italian 1925-2003, Fibonacci 1202, 1970. The piece is eleven black and white frames, ten neon numbers, and one transformer for the lights. Each frame is a photo of the same restaurant, however in each photo the number of people increases according to the fibonacci sequence, a number pattern where each increasing number is created by adding the two numbers before it together. The numbers above each photo are 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55 and the photographs have the corresponding people in each frame, except for the first with zero people. This piece is much more than just a number pattern; the fibonacci sequence is a pattern that can relate to many forms of life including the petals found on many flowers and they way many organisms grow. Merz's piece is even meant to capture growth, creation in life. The neon lights that shine brightly, contrasting the black and white photographs, represent the light and energy shown in the photographs. The people in the photographs were famous in the art world including art dealers, artists, and gallerists from all over the world. The restaurant photos were taken in Turin, Italy.

This piece relates to the "Silence and Time" exhibition through the concept of the entire and piece and specific elements such as the scenes depicted in the photographs. As the restaurant fills there is more food, more wine, more noise, more smoke, and less space. The growing amount of people happens throughout the night and represents the time it takes for something to grow or happen, so the fibonacci sequence to time the growth fits perfectly with the piece because the sequence is so closely related with life growing.