Mario Merz's Fontana Igloo reactivated in Turin after years of inactivity

Mario Merz's Fontana Igloo, a landmark public artwork in Turin, has been restored and is now operational daily from 8 AM to midnight. Mayor Stefano Lo Russo announced the completion of repairs, ending years of inactivity that had made the fountain a symbol of neglected public art. Created in 2002 as part of the Spina Centrale urban redevelopment project, the work features a stone dome with red neon cardinal directions and a rectangular basin with inclined water jets. It was commissioned under the Artecittà program (1995), curated by Rudi Fuchs and Cristina Mundici, which invited eleven international artists to create permanent works along the new railway corridor. Only three of the planned works were realized: Merz's Fontana Igloo, Giuseppe Penone's Albero Giardino, and Per Kirkeby's Opera per Torino. In 2025, the city estimated restoration costs between €30,000 and €70,000 and considered private sponsors. Merz (1925–2003), a central figure of Arte Povera, first used the igloo form in 1968 as an archetypal shelter symbolizing nomadism and the human-nature relationship.