The Melting Spot – Marta Mannino Lighting Designer

Before talking about the permanent installation The Melting Spot, it is necessary to talk about the “Lighting for Genoa” project wanted by the municipal administration, which has the aim of intervening in the historic center of Genoa with permanent light installations to redevelop squares and areas considered strategic, to enhance cultural routes and emergencies and, last but not least, to secure specific portions of the territory.

The project – conceived and coordinated by Condiviso.coop in Genoa – was inaugurated with the lighting of Piazza Don Gallo designed by the lighting designer Stefania Toro, now curator of the project, and involves a total of 10 city squares. Each square has been assigned to a different Italian lighting designer who works both locally and internationally

My London colleague Beatrice Bertolini and I were entrusted with the co-design of Piazza Stella, a square located in the historic center and immersed in the heart of the design district.

Our permanent installation takes the name of TheMeltingSpot precisely to express this strong cultural vitalism and mosaic of ethnic groups that has always characterized Genoa as a port city. People and their stories are the protagonists of the light installation, with which they interact, creating effects of colored lights and ever-changing shadows. By exploiting “additive synthesis”, combining the primary colors produced by light (red, blue and green) creates white light; just as a whole is created by mixing colors, so the city of Genoa is formed by a mix of cultures. Urban furniture elements have been designed to house the light sources. In a quiescent square, without customers, the light “breathes”, and then – thanks to sensors – awakens the colors as people pass by.