Crescendo appare

Sculptor: Mario Merz
Materials: Red bricks, stainless steel and glass
Inauguration: July 21, 1992

This creation of the Italian Mario Merz, formed by 21 small red neon numbers embedded in the ground and illuminated, represents the structural law of the medieval mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci, as explained by the author, and is an arithmetic progression in which each number has its origin in the sum of the previous two. It is located on the pier of Barceloneta and was inaugurated a few days before the start of the Olympic Games, on July 21, 1992. It is a configuration that goes unnoticed during the day and becomes apparent at night. From the first moment it has suffered problems because it is in a pedestrian area where more vehicles pass than the account and especially due to the fact that next to, and sometimes on top of it, there is an area where they have been allowed to plant their tent. of the circuses that passed through Barcelona. The deterioration became so important that in 2004, since almost all the numbers had disappeared and it was absolutely inoperative, a restoration had to be carried out that was, in fact, a new installation. The 21 neon numbers were made new, from the original template that the author kept, and the electrical installation was renewed, renewing the transformers once again. Drains were created to eliminate the water from condensations that accumulated in the box of each number, and the tightness of these boxes was improved with respect to surface water. Neon crystals were put new, thicker than at the beginning, and load tests were carried out with trucks to verify that they would resist in case some had to pass over them. Even so, they keep breaking and must be replaced.