WATCH: New Santa Luċija Roundabout Artwork Will Light Up At Night ‘Like Rays Of Hope’
A new public steel artwork which has been installed at the Santa Luċija underpass roundabout, will light up at night to symbolise fire.
Created by I+A, a team of Malta-based architects, artists and technologists, the artwork is entitled N(h)ar, a play on two homophonous Maltese words – “Nar” (fire) and “Nhar” (daytime).
It is composed of 120 steel pillars, emerging from the ground and rising to different heights to symbolise liquid fire. At night, the pillars will light up to represent rays of hope.
The monument is meant to symbolise how ancient civilisations had seen fire as a gift from the gods, with some attributing it to the sun god, believing the sun to be a ball of endless fire.
“This symbolism associated with fire and daytime persists today, with fire and day as a metaphor of progress, hope, and with darkness as a symbol of uncertainty,” Infrastructure Malta said in a statement launching the project.
The state infrastructure authority commissioned the production of this artwork towards the end of 2020 following an international completion held in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv.
A team of metal workers fabricated, galvanised and sprayed the artwork’s steel components in two workshops in Xgħajra and Kordin while Infrastructure Malta embellished the area with new trees and shrubs and carried out the necessary electric work illuminate the artwork.
N(h)ar is the fifth public artwork commissioned for the embellishment of Infrastructure Malta’s road projects, with the other four winning entries being installed in the landscape areas of the Marsa Junction Project.
Two of these artworks, Tipping Point, by the Cypriot metal artists Alex Welch and Sema, another submission by I+A, are already in place, while Ascension, by Mizzi Studios, and Tisliba, by Gozitan ceramicist Paul Haber, will be installed in the coming weeks.
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