Infinito (Infinity)

In 1965, while living on Stromboli, a volcanic island north of Sicily, Giovanni Anselmo had an epiphany. As the sun’s first beams crested the horizon, the artist became aware that infinity had manifested in the world around him. He reflected later that perhaps the idea arose ‘simply because I am an earthling and for this reason limited in time, space, and specifics’ (G. Anselmo quoted in R. McKever, ‘He made visible the invisible forces that govern the universe’ – a tribute to Giovanni Anselmo (1934–2023)’, Apollo, 4 January 2024). Captivated by these invisible forces, Anselmo became determined to give a physical presence to the currents that shape matter and govern the universe. A seminal early work, Anselmo’s sculpture Infinito (Infinity) (1971-1973) was created contemporaneously to his exhibition at Documenta 5 in 1972. More recently, an example was included in his major 2024 retrospective at the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao.

Using only pre-existing materials, Anselmo focused his art on natural phenomena, making time, energy, and space recurring themes within his practice. These ideas are reflected in Infinito, which speaks to the vast unknown. Made of lead, an element associated with scientific inquiry and alchemical magic, the box seems to have been forged from the very centre of the Earth. FINITO—‘finished’, in Italian—is stamped along its upper face, as if IN has dropped off the edge. Infinity is thus imaginatively completed by the empty space around the work: an open endlessness that counters the lead box’s weighty finality. A key member of the Arte Povera movement, Anselmo believed in materiality as a means of harnessing a primordial power. ‘I, the world, things, life, we are points of energy,’ he said, ‘and it is not as necessary to crystallise these points as it is to keep them open and alive’ (G. Anselmo quoted in ibid.).