1960 HERNING

On the occasion of the exhibition at the Galerie Køpcke, he came into contact with Aage Damgaard, an enlightened and passionate patron, the owner at Herning, in the middle of Jutland, of the Angli shirt factory: Damgaard provided Manzoni with space, technical equipment and staff to allow him to experiment freely. He took full advantage, producing for example the Achromes in cotton wool treated with cobalt chloride that changed colour with the changing atmospheric conditions, a series of eggs embedded in resin, Corpo di luce assoluto (Absolute body of light), spherical bodies that rotated about themselves thanks to a jet of air, and Scultura nello spazio (Sculpture in space), balls balanced on jets of compressed air.

On the 4th of July, in the printworks of the Herning Avis newspaper, Manzoni created the Linea lunga 7200 metri (Line 7200 Meters Long) using a continuous roll of newsprint (weighing 202 kg specified the artist), subsequently sealed in a cylinder of zinc and lead. He intended this to be the first of a series of Linee to be buried in the world’s most important cities, the sum of which was to equal the circumference of the globe.