Ziffern im Wald

Snapshot

Large Fibonacci numerals installed in the Monchsberg forest behind the Museum der Moderne Monchsberg, by Italian Arte Povera artist Mario Merz, completed in 2003. Walk of Modern Art #2. The numbers appear one by one among the trees as the walker moves deeper into the forest.

The Story

Mario Merz spent decades working with the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so on, each number the sum of the two before it. The sequence appears throughout nature in the spiral arrangements of shells, pinecones, and sunflower seeds, in the growth patterns of populations and plants. Merz saw in it something that industrial civilisation kept trying to override and failing: an organic logic, patient and indifferent to human schedules.

He installed these numerals in the Monchsberg forest as the second work in the Walk of Modern Art, placing the sequence in the trees behind the Museum der Moderne on the plateau. The numbers are large, set at intervals in the forest so that they are encountered one by one as the walker moves through the trees. There is no explanatory panel that resolves the encounter in advance. The sequence simply appears, in a forest, above a baroque city built on precision and hierarchy.

Mario Merz died in November 2003, the same year the installation was completed. The work is among his last, and the placing of a sequence about natural growth and endless continuation at a moment of ending carries its own weight.

The forest walk is brief but requires paying attention. In heavy foliage the numerals can be difficult to spot; in winter the gaps between the trees make the structure clearer.

Visiting

• Location: Mönchsberg forest, behind the Museum der Moderne Monchsberg, on the Mönchsberg plateau, Salzburg.
• Getting there: Take the Monchsberg Lift to the plateau, then walk toward and around the Museum der Moderne into the forest paths behind the building.
• Hours: Always accessible; daylight recommended for visibility.
• Cost: Free (lift fare applies if using the lift).
• Time needed: 15-20 minutes.
• Tips: Look carefully; the numerals are among the trees rather than on a marked path. Combine with a visit to the Museum der Moderne Monchsberg or the adjacent Sky Space.