'Selva Elettrica' ('Electric Jungle') – Milan, Italy - Atlas Obscura

'Selva Elettrica' ('Electric Jungle')

The enigmatic sculpture hides above an escalator in a Milan metro station. 

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Almost unseen by the rushing passengers going out from the metro station, this dark tangle of cables and corrugated pipes breaks from the ceiling and wall above one of the escalators, revealing the city’s veins and arteries. 

An almost invisible plaque nearby explains the sculpture, named “Selva Elettrica” (“Electric Jungle”). The piece is by artist Alessia di Nunzio, whose work won an art contest in 2012.

The sculpture was cast in bronze and installed here in April 2013. It’s one of the rare examples of art in the Milan Metro, and is for sure one of the most easily missed and unexpected.

The sculpture can only be seen while moving up the escalator. Just as you are getting ready to leave the escalator,  there it is, the city showing its dark guts made of tangled cables and pipes protruding above unaware passengers’ heads from the polished granite walls of the metro. 

 

Know Before You Go

To see this bronze sculpture and snap a picture of it while moving up on the escalator, you must take the yellow line headed to Comasina and get off at Dergano station, then choose one of the two exits (the left one) and take the escalator.

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