The Venue
The work is part of the project of modernization and refurbishment of the Cadorna Station and the surrounding square, coordinated by the architect Gae Aulenti for the Municipality of Milan in 1997. Divided into two parts, “needle with thread” and “knot”, which ideally meet underground, the sculpture is installed in a central square of the city and offers different interpretations: the red, green and yellow colors of the thread evoke to the lines of the subway; the work also refers to Milan as capital of fashion – Claes Oldenburg likes to define the work as a “celebratory monument” – and finally it evokes the emblem of the city of Milan, the Sforza’s snake, as Gae Aulenti declared.