You can’t see the sculpture – because it literally isn’t there.
Created by 67-year-old artist Salvatore Garau, ‘Io Sono’, which translates to ‘I Am’, is an immaterial sculpture that exists in vacuum.
According to the sculptor, it finds its form in nothingness.
“The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that nothing has a weight. Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us,” he explained to a news outlet.
The piece was initially priced between €6,000 and €9,000. However, after several bids, the price was raised and in the end, it was sold for €15,000 (approximately $18,300) to an anonymous buyer.
The buyer gets a certificate of authenticity, stamped and signed by the artist, and is instructed to display the sculpture in an unobstructed space that is five feet by five feet.
While this is the first invisible sculpture Garau has sold, the artist has previously displayed an immaterial sculpture titled ‘Buddha In Contemplation’ in Milan, which he posted on his Instagram as seen below.
“You don’t see it but it exists; it is made of air and spirit,” he explains in the video. “It is a work that asks you to activate the power of the imagination, a power that anyone has, even those who don’t believe they have it.”
