Tree-high and inclined like petals at the top, these aluminum wing pairs define the four corners of the "Piazza Italia" on the exhibition grounds of Milan in northern Italy. Thousands of visitors this year are fascinated by the fact that the Siemens Group has created an interactive technology experience with "Wings": Numerous LED lamps are stuck in the matt, shiny aluminum surfaces and develop multi-colored light effects.

Image sequences appear again and again. They illustrate four key issues in our society: health, sustainability, energy and technology. If you approach the "wings" with a tablet or smartphone, you can help shape the lighting, and you can even take a self-portrait on the sculpture.

"We were very pleased that we were able to make this spectacular work of art possible with our material," says Wolfgang Rempe, head of the Hydro business unit Special Products.

Hydro supplied around 58 tons of aluminum sheets for "Wings". The strips were rolled partly at Alunorf, partly at the Hamburg plant, and then cut and delivered by our subcontractor Decomecc on sheets of 2 x 8 m. Our customer Ostseestaal, a subsidiary of the Centralstaal Group, bent the sheets into individual shapes and drilled the holes for the LED lamps.

Perhaps only for a short time will Libeskind's "Wings" (here an illustration [http://libeskind.com/work/the-wings/[) characterize "her" Piazza Italia at the Milan trade fair as imposingly as inspiring. What Siemens will do with them later has not yet been decided. Siemens is a strategic partner of Enel for smart grid technology at Expo Milano 2015.