Enel Contemporanea, the art sponsorship program of Italian utility company Enel, recently opened its third installation created by the American artist Jeffrey Inaba, in Collaboration with Luca Peralta Studio, Rome, Italy, at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I, the most important hospital in the Italian capital and one of the largest in Europe. A multi-functional medical structure which was at the cutting edge when founded at the end of the 19th century, today it is often the subject of debate and controversy.

This is being countered by a gradual but significant process of renovation. The artistic project is focused particularly on the waiting and transit areas, used every day by large numbers of people. Within the delicate and complex social context that a hospital represents, the artist offers different kinds of space where patients, passers-by, visitors and doctors can enjoy moments of relaxation.

Colors, lights, geometric shapes and various environmentally friendly elements give the hospital a new, dynamic energy. Through art, waiting becomes potential energy, transmitting positivity and bringing an element of comfort to an architectural space normally seen as a temporary and highly emotional environment.

The solar PV system generates more than the energy needed for the electricity to run the lights and the monitors and DVD player inside the sphere. The project uses a sustainable system but it is also intentionally accessible in form and image (Alice in Wonderland mushroom meets solar ray chomping PacMan).