07. 04. – 10. 04. 2009
Finissage: Reading by Svealena Kutschke
Other opening hours: 7. up to 10. April: 8 p.m. – midnight

Aylin Kayser and Christian Metzner are the designers of the Lamp Ikarus, which has already won several design awards, such as design contest 2008, in Imm. Most recently, IKARUS was introduced to a wider public in November 2008 with the support of the Crystal Ball gallery, in the TELEVISION magazine “Chic”. The concept of Icarus goes beyond form and a purely pramatic function. Through his mediation of content, as well as his thus conceived, built-in defunctionalization, Ikarus consciously enters the field of the visual arts.

Icarus consists of 90% paraffin, which is stabilized by an internal stainless steel construction and steel wire ropes. The bulb inside the lamp develops heat and melts the wax sleeve. The lampshade is subject to constant deformation, which runs differently with each model and makes it unique. The wax eventually drips off and creates a new sculpture. The melting in the deformation process depends on the operating time and the ambient temperature.

According to the artist, Icarus is intended to stimulate the viewer in a poetic and metaphorical way to deal with his own interaction and consumption of energy. The wax lamp Ikarus demonstrates the short-livedness of today’s product world and ultimately destroys itself in its function. With the acquisition of IKARUS, one obtains not only a design object, but also a process that, due to its transformative representation, represents an exciting and contemplative live performance.

The Crystal Ball Gallery shows IKARUS in its transformation on 7 May. until 10. April 2009