Völklingen's Lamp

When viewed from the right angle, smoke appears to rise every now and again from an Oriental oil lamp – thanks to the steelworks in the background! With a knowing nod to Aladdin’s lamp from One Thousand and One Nights, Kolenčíková forges a powerful visual metaphor that plays with the ideas of desire and reality. In connecting the lamp’s magical power of imagination to the reality of the steel industry, the smoke symbolises both the illusion of wishful thinking and the harsh reality of industrial production. Kolenčíková thus crafts a highly charged duality: while the lamp stands for dreams and endless potential, the steel mill represents the hard labour, environmental impact and other effects of industrialisation. The oil lamp is from a souvenir shop in Völklingen.

Frank Krämer