Untitled (Karlsruher Tischleuchte), 2024

Acrylic Glass, LED, polyethylene foil, c. 145 x 80 x 60 cm The title “Karlsruher Tischleuchte” (Karlsruhe table lamp) refers to the classic names of design objects such as “Frankfurter Küche (1926)” or “Ulmer Hocker (1954)”. The use of Plexiglas refers to the design tradition of the 1970s, from which the reference object in the work also originates. On August 25, 1977, a terrorist attack was carried out in Karlsruhe, which the Federal Prosecutor's Office described as a failure. With the help of Peter-Jürgen Boock, an improvised rocket launcher was installed: 42 steel tubes as housings for the propellants and explosives of a Stalin organ, with an alarm clock as a time fuse. In front of the open window of a couple's apartment, previously overpowered and tied up, it was aimed at the opposite façade and remained hidden from view from outside behind a piece of paper laid over it. The detonating clock was supposed to be set for half an hour to give the perpetrators a window of opportunity to escape, but was left behind without being activated. [Boock later defended himself in court, claiming that he had deliberately sabotaged the attack. In a letter of confession from the RAF dated September 5, 1977, there was talk of a “warning” in which no demands were mentioned. On the same day, the German Autumn began with the kidnapping of employer president Schleyer.]