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“Theater of Combustion (Naphta)“, 2021, exhi­bi­tion view, Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg.
“Theater of Combustion (Naphta)“, 2021, exhi­bi­tion view, Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg.
“Theater of Combustion (Naphta)“, 2021, exhi­bi­tion view, Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg.


THEATER OF COMBUSTION (NAPHTA)

Neon lights, electrical cable, power generator, exhaust hose, 2021.

“Theater of Combustion (Naphta)” was created specifically for the exhibition Oil. Beauty and Horror of the Petrol Age at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. The work continues a series of light installations developed in the petro-industrial landscapes of Azerbaijan. Based on the geometry of the naphthene cyclopentane—a hydrocarbon found primarily in refined gasoline—the installation can be understood as a European counterpart to those landscapes of extraction. Suspended from the museum ceiling in the center of Wolfsburg, the luminous structure stages a theater of combustion: the electricity that powers it is generated by burning fuel on site, while the resulting exhaust gases are channelled out of the exhibition space through a dedicated ventilation system. In this way, the work makes visible the usually hidden energetic and material conditions on which illumination, exhibition, and urban life depend.