Office Party
Social events at the office can make you feel slightly schizophrenic. You’re surrounded by piles of undone work and tipsy from the numerous drinks that are indispensable to feel relaxed at such occasions. After a few glasses the work you have been doing so carefully all day has lost its importance. The bleak neon light increases the ambiguous feeling. This strange contrast is the basis for the Office Party lamp.
Office Party is a permanent installation conceived for Portikus, an art centre located in a peculiar building on a small island in the river Main in Frankfurt. Portikus came to me with an interesting request: their amazing office space doubles as a venue for openings and dinner parties but their austere fluorescent office lighting did not really add to the festive atmosphere. They asked me to reconsider their existing neon fixtures and come up with a simple and cheap solution. The neon tubes were lowered, so that a brightly coloured transparent garland could slide along the tubes. When slid over the tubes the garland transforms the harsh neon light into a merry mix of colours.
Following up on the permanent installation, Office Party is now also available as an edition – each piece consisting of a colourful garland sliding over a standard office fixture.
Currently there is 7,20 meter long edition on show at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam.
