.MGX by Materialise, Materialise your Dreams, Leuven, 2007, pp. 6, 44-45, 124, 148 Gareth Williams, Telling Tales, Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design, exh. cat., The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2009, p. 114, p. 117 for a computer rendering
Catalogue Essay
Opulent and bombastic, Luc Merx produced this ceiling light through a 3-D printing process known as Selective Laser Sintering. The shade and ceiling cap comprise algorithmically-derived masses of writhing nudes based on ‘The Fall of the Damned’, a classic motif used by Merx to reactivate historic imagery as a reference for his design. On closer inspection, the masses resolve into single falling bodies, twisted and frozen in fear, which reflect the internal light source. Their rhythmic order is visually perplexing, rendering the bodies as ornament. The design of this lamp undermines several taboos imposed on design in the 20th century by being figurative, ornamental, and narrative.
2007 Selective laser sintering 3-D printed nylon. 48 in (121.9 cm) high, 22 in (55.9 cm) diameter, with variable drop Manufactured by .MGX by Materialise, Belgium. Number 7 from the edition of 40. Embossed with ‘.MGX/07/40’.