an anfractuous fire

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An anfractuous fire (2011)

Installation/ happening at One Night only, UKS, March 28th 2011

One night only (ONO) is exhibitions made to last only the opening night. It is a weekly event run by students from The National Art Academy in Oslo.

When I were invited to ONO I thought it was a good opportunity to work with materials that would not last through an ordinary exhibition, and to make some sort of work that somehow incorporated the one evening time frame

The result of these considerations were a maze of tilted matches stuck into clay. When it was set fire to, it should burn like a slow domino effect, progressing though and eventually out of the labyrinth, without igniting those matches that were not part of the solution of the maze.

It took a while to make the process work according the plan. In the beginning the line of matches did not connect well enough, and the fire went out several times. After adjusting their angle it worked as planned, - not as a spectacular pyro-show, but as a meditative sequence of small micro-detonations, slowly drawing a black twisted line.

I used an online "Maze generator" to design 100 same-sized “high anfractuosity” labyrinths. The one I found most intriguing among these, was recreated on the floor and set fire to. It was surrounded by prints of all the 100 versions, hung on the walls around.