ingo maurer ~ biotope

You may be asking yourself, what is that? A piece of art? Sculpture? Maybe a living organism? Remarkably, it is a hybrid light and acoustical device created by the German lighting designer Ingo Maurer…a Munich couple commissioned Maurer to design a “light” for their dining room, but as you can see, this is no ordinary dining room and this is certainly no ordinary light! Dating back to the 19th century, the apartment boasts an octagonal room that was originally conceived as a private chapel…now re-imagined as a dining room, Maurer wanted to create something that would both illuminate and soften the sound in the small but tall domed space…the end result, Biotope ~ “a 12 foot high hanging mass of  emerald-green sponges that glow from within (thanks to hidden L.E.D.’s), and  teemed with life in the form of about 100 exquisite, hand-painted models of butterflies, dragonflies, lizards and other creatures…green and white spotlights along the room’s perimeter add a surface glow that complements the L.E.D.’s concealed within the sponges, and a sound system, also hidden, can play music as well as insect noises or bird songs”

As with all art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…I realize this may not be for everyone, but it makes me smile…there is something uniquely romantic about the whole idea…it stretches the imagination and tests the boundaries…how exciting!

below ~ Ingo Maurer with the Biotope

Quote from Pilar Viladas and photographs by Marcus Gaab for the New York Times