Early works - lighting elements 4711
A decision to move houses is mostly (and hopefully) determined by visions of the anticipated future. So was mine. But when I sorted and sighted old forgotten documents I realized my move became at the same time a discourse with my past. Some of my finds I want to share with you here.
The following lamps I designed, made and installed in spring 1996 for a sport-rehab hospital in Cologne. 150 years ago in this building the famous "Eau de Cologne" was produced. Lamp by lamp I try to show how I addressed to the architectural peculiarities I found there. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The technical shape of this lamp corresponds with the modern character of the ambiance arousing by the mechanical devices. ![]() ![]() Special reflectors inside the cube channel the light through the slits. The slit lamp was designed to illuminate the impressive girders and the ceiling sections they create. ![]() ![]() The corpus of this lamp disappears completely in the suspended ceiling and the glass diffuser covers the opening. The tray lamp was kind of a neutral element to integrate the above mentioned working areas subtly in the lighting concept. This project was a personal milestone for me. Due to the enormous workload of making about 120 lamps I decided to do this kind of work full-time and since then I make my living from it. Early works - the "Bra Board"![]() The feature came up in Feb. 1994 and was part of a series about local creative people in the meier magazine - the urban magazine for the Mannheim metropolitan area. At that time I had built a little table for my living room and called it "Bra Board". This piece was inspired by tumblers/skipjacks: The lower third of each corpus was filled with sand and steel so it stood up even when it was inclined more than 30 degrees to the side. The bottom edge was cut plain and capped so it did not swing in that direction. Finally a 1/2" glass plate was set in flush with the sculptures and secured the corporas balance in the longitudinal direction. ![]() Due to its weight the board was not very practical when I was moving my furniture. But still I am touched by its uncommon statics and its futuristic sensuality. Mannheim rules...my webdesign!![]() ![]() ![]() Though the slogan of his website iconified Webdesign Mannheim is "Standards, not Standard" he coded my website so thouroughly that it even works fine in Internet Exporer ;-). Thanks so much, Ivo! Early works - a three dimensional lettering![]() Another project that I would call an early work was an outside installation of 1994 - please excuse the bad graphical material, but I did not keep records of this project as I was working as a mathematician at this time and did not make my living with artwork. The Polaroid on the left side I took in the former chicken house where I welded the piece. It was an advertising sign for a fashion boutique named OXY in Heidelberg/Germany. But what came out was rather a sculpture than just a sign. The sculpture was made of stainless steel and the central figure was composed of rotational corpora forming the graphical logo legible from any side. The figure itself stood on a cantilever tongue. The pipe you see behind the sculpture was in fact a half pipe containing a white neon lamp. The mirror finished metal sheet at the wall side was bended parabolically and the lamp was placed exactly in the centre of the parabola. As centre beams reflect parallel in a parabola the sheet was blinding bright from the distance leading to a mystic silhouetted lettering. Fortunately I found at least some contact prints of the piece set up. ![]() ![]() Art to the People - Die Kunst dem Volke
... was the slogan, goal and claim of the "Volksb?hne" (German for "People's Theatre") which was founded in the early 1890's in Berlin.
![]() This anniversary brought 3 Mannheimian women (www.mein-mannheim.de (German only) - I. Krueger, N. Enke, S. Ballhause) to the idea to describe Mannheim through the eyes of its inhabitants. That is, they interviewed and photographed 30 citizens and the 3 women's work was published as a book. (The book "Mein Mannheim" is published by the "Verlag Edition Quadrat"- ISBN 978-3-923003-94-5, the contents of the displays you can see on the website mein-mannheim.de). ![]() So the three women came to me with the idea to make an exhibition of their result on a public free accessible place. The City of Mannheim supported the idea and provided a 800 square meter place between the fountains on the central "Alter Messplatz" for a three months exhibition. So I designed heavy weight (to resist the wind) displays and manufactured them in my workshop to install them in a public place for an entrance free exhibition. ![]() Moving to Denmark
I am moving houses and my workshop! Elke and me fell in love with an erstwhile farm on the west coast of northern Denmark and we are moving houses.
To me there are many new wonderful experiences as we now have an own piece of land. We have a little forest and sheep on the grassland. We grow plenty of vegetables and fruits. I am cutting down trees and make firewood. We started growing another forest to protect us from the heavy winds in some years. And in my freetime I enjoy being at the wonderful beach. ![]() You see there is a lot to do besides working in or improving my new workshop, but I won't complain as it is great to work outside on the countryside. But you may excuse that I hardly found time to post some news on my blog. Finally now i did and reported on my last two projects in Mannheim which both were making displays. You find one above and one below. Floating displays for the National Theater Mannheim
I am very proud that I was asked by Thomas Busse, the workshop manager of the National Theater in Mannheim, to develop frames for changing exhibitions in the foyer of the time-honored theater together with him.
![]() ![]() ![]() a float bed in New York![]() the float song![]()
You can download the song in mp3 or ogg format from the downloads section of my website. Floats disassembly tool![]() On the making side my interpretation of the abbreviation USP would be "UnSpared Pain", as you have to manufacture every minor detail that is not a technical standard. In the picture you can see some pushers I have manufactured during many hours and rests of the preliminary products. Even these little tools for the disassembly of the float bed are very labor intensive, including: - turning of the grip, the trapezoid thread rod and the hexagon nut - cutting and drilling of the flat stainless steel bar - welding the nut on the bar and the wrench insert on the thread - bisecting, glueing and oiling of the grip. Well, actually I wanted to show you that I spare no pains to build your bed! make up your float![]() stream - so many tubes!![]() float city Mannheim![]() perfect shots![]() Lucky I am to have a brilliant photostudio next door, and my luck is hard to put in words: the award-winning grandmaster of the camera who runs this studio is my brother Stefan Longin! The gorgeous photo on the left (click to enlarge) recently was awarded at the BFF, the German Association of Free-Lance Photographers. To see more such sophisticated shots feel free to visit him on his posh website www.longin.com. stream - the positioning device![]() a float bed in Denver, Colorado![]() how the rods are joint with the tubes![]() ![]() stream - suiting and welding the tubes![]() ![]()
(Page 1 of 1, totaling 18 entries)
|
Max Longin is a German mathematician living and working in northern Denmark.
He designed the float bed in 2004 and the stream chair in 2006. A blow-by-blow presentation of his products can be found on his website at www.max-longin.com. Feel free to contact him. Categories: |