With the eminent disappearance of the traditional light bulbs, it is the old association between light and heat that is being explored here; light as a visualisation of heat as it travels through the space. The element of time is also present in this work; heat, time and its potential to affect matter. I like ephemeral things that are here at one moment and gone at the next. In that sense, I have always been a bit jealous of cooks being able to work with very ephemeral and alive materials and to create something that will be enjoyed and gone in a moment.
Whereas many products are defined by familiar and concrete forms, my interest in the combination of chocolate and light lies in the very malleable formlessness being used as an integral material. I have always been fascinated by the properties of chocolate. It is not only its facility to melt and transform shape that interested me but also the fact that it is precious edible material.
In Chocochandelier, 24 bars of chocolate rotate around the spotlight at one revolution per hour. The light is slowly moving up so that it keeps melting up sections of the chocolate bar hour after hour.
All photos by Ladan Anoushfar.
People are welcome to catch the chocolate drips using the supplied bread sticks or their fingers.
Piece developed for the Okay Studio exhibition at The Aram Gallery in London, 2008