Glass lighting objects for Glass museum Leerdam
Together with several artists from different professional fields, Studio Arntzen was invited to work in the workshop of the Glass museum in Leerdam, using the material glass and the subject “Ernst Haeckel”. Around 1900, this German zoologist brought people closer to the deep-sea world with his beautiful scientific illustrations.
‘When I was younger I already had a strong fascination regarding the beauty of things that go unnoticed when you are not paying full attention. I spent hours on my knees in the gravel parking lot in front of my parents' house. Each pebble-stone was interesting for me. With a hammer I broke it in two and admired the glittering wonder inside through a magnifying glass. In addition, I collected dead flies, butterflies, beetles and rain worms who I observed for hours and even donated as a present to family members.’
I recognize this wonder in the work of Ernst Haeckel, and I admire his precision in every detail of his scientific illustrations. The glass objects that I made are the result of an exploration into the symmetry and exquisiteness of his drawings. I chose to digitalize his illustrations and I decided to display them within the glass objects. Through the use of spherical and cylindrical effects I played with the natural optical magnification of the glass. With the goal being to challenge viewers to think about how observation can change what we see.
