refraction house

1990

The synagogue in Stommeln on the Lower Rhine is barely visible from the main road and is set back in an inner courtyard. Over a period of eight weeks, the building was closed and illuminated from the inside with intense light, so that the building illuminated the surroundings like a light sculpture and became a symbol visible from afar.

The synagogue in Stommeln is one of the few in Germany that was not destroyed during the pogroms of 1938, located in the backyard and barely visible. In order to create a new perception of the place among the population, the work Refraktionshaus was realized. Over a period of eight weeks, the building was closed and flooded with intense light inside, so that the architecture shone like a light sculpture in the surroundings and made a widely visible statement. The synagogue, nested and hidden as it is, became a point of attraction for the curious; however, if one approaches it, the glistening spotlights repel, virtually forbid entry and draw all attention back to the viewer himself and the surroundings, the center of which is the place of worship. This creates a sharp contrast between the concentration of the self-illuminating monument on the one hand and the diffusion of light on the other, which projects no images or geometric shapes, but only itself, as it were.