About the work

Hilgemann, born in 1938 in Witten, has become especially known for his implosions: the air is gradually withdrawn from his airtight, welded, geometric stainless-steel bodies with a vacuum pump. The cubes collapse and deform as a result of the ambient air pressure. The form of the sculptures thus depends upon the planned destruction to be carried out. The artist transforms a strictly geometric initial form into an amorphous and no longer definable or reproducible shape, from which both its perfect initial form and the effect of the violence suffered can be read.