18. Conserving a Kinetic “Rotor”: Light Dynamo by Heinz Mack

  • Paola Iazurlo
  • Grazia De Cesare
  • Mariastella Margozzi

Abstract

This paper presents the study and treatment of Light Dynamo, a Rotor by Heinz Mack (b. 1931), which was carried out by the Laboratorio di Restauro Materiali dell’Arte Contemporanea (Conservation Department of Contemporary Art Materials) of the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro (ISCR) in Rome. Light Dynamo is an assemblage of wooden panels forming a box. Inside is an aluminum-coated disk connected to an electric mechanism, which allows its slow rotation. The work is in the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM), which acquired it from the Salita gallery in Rome in 1986. It had never been exhibited because of its poor condition. The treatment focused on the conservation of the constituent materials and the refunctionalization of the kinetic system, made possible with the collaboration of the artist’s studio.

During the second half of the 1950s, artist Heinz Mack (b. 1931) developed his interest in lighting and kinetic phenomena with his Rotors. This series of works is laminated with shiny metal and creates moving light reflections via movement produced by a small motor housed on the back. Light Dynamo belongs to this phase of the artist’s production; it was recently identified as a work realized by Mack in 1960 for the ZERO group’s only exhibition in Rome: Mack + Klein + Piene + Uecker + Lo Savio = 0, of 1961.

The kinetic play is produced by a rotating disk inside a mirrored box, observed through corrugated glass to amplify the optical effect and the reflection of lighting. The interiors of the box and the disk, which are covered with small parallel wings with different orientations, are made of wood and laminated with sheets of aluminum.

A condition assessment revealed that the work appeared to be seriously deteriorated. The particleboard panels of the box were very flaky, and their external faces, painted with white vinyl-acrylic copolymer, were covered with a thick deposit of dirt and disfigured by numerous small lacunae. The aluminum sheets were covered with a passivating oxide layer, and the two cellulose acetate strips that originally held the glass pane were deformed and broken. Furthermore, functionality was limited because the corrugated glass, which was a fundamental screen to modify and extend the kinetic play of the work, was missing.

As with most kinetic works, the problem presented by the treatment was how to balance the exigency of preservation of the original materials with the exigency of functionality.

The issue of preservation of the original materials was addressed according to a strictly conservative approach in terms of compatibility and reversibility. The particleboard panels were consolidated with a hydrocarbon resin (Regalrez 1126), the paint layer and the aluminum sheets were cleaned with a solution of triammonium citrate, and the small lacunae were filled with synthetic stucco and inpainted with a cellulose ether medium, to respect the opacity and solubility of the original paint layer.

Figure 18.1. Heinz Mack’s Light Dynamo, 1960, after conservation treatment. Atelier/Studio Mack. © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Courtesy of Angelo Rubino.

Reestablishing functionality was a key issue to avoid the risk of the work being reduced to a relic, and this required substitution of the elements that were lost or damaged. This critical phase was carried out with the collaboration of the artist. He confirmed the correct functioning of the motor, which was still operational; it had come from a wall clock and moved slowly—approximately three revolutions per minute. Moreover, the artist’s studio provided a sample of the glass used by Mack in that period. This allowed us to replace the lost pane with a new one, similar to the original, which we had found after a very long search of glass factories (fig. 18.1). It was installed onto the work with two polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) bars, similar in appearance to the originals made from cellulose acetate. Finally, the elastic band on the back, which allowed the transmission of the movement from the motor to the disk, was replaced with an identical new one.

The treatment restored the kinetic function and enabled us to preserve the original materials, a necessity considering the singularity of Light Dynamo when compared to other works in the artist’s series of Rotors, which are completely covered with shiny metal. Light Dynamo could be considered a sort of sketch, or extemperaneous work, quickly executed with makeshift materials, easily perishable, but always characterized by a rigorous planning of the kinetic movement under lighting effects.