Porca Miseria! Chandelier

The Porca Miseria! Chandelier is both a revolt against the slickness of contemporary design and Maurer’s celebration of cinematic slow-motion explosions, like those seen in Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point (1970). The production of this piece is limited to just ten a year, as the construction of each lamp requires the effort of four people. The builders break plates with a hammer or simply drop them on the floor. The pieces, broken arbitrarily, determine the arrangement of the final design.

Credit: Gift of the Architecture and Design Committee in honor of Mary Bright