Premiere as Video Frieze and Outdoor Lighting (PhonoLuxMachine)
Kinemathek Karlsruhe, March 12, 2026, 7 p.m.
Presentation until April 30, 2026
The video work Himmelssturz was developed by IRIS-A-MAZ for the PhonoLuxMachine. Presented as a frieze in the foyer of the Kinemathek, it becomes a spatial element, giving the video the appearance of a fresco or painting. The work combines elements of the Renaissance with contemporary media art techniques.
Is humanity heading toward an apocalypse, or is falling an inherent state of the universe? Does the fall ever end, and if so, when? And is there hope for a soft landing?
Thinking of falling evokes a sense of total loss of control; vertigo gives a small taste of it. Yet free fall can also be understood as a moment of absolute liberation—nothing matters anymore, as everything seems predetermined.
Only those who master the elements can fly.
Falling and flying are recurring motifs in ancient myths and biblical scenes. Phaeton and Icarus fell due to their hubris, with Phaeton also destroying parts of the world. In the Bible, the fall is a divine punishment: Lucifer was cast out of heaven, and the unrighteous are thrown down at the Last Judgment, as depicted in Peter Paul Rubens’ The Fall of the Damned (1620). This painting served as the starting point for IRIS-A-MAZ (Iris Holstein & Matthias Hederer) for their latest work. Himmelssturz transforms falling into a continuous state, as it sometimes appears in dreams.
The video in the Kinemathek foyer reflects uncertainty, portraying the fall as a transition from one state to another, just as the foyer itself is the threshold from the real world into the world of cinema.
