A Thing Called Gearbox, 2004, aluminum/galvanoplastic, 250 x 65 x 65 cm

 

The aluminum casting of an office swivel chair was combined with a floating cannon. The cannon, which Urs Fischer carved in Styrofoam, was coated with a thin layer of wax and this was made conductive with silver dust and a conductive lacquer. The model was then electroplated with a wafer thin layer of copper. The Styrofoam was etched out of the inside with acetone and the wax residue melted out. The copper sculpture was then patinated with silver nitrate and the textile molding of the chair painted. A metal rod holds the canon upright above the chair.