Photo: installation by the Hungarian artist, Balázs Kicsiny, showing fireman asleep against a pair of bullion scales

Waiting for Fire

An installation by Balázs Kicsiny

Tuesday 18 November 2003 – Wednesday 18 February 2004

This installation, created by the London-based Hungarian artist, Balázs Kicsiny, is inspired by London's Great Fire of 1666.

The artist has created an environment that he describes as a “cabin of anxiety.” Falling curtains and glowing red windows create a claustrophobic atmosphere in which he has positioned two central statues representing London firemen. The figures are resting on either side of a pair of bullion scales and suggest a tenuous balance. If either one of them moves, the equilibrium will collapse. Kicsiny has related this fragile balance to the space in-between catastrophes, something that could be broken at any moment.

The installation has a particular relevance today but also makes us consider London’s past, and how fire and calamity have shaped the city.

"The origin of the installation came from the story of the Great Fire of London... the artwork's main subject is the great city's continual threat from a forthcoming catastrophe... a metaphor... which attempts to create a psychological space expressing this anxiety." Balázs Kicsiny

• About the artist, Balázs Kicsiny