Children's Fairy Tales (The Wardrobe of Dorothea K.)

Medium: Conceptual light sculpture \ installation, modified ready-made (Perforated 1949 Swedish wooden wardrobe, manual multicolor internal light system)

1. The Story Behind the Artwork

The installation is based on a dramatic family story from 1949. A young girl, Dorothea K., was born with a complete absence of fear, which led to constant physical injuries. Terrifying fairy tales failed to teach her caution. In a desperate act to protect her, her father secretly modified a family heirloom—a 1949 wooden wardrobe. Mimicking a termite, he drilled thousands of holes into the wood, placed a light source inside, and added music playing Tchaikovsky's The Doll’s Funeral. Used as a nightlight, this scary object successfully instilled a vital sense of fear in the girl within just one week. Dorothea lived a long life, passing away at the age of 83.

• Destruction of Safety: A wardrobe is usually a symbol of home, comfort, and safety. By drilling thousands of holes into it, the artist destroys this safety. The light breaking through the "wounded" wood shows how easily human peace and memory can be shattered.
• Love Through Fear: The artwork shows a strange paradox: sometimes parents have to create a monster to protect their child. The bright light inside the wardrobe is not warm or cozy. It is an aggressive tool used to scare the girl and save her life.
• Spatial Environment and Interaction Visually, the installation turns the gallery space into an immersive battlefield between darkness and light. The viewer can manually change the internal lighting, switching between red, blue, white, or mixed colors. Each color drastically changes the emotional atmosphere of the room: red brings immediate danger, blue evokes cold depression, white creates a blinding shock, and the mixed palette feels like a chaotic nightmare. This interactive feature allows the audience to physically manipulate the environment, experiencing the exact same mix of wonder, control, and terror that little Dorothea felt in 1949.