Zazaziza

KGB is part of a series of objects designed for the Single Life workshop by Droog design and IDII during November 2005.

Taking inspiration from phenomena such as bipolar disorder, cold war espionage imagery, street art, noir films and forensic sciences, KGB is a system to add secret layers of meaning onto the skin of the everyday.

KGB is comprised of a set of ultraviolet-reactive spray cans and a dual-purpose hanging lamp. The KGB lamp can reveal hidden messages painted on the walls of a household; in this way, for instance, a minimalist apartment could be turned into a secret graffiti exhibition space, a disgruntled bedsit tenant may share his rants with future KGB-enabled occupants, Parents needn’t worry as their children invisibly redecorate the walls of the living room. In short, scenarios in which KGB is essential abound.

In its default position (light pointing down), the seemingly innocuous KGB lamp emits a regular white light, good for eating, reading a book or interrogating a suspect. However, when the lamp is held by its handle (causing it to rotate 90 degrees), the white light gives way to an ultraviolet (UV) light. As the KGB lamp is in UV mode, adjacent walls painted with a UV-reactive pigment come to life, revealing a secret artwork that can be explored by scanning the surface with the lamp.

KGB lamp uses a tilt sensor to switch between normal and UV modes, 2 UV fluorescent tubes and 1 regular incandescent light bulb as the sources of photons in its current incarnation.

This project was exhibited in Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2006. Thanks to Massimo Banzi. Photos by Aram Armstrong.