As of the late 1950s fire became the dominating element of Otto Piene's art. To the artist fire and smoke and the traces they leave behind on the image carrier respectively are autonomous means of design, in order to overcome his very own artistic hand. "I would like to recede even more, to make my individuality as author even less perceptible and to make a force such as the light appear even more superior, in order to make materiality even more void and to gain more freedom." (after: Udo Kultermann, Otto Piene. Retrospektive 1952-1996, ex.-cat. Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf 1996, p. 27).