Anamorphic Mirror, 2011

Deutsche Bank headquarters, Frankfort on the Main, Germany

Anamorphic Mirror is located at the top of the stairway leading up to the public area in the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt and invites visitors’ exploration. From afar, visitors see a chaotic arrangement of blue reflections in a facetted mirror. As they get closer, what they see changes with every step and a concrete form gradually begins to take shape before their eyes.

The installation’s design concept uses the visitors’ movement in the space for its dramaturgy and visual experience. Anamorphic Mirror is based on the principle of anamorphosis: what you see changes as you move — akin to experiencing a filmic sequence. The well-known design mark conceived by Anton Stankowski only fully resolves when seen from a specific vantage point or ‘sweet spot’. In order to achieve this effect the shapes and alignment of the mirror facets were calculated generatively. Blue light projected onto the wall opposite is reflected by the mirror elements.

When visitors reach the top of the stairs, they see themselves reflected in the mirror and so take centre stage in the installation.