A Pound of Flesh for 50p (study) by Alex Chinneck
Hackney artist Alex Chinneck has created a wall that melts in the sun as part of his research for a project to build a melting house.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_2.jpg)
Chinneck has been working on a melting house to be built in Kent, England, in the summer of 2014, but recently demonstrated the concept by constructing a two-metre-high wax wall that gradually became a pile of drips and rubble over the course of a day.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_3.jpg)
"Architecture and light have such an inseparable relationship and a building is rarely designed or built without consideration to the sun's movement around it," the artist told Dezeen. "The melting house is being designed to describe this relationship in a literal and theatrical way because the sun physically shapes the form."
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_4.jpg)
He continued: "I felt that my work was becoming so computer designed and engineered that I wanted to create a situation that sacrificed this kind of control. I like the idea of these wax structures being taken as far as a computer will allow before releasing the fate of the form to chance."
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_5.jpg)
Each block used to build the wall was made from dyed paraffin wax, cast to the same dimensions of a standard brick used in the British construction industry. The artist added sand to the steel casting trays, giving each brick a subtly different texture with its own unique imperfections.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_6.jpg)
He documented the melting of the wall for Art Licks Magazine. Although it was designed to diminish in just one day, it took longer than expected and Chinneck had to use a blowtorch to accelerate the process, highlighting the unpredictability of the design.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_7.jpg)
The house will be installed in Margate, Kent, next summer. Unlike the wall, it is expected to melt slowly over a period of eight weeks. "I like the idea of spectacle having a subtlety, so this steady transformation feels pleasingly calm in contrast to the bold concept," added the artist.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_8.jpg)
Chinneck's past artworks include a series of identically smashed windows at a derelict factory.
![A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck A Pound of Flesh for 50p by Alex Chinneck](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/04/dezeen_A-Pound-of-Flesh-for-50p-by-Alex-Chinneck_9.jpg)
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