 This series of works was inspired by László Moholy-Nagy's "Light Space Modulator" (1930, located at Harvard since 1956) and Fernand Léger's "Ballet Mécanique" (1924).Also in 1959, the combination of these grids with sources of fire (candles, gas-burners) produced smoke-traces and fire paintings, in which the paint was scorched.Piene created these "Rauchbilder" ("smoke pictures") as a reference to elemental natural energies.