Fascinated by colours, light and nature, in the winter of 1997, Matthias took a bowl with salad dressing inside, placed it atop an inverted flower pot, put in a light bulb which projected the liquid on to the ceiling of his living room. That luminous brilliance got him hooked for life.

He patented the projector ‘lightmotiv. analog’ to design lights in an atmospheric ambience. The project enlarges a liquid or substance through a 35m diameter Petri dish. A mirror projects the contents of the Petri dish into every direction. These projections (made possible by two projectors) can beam up reflections up to 100m in diameter. Its analog technology is four times more effective than a regular standard video beamer, with pin-sharp projections. Matthias believes it’s the brightest moving image projection in the world.

With the lightmotiv projector, Matthias can not only choose the substance, but also control its movement, speed and direction. It works well in clubs and parties where his gurgling, coloured baubles groove to the music. Says Matthias, “Every day we have scores of information before us, contending with our sense of balance and mental recreation. One solution is to design our environment in a way that keeps the digital frenzy out of our thoughts. Light captures our imagination and has the power to change our emotional state; it can be manipulated in a way to enhance our well-being.” His moving pictures have illuminated pools, spas, domes, gardens, besides creating fog projection surfaces through which LEDs play their magic. Stylish cross-fading, pastel colours and sophisticated compositions make up NightLab’s countless themes.

The winter of 1997 was the first time Matthias Strobl projected a "lightmotiv". A flower pot with a lightbulb inside, covered with a glass dish - that's all it needed for projecting the moves and details of a simple oil and vinegar mixture in an unseen way. People all over the world are fascinated by these pictures. Since 1999 Matthias Strobl and his company theNightLab (tnl) is specialized in designing rooms with light in an atmospheric way. The patented projector lightmotiv.analog amazes corporate clients, wellness-enthusiasts, art lovers and trance-freaks from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro.

It's a simple but genious technique: the projector enlarges the liquid content of a shined through petri-dish up to 35 m in diameter. „the analog technology outshines  a standard video-beamer by four times and it is pin sharp." explains Matthias Strobl. „A mirror ensures, that the liquid contents of the petri-dish can be projected into every direction." With two new projectors, which were developed in 2005, it's possible to create projections up to 100 meters in Diameter. „That's the brightest moving image projection worldwide." states Matthias Strobl. „Until November 2006 they are used for one of the most popular shows, "The Pink Floyd Show" in 30 german citys."

Matthias Strobl tried out more than 2000 substances, about 50 of them are regularly in use now. „The skill is to know the way in which the different substances react with each other. If I a newbie tries to create these projections, the liquid content will be a brown dowdy soup in 15 minutes. But someone who knows what it´s about can conjure wonderfull and exciting pictures in the same petri-dish for over 5 hours." At art-happenings currently little crayfishes are the favorites: while they swim in the waterfilled petri-dish, they are shining on chairs and tables and seem to be really there. „Crawling mega-sized ants paving their way through a petri-dish filled with sand, are suboptimal for sensitive minds." the Artist says.

Every Image is Unique

In the eye of the inventor the fascination of lightmotiv is it's organicness and uniqueness: „You will never know how the images will look like, because finally the laws of nature decide in which way the structures form" says Mathias Strobl. „It's not possible to create exactly the same picture again and because of that every image is unique. In the era of technological reproduction it's so wonderful to experience the uniqueness of a moment."

The possible applications for the projector are various: „You can use lightmotiv at stage acts, but also as an element for big decoration spaces on an event while it's changing it's form, colour and dynamic during the evening." Matthias Strobl tells. He likes to work with the Company "Flash Art", also from Bielefeld, which is the main provider of pyrotechnology and special effects in Germany. „We seem to be at the same wavelength." noticed the young inventor satisfied. „Classical and liquid fireworks out of one hand - you have never seen that before."

In October 2004 in Bad Schandau (near Dresden) the third Thermal Spa with the "Liquid Sound"^® Label opened its doors. All three „Liquid Sound-Temples" have solid business-ideas and business-plans. The difference between these Liquid Sound Thermal Spas and ordinary Thermal Spas is to be found in use of artistic and fantastic resources. Micky Remann is the name of the inventor, initiator and today's director of the concept of Liquid Sound, which he has characterised with the slogan „swim in light and music" very early. In the beginning there was the vision of listening to music while floating in the water.

The Fog-Screen can be experienced best at the big pool outside. There are three columns, every one of them six meter high. Steam comes out from the sides, the middle one cuts the projection into two projection surfaces. Combined the size is 15 meters. The right projection is symmetrically reflected by the middle column. There is the same projection on the right side like on the left side, but because the fog is always moving, because of the wind and it's changing direction, the natural and the synthetic light, the reflected projections will never be identical. If you observe these projections for a while you will see phantasmal, three-dimensional shadows and figures. It's an impressing, tranquilizing and relaxing spectacle.

Matthias Strobl, Managing Director of theNightLab: „We assisted at the production of the visual content and gave some instructions. At the technological side we had to make sure that the depth of focus of the projections is used to its full capacity, because in the depth of 3 or 4 meter, the projection should be as sharp as possible, although the water always moves." Tina Zimmerman and theNightLab worked out guidelines which are acceptable in an asthetic way and able to be projected under these special conditions. You can't show fast sequences like a football-game, only slow sequences are apropriate. „You always have to keep the fog's movings in mind" states Matthias Strobl „with slow and superior motives you can achieve a very interisting effect, because the synchronous changing of the images and the changing of the fog due to the wind complement influence one another in a way, that the guests never get to see the same sequence twice."

„We knew the basics of atomized spray." But the challenge was: Because of the asthetics Micky Remann wished a vertical steam from the three steles and not in the usual way, falling down like a curtain from the traverse." The gravitation works against a homogeneous curtain. The solution was a right dimensioned gland and a special-pump, which achieves a compression of 150 bar. „The result is a closed area of projection" says Andreas Korth, Flash Art. Outside the two projectors had to be placed for a undisturbed continuous operation. That means: protection against vandalism and thievery but also integration in an optical and asthetic way. At the moment there are no boxes for the projectors for outside on the Market. So a bit of development was nessecary. Now, the lockable cases of solid steel (with a heavyness of 80 kg) stand on a slightly seceding lawn, the light will not blind guests in the pool outside.

During the daily handling the two projectors are switched off periodically, so that the LED-Illumination of the room will be accented. theNightLab did the special LED-Illumination. Overall Tina Zimmermann provided video material of about 40 hours for the Spray-Screen and the Dome. Different daily-programs are used: on monday there are different images than on wednesday. Every three months the videos are changed. „For a short time there were little problems with the adjustment and synchronisation of the films" Matthias strobl says. „We had to do a few extra night sessions, but finally everything functioned perfectly."

Bielefeld. Once Matthias Strobl picked up small animals from brushwoods and brooks, and watched closely at what he've catched in a jam jar. Softly irradiated with light, the profile of pollywog, stickleback and dragonfly nymph billowed across the wall. Today the projections of oil-water-mixtures are sophisticated and advanced and gently flatter the human soul - worlwide. In 2000 he founded the „tnl GmbH" (theNightLab). His most spectacular customer: Ikea, the blue-yellow furniture-store from Sweden.

Today, instead of small animals different water-colours, oils, cosmetics and detergents swim in a petri-dish. The petri-dish stays in a special projector which projects the colourful substance of the dish onto the wall. A agitator moves the substances, forms are composing, the colours get mixed, append themself in the brain of the beholder, inspire and relax. Nearly 2000 substances he has tried, says Matthias Strobl. Currently his favorite mix is: rinse agent, nail polish, nail polish remover with a drop of silicone-oil.

He wants to rise up an antipole against the world of mass media. Excessive advertising makes the people tired, apathetic and wears them down. Strobls light-and-colour adventures connect natural science and art, inspire and tickle the brain to catch the forms and name them. A flower-pot was the prototype. He put a petri-dish on the ground of the flower-pot, filled in mixtures and irradiated it.

Matthias Strobl signed the contract. The Swedes called the artwork „Blue Bubble". Now the motives from the other artists are printed and provided to the furniture-stores, the motive from Bielefeld is missing. „Supply difficulties" says Stephan Walter, local marceting-director of the store in Brackwede in Germany. The other images selled very good and the provider is overloaded. Now the motive from theNightLab has to be printed at the end, but Ikea of Sweden searchs for new providers worldwide. „We don't celebrate until the images are in the shelves for selling." says Matthias Strobl.

This basic technique isn't really new and reminds immediately on the psychodelic oil-effect disks from the sixty's and seventy's, but the lightmotiv.analog projector has more features. Two effects are used. At one side slide motives can be projected, on the other side you can achieve psychodelic effects with the open petri-dish. The combination of these two effects is very a delightful in a general view.

You can dim the Illuminant manually for a few percent, overall the projector provides an Output of ca. 6000 ANSI-Lumen. The light Ray goes through a roundly glassplane on which the logo can be placed. Directly above that, the petri-dish will be placed on a ring which is rotating into both directions. The logo is static, while the second level is movable in different velocities. The motives can get a physical radius size up to 17 cm thereby you can use conventional dia as well as a good foil for the overhead projector. Last one is a cheaper alternative, which is a flexibility on an event and is producible with the help of a Laptop and a printer. Due to bleaching out it's not appropiate for long term use.

Now you can fill in the basic liquids like a alcohol-, oil-, or waterbased mixtures into the petri-dish. In these basic mixtures you can add different substances like food coloring, or colours from the art market. Due to chemical reactions always new coloured forms rise up in the petri-dish, which will never be reproducable. In addition to the physical and chemical effects there is a agitator, which can be put into the dish and rotate it into both directions with different velocities. Until now the lightmotiv.analog projector is only availible for leasehold. That's an advantage, because tnl has the right substances and colours for the effects.

Matthias: My concept is based on projections. I have the goal to create enlighted rooms which are more than the sum of their components. An aura shall arise. In the center of my work there is a self-made projector. With this projector I can create special images, which I call „lightmotiv". Basically lightmotiv is the enlarged Projection of colourful liquids, mixed in a petri-dish. I find the ingredients in my surrounding, most products are for the household reqirements like colour-pigments, edible oil, detergents, etc. I always find more and more... You can never foresee to 100% percent how the images will look like. Because in the end the laws of nature will decide in which way the structures will be formed. That's so special about these images. That means, the order of the structures will never repeat itself and therefore every moment, every image is unique.

Franzi: So everybody who look at this spectacle will see how the substances react with each other?

Matthias: Yes and no. You will see the different chemical, physical and biological reactions. This different colours and energetic forms will be shown as a 20 meter high projection. But you can „see" or discover even more than what I've just described. The consciousness is used to decode information. The consciousness tries to remember forms, which it has recognized once. Because the structure of the liquid solutions never repeats, the consciousness is constrained to compose new associations. There is no message which can get decoded. Whatever you discover in the projections are your own thoughts.

Franzi: How did you get this idea?

Matthias: The idea with the projector developed little by little. I was always fascinated from light, colours and nature and liked to do handcrafted stuff. Nearly 4 years ago everything joined together: I took a bowl with a salad-dressing inside, put it on the Top of an upside-down flower pot. Inside the flower pot I put a light bulb which projected the dressing onto the ceiling of my living room. What I've seen there fascinated me until now and never let me off. That was definitly more than a salad-dressing...

Franzi: Do you try to express or to bring about something with it?

Matthias: I would describe the message with something like „fascinating reality". I'm often fascinated for hours just by watching the processes and structures which are created by the laws of nature. With our eyes we can pick up more information than with our other senses. The importantness of visual impressions can't get overrated.

And the pictures, which I´m facing every day in our wonderfuly coloured customer's world don´t impress me any more. They behave like they were made for machines. I need a balance. I want to look inside, want to create a room for my phantasy by the images, always new and recreating. For me, lightmotiv is a bubbling source of inspiration and positive thoughts.

Matthias: I see a lot of afinity. Music streams into one direction - the liquids also. The liquids get mixed together - the music also. At both the "colour" is changing, the speed, the complexity, and because of their continuos changing both influence the atmosphere of the room. For me, at a party, music and visuals are connected together inseparably, like hearing and vision is connected togehter for our sense. After all they are the same principles, only for other senses. Interisting for me is the question of the interfaces, cause only if these are existing and the exchange between optics and acoustics is happening, the party will be an asthetic experience. The projector has a few possibilitys, because you always can influence the events directly, but I see a big potential for development. I'm dreaming of a „sound/ light - universe", in which the hearing and the vision permanently revolve each other, interactively and therefore the senses are carried away. Or expressed in "german  party slang",  I'm dreaming of an everlasting, persistent „Mega-Flash".

Franzi: In fact, it's possible to live on what you're doing?

Matthias: Complicated question. But at the moment it's not enough to have a constant assured income. I want to change it immediately, because I have to keep an eye on myself, too. And with money there are more possibilitys to realize the ideas I have and I would like to do it. But if the question is based on the content of my work, I'm very happy with it, because it's a good feeling to have a work which make sense for me.

Franzi: In fact, I'm driving at the little `R`behind lightmotiv... You have build up a little company. Tell us about the company and how does it work?

Franzi: Outside of our scene, how do people react to this kind of images?

Matthias: Most people like this images. But if they look at pictures, most people are following a certain pattern, "are the images  nice or not" ok they are nice and then the people are moving on. That's not an informative reaction. I think these reactions have to do with the abstract and organic forms of the nature, which are familiar to our asthetic sense. Some people from the area of the chaos-analysists and the recreation-psychologists are interested in it. And the demand for sitting collectively in front of these projections for hours is rather seldom outside the scene.

Franzi: On which sort of events do you work?

Matthias: The events can be so different. There are events like corporate events, fairs and expositions, VJ-meetings and birthday-partys of friends and of course trance-partys. But you don't have the same amount of fun at each event, that´s for sure... Really smashing would be a session with a music artist in a cinema, where the images and music are there for an hour or so.

Franzi: At your company, is there a cooperation with other visual-artists, in the sense of a network character?

Matthias: Yes, of course. We see us as a meeting-point in a network of visual-artists. Together we are strong. And you can distribute products like posters or DVD's much better with a central platform than as a single person. The name of our company is theNightLab, the short version is tnl, and this name is our programm. A nocturnal lab, in which we are experimenting to create visual content, which we call „psychonaut food". The network consists of lighting-designers, VJ's, photographers, video-artists, graphic designers and of course of people, who have knowledge in the area of projection-techology and production processes for content. Basically we are working together with people who are also specialized in the area of projection and who we can help with our technical ressources. For example Tina Zimmermann. She is doing her work independently of our work, but if she needs technology, she calls us and we organize her a beamer or whatever she needs. The same way we help each other with the sales or with doing jobs at events. Visual artists who feel adressed by this are invited to contact us...

Franzi: Are there combined works?

Matthias: Mainly with Tina we did some projects. If everything goes right, we will be working together at „Waldfrieden Wonderland" and at some other outdoor events. Besides we are working at a collective DVD production and posters. Beyond this we are working as event- organizer and working together with the people of Waldfrieden more often.

Bielefeld. In the beginning there was light. Colourless, dull, sallow. But one can direct the light into spots, diffract it with mirrors, you can focus it through coloured filters and illuminate everything which is white. Matthias Stobl’s light is so colourful that it’s not only catching the eye, but you could also lose all your senses in these natural asthetic phenomenon. Whenever  the 24 year old one switches on the projector, thick smudges of colours start moving like little jelly-fishes through the room, glide over the ceiling and the walls, create new forms and surprising effects again and again.

At the moment the projector made by the Bielefeld start-up Company is very popular, especially in the techno scene. He is the pioneer of a fundamentally new technology, which he patented world wide.
Just about only a few party people know the promise of the colourful sensual delights, which creates a special atmosphere to the sounds of trip hop, trance and techno. This enjoyment is possible because of the help of a converted overhead projector.
Beyond the bustle of digital effects and laser show machines the lightshow of Mr. Strobl is subject to a kind of momentum, and it can be an experience of dubiety, which suits the spirit of the young scene.

The prototype, two and a half years ago it was called Aqua Beam, demonstrating the simple concept of this projector: Mr. Strobl removed the bottom of a flower pot and replaced it through a small glass bowl, filled with a mixture of liquids wherein colours and other substances were finally added. Underneath this construction, a light bulb illuminates these liquids and overall a mini-stirring device constantly stirs this colour- oil- mixture, so there are always new organic forms, being projected onto the wall.

“I had it exactly in my mind what it would look like, but I kept the idea by myself for a long time” remembers the young inventor, who didn´t want to be perceived as an idiot at that moment. And today? Now it’s not an flower pot anymore, but a metal- tube, which the Light- Jockey also use at the partys in Berlin and makes the city more colourful than it already is. Currently, little crayfishes are very favoured amongst the party guests. They vividly jerk along benches and tables and if you reach out your hand into the light it seems to be possible to catch them. If you want, you’re invited to try yourself as a light- artist and influence the projections.

The young start-up company is called “the Night Lab“ (TNL) and consist of Matthias Strobl and four other creative heads. It is placed at the former Boge- Factory in Bielefeld. Amidst of substances like peanut-oil, caramba tins  and bottles of other colourful liquids, ther are six overhead projectors in this office, which rather looks like a laboratory.