NW Nr. 60/12.03.2001
It's pretty colourful around
An emerging start-up company from Bielefeld revives the scene with a composition of colourful light
(12.03.2001)
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.
The effects that are created by the Projector, are now called “lightmotiv“ and allow the composition of mega – sized projections up to 50 meters in diameter. This inimitable technology can be used for variable events and for the enterpreneur there is a high potential not only in the gastronomy and disco-scene, but also in advertisement, exhibitions and in the wellness-area. Mr. Strobl sees himself as an optical solo entertainer of the next generation: “We create an analogue antipole to any form of digital hecticness. We don’t want to have limitations in colours and resolution and size. TNL is a monument against the digital hecticness of our time.“
Nicole Hille-Priebe