180 people are lolling quietly on beanbags or chairs in the middle of the evangelical town church of Sankt Markus on the Altstadtring, their eyes wide open. Outside it’s snowing, inside the world is just emerging. Darkness and primeval flood become light, accompanied by Gustav Mahler’s “Primal Light” from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” and Joseph Haydn’s “Creation”. Eight powerfully bright projectors draw digital light art all around the church interior, trace stucco ornaments with glaring light or superimpose simple, smooth columns in such a way that they look baroquely twisted. “Genesis” is the name of the spectacle, and the audience unanimously ignored the question of whether this is more art or technology: The 30 wellness minutes for eyes and ears are well received.
The people of Munich have known at least since last September, when the north wall of the Pinakothek der Moderne invited to a pixel dance, how architecture can come to life when artists illuminate it and digitally shape it into a new, more three-dimensional data sculpture. This branch is called immersive art (to dive in, derived from the Latin) because it blurs the boundaries between viewer and structure. Architectural divers will now find new food in the Protestant Church of St. Mark, very intense, almost intoxicating.
The Zurich artist collective Projektil and the event platform Fever have been showing the first three days of the biblical story of creation since Friday and until March 13th. Nine months of preparatory work went into the project. The interior of the church was scanned, “we don’t want to slap our art on the building,” explains Philippe Trawnika, graphic artist and producer, “we want to emotionally reinforce the meditative energy of the church.” The projectors were set up for three days and three nights, and now the audience can enjoy immersing themselves in the optical intoxication of exploding blossoms or a cosmic firmament that looks like a convertible church from the beanbag.
Visitor Bilge Sungur says the show is “good in places, kitschy in places,” but praises how precisely the images were adapted to the architecture of St. Mark’s. Thomas Formann from Munich is very impressed, although the music is “not really my thing”. Bela Beckenbauer and Sabine Krallinger, both hearing-impaired, revel: “It’s palpitations, magical, beautiful – feelings of happiness and lots of energy! Great for the soul!”
More information on the Internet at www.feverup.com/munich