Interview with Zalán Szakács - Eigengrau Pavilion

Zalán Szakács is a post-digital artist, audiovisual performer and researcher who explores media theories through light, space and sound. His work consists of immersive, interactive and immersive environments, creating atmospheres that make us look and listen in different ways. His installation Eigengrau Pavillion is one of the selected works with a chance to win the Golden Calf for Best Digital Cultural Production 2024.

Eigengrau Pavillion offers visitors a temporary escape from the hectic, individualistic, online information overload that surrounds us every day. The work creates an offline, collective, cinematic experience, but without a screen or pixels. Using only the ingredients of light, sound and fog, the installation evokes an emotional illusion, inviting the audience into a collective ritual and where a sense of belonging can emerge.

Eigengrau Pavillion contains a custom-made LED circle that takes you, in a 25-minute span, through a non-linear time of five mental states: Deep State, Anticipation State, Weird State, Higher State and Relaxation State. This story is made visible by the pre-programmed movement of blue light gradations, which refer to the colour of screen light.

The Netherlands Film Festival (NFF) will include a maquette and project description of Eigengrau Pavillion, on display at the Storyspace exhibition from 20 to 26 September. This interview aims to explain the thinking behind it and the working process.

The word Eigengrau comes from German, meaning ‘dark light’.

Where did the inspiration for the Eigengrau Pavilion come from?

While studying at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, I was able to combine my interests in media archaeology and performance art. Within this field, scientists, artists and historians research the history of technology. A great example is Book of Imaginary Media, which described the Phantasmagorias of the 18th century.

Phantasmagoria - actually the first immersive experiences - were a form of horror theatre in which (among other techniques) one or more magic lanterns were used to project terrifying images - such as skeletons, demons and ghosts - onto walls and smoke. Some shows added a variety of sensory stimulation, including scents and even electric shocks. Its invention heralded the end of Phantasmagorias and magic lanterns.

In addition, I saw a connection between the Phantasmagorias and extended cinema, using stroboscopic light pulses to create strong effects. Something you also see, for example, in the work of Stan VanDerBeek, a pre-internet artist who also used strobe effects to create depth on screen. These effects were not only about what you saw, what was happening on your retina, but also what was happening in your brain. It actually goes deeper than just an audiovisual experience.

These were the inspirations for me to experiment in practice with volumetric projections, stroboscopic effects, with LED lighting and smoke. Artist Anthony McCall has also used these kinds of effects in a form of Expanded Cinema.

You did a lot of reading on the subject, but that was only part of your research?

Yes definitely, in parallel with this research I also had to update my own knowledge about technology. It was new for me to be able to work with light in this way: How can I put light in a space and create a whole new experience?

In 2019, I created my first version of Eigengrau. That was also a circular LED, inspired by the Phantasmagoria performances. The light was just not bright enough, a technical problem. As a result, the experience wasn't really immersive in the end. In 2021, I made a new version with a high-powered LED and that was the basis for the current work.

How many versions does this work actually have?

I started presenting this work in different places, as an installation, but also as a live performance. In the latter form, we staged two-hour or three-hour performances where people could be totally absorbed. It was fascinating to see how that worked in different spaces, but also what didn't work.

Through interviews, I found out how the space was experienced and was able to make adjustments. For instance, I discovered that sometimes people experienced the installation almost as a mythical experience, but sometimes they stretched out on the floor and looked up. There they saw the cable running, a down-to-earth view that contrasted with the rest of the experience.

So now the ceiling had to be included anyway and the cables concealed, which can create a kind of feeling of limitlessness or infinity. Stan van de Beek's Movie-Drome was another inspiration for this; I wanted to make my own Movie-drome, one of these days. And that's how I came up with the inflatable. Together with a scent artist and a choreographer - who was a kind of undercover host - we trained to trigger other visitors by walking towards the light or just making certain movements. That idea of undercover hosts came from Tino Sehgal's Constructed Situations. Sehal is a German-English choreographer who creates environments where the visitor does not know exactly what is happening, but other attendees are part of the performance.

After problems arose in exhibition spaces when using the smoke machine - the fire brigade was even at the door at one point - I decided to create my own inflatable space. That way I could create a microclimate, without fire alarms, without angry curators. A place where I had complete control over the environment.

So basically, the work keeps evolving, by building in different circumstances each time, watching how people react and then making adjustments again.

The choice of the blue colour, is it deliberate?

To make the reference to the world of screens. I also found the associations with the (erroneous) quote ‘Beam me up Scotty’ from Star Trek appropriate. That blue light gives a sci-fi feel.

But since then, I have regularly changed the colours. I tried more pastel-like colours, referencing the original Phantasmagoria experiences. But now that I will also be showing the work outdoors in October, I think the colour blue is going to feel like stepping into a freezer. Since I still want to give a warm feeling too, I'm going to switch to amber or orange.

For me, it was important to eventually reduce everything and keep it so subtle, until it would almost be a Rothko painting. The work is a technological manifestation, a soundscape, with separate parts but what would nevertheless also be a gesamtkunstwerk.

What is the impact of the element of time?

That's an interesting factor. In the beginning, it was an open experience. People could walk in and out, take a few photos and disappear again. It had become a selfie machine. Then I started working with fixed and longer time slots, forcing people to surrender to the environment. This allowed them to enter a kind of hypnosis, a specific mental space in which certain steps were followed.

As a visitor, you have to trust the space, the experience, but also the presence of the other people with whom you share the space. Time plays an important role in this. There had to be a kind of rest and contemplation to really experience the work. I found out that the ideal time is between 20 and 25 minutes.

It also turned out that immersivity does not only arise in the work itself, but is also determined by the mental state you have before entering. Your expectations play a role in the experience. This was the reason for making an entrance tunnel, where your eyes can get used to the darkness.

What does distribution mean to you, from this work?

I try to standardise all processes as much as possible: how does it fit in a car, how does it fit on a euro pallet, what are the financial margins within which the work can be shown. I also have a technical rider that lists exactly what we need to be able to do that immersive quality. A permanent team of students and assistants know every step of the process and can be deployed during the construction. Actually, it is a turnkey installation.

I also work with a distribution manager. She develops strategies for new presentations, invites curators and museums to exhibitions. We created a teaser and a pdf presentation describing the work and the research.

I think it's important that the work also has presentations in the future and doesn't just stay in my storage. The pavilion is a critique of existing immersive experiences where the latest technology is always used. I want to make people aware that with synchronisation and the right combination and dosage of elements, you can make something very immersive even in an analogue way.

When can we see this work in real life?

During Dutch Design Week, from 19-27 October in Eindhoven.

On Friday 27 September, the winner of the Golden Calf for Best Digital Cultural Production will be announced during the Golden Calf Gala.

Credits and Inspiration

Credits

Zalán Szakács (research, concept, artistic direction)
Sébastien Robert (sound design)
Marta Wörner (choreography)
Renske van Vroonhoven/Attic Lab (smell design)
Studio Raito (production design - Eigengrau installation)
Daan Jonkers (production design - Eigengrau Pavilion)
Air Design Studio Erik van Dongen (inflatable production)
Rein Reitsma (product design - Eigengrau installation)
Inês Jacinto (distribution and communication manager)
Riccardo de Vecchi (videography/architecture - Eigengrau Pavilion)
Martijn van Boven (mentor)

Inspiration

• Video about the work
• Documentary about the work
• Lecture performance about the research
• Zalán Szakács' master thesis

Research books

• What is Media Archaeology? - Jussi Parikka
• The Book of Imaginary Media - Erik Kluitenberg
• Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion - Oliver Grau
• The Experience Machine, Stan VanDerBeek's Movie-Drome and Expanded Cinema - Gloria Sutton
• Expanded Cinema - Gene Youngblood
• The Chapel of Extreme Experience - John Geiger
• Light Moving in Time - William C. Wees