Lichtspiel: Ars Anaclastica, Experiment Nr. 8 by Zalán Szakács

The research-based work reconfigures 17th-century optical devices for the present through a media-archaeological exploration of historical projection techniques. Emerging from a period between alchemy and Enlightenment science, these instruments were understood not only as technical tools but also as carriers of symbolic meaning—when immaterial projections appeared uncanny and objects like rooster-shaped lamps signified the divine.

Conceived as a contemporary wunderkammer, the installation stages a theatre of light experiments based on speculative machine drawings. Using lenses, LEDs, brass, wood, and stepper motors, the work materialises historical ideas through contemporary technologies. As visitors move through shifting environments of underworld, earth, and heaven, their shadows become part of the unfolding optical landscape. For this series of experiments, Szakács closely collaborated with Nick Mansveld, who developed the kinetic and technical development of the installation.