Interview with Margareta Hesse during the exhibition project “Apocalypse” at the “Marktkirche” Essen from 6 SEP to 15 OCT 2024.
Margareta Hesse works can be seen in independent projects and festivals as well as in galleries and museums. Her works are part of collections, including the Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Kunstmuseum Celle, Museum Siegburg and Museum for Communication in Frankfurt/Main.
From September 6 to October 15, 2024, the “Marktkirche” in Essen hosted a laser installation by Margareta Hesse as part of the exhibition series “Apocalypse” commissioned by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland. Sophie-Marie Sümmermann and Holger Hagedorn curated six artistic positions that explored how artists deal with current conflicts, crises and wars.
Margareta Hesse has been integrating physical light into her works since 2008. She works exclusively with red laser light in installations and interventions for interior spaces. Lasers are unique because they are monochromatic, they are composed of only one wavelength of light. They are coherent, which means that their waves are all in phase with one another, all align and never intersect. They are collimated and travel in a very narrow beam — unlike most light spreads out a great degree from their source. In fine arts, artistic explorations range from laser as sculptural material to performative medium.
Her laser works transform architectural spaces into experiential environments where visitors can interact with the light. She emphasizes the experiential and emotional qualities of the red laser light, inviting viewers to oscillate between the different spheres of her interventions.
Her installations are typically site-specific, transforming architectural environments into immersive sensory experiences using glowing red laser beams that appear as tangible, thread-like paths in space. She uses custom-made continuous-wave lasers combined with reflective mirrors, fog, and architectural contexts to draw glowing linear forms that flow through darkened spaces. Margareta’s practice has incorporated robotic lasers with dynamic movement expanding from static light sculptures to dynamic laser systems. In her practice, she has featured cultural-historical spaces such as the former “Unser Fritz” colliery in Herne (2008), the historic water reservoir of the “Mathildenhöhe” in Darmstadt as part of the LUMINALE (2010), the former “Madrasa Bir Lahjar” during the international light and media art festival INTERFERENCE in Tunis (2016), or a historic casemate in Hildesheim during the light art biennial LICHTUNGEN (2018).
The Market Church in Essen is the oldest Protestant church in the city center, serving as the official place of worship for the Essen church district. It has a rich history dating back to the 12th century, marked by various conversions, extensions, renovations, destruction, and reconstruction. Today, it hosts divine services, church music performances, exhibitions, talks, and offers a quiet space for contemplation, and prayer.
The site-specific intervention consisted of several components forming a performative environment: the “barrier” — a static set of parallel, horizontal laser lines, the “bundles” — two moving sets of laser rays anchored on the floor, directed up- and outwards, the “grid” — a moving set of parallel lines hoovering above the audience’s heads, and the “will-o’-the-wisps“ — a robotic system on floor level. Jointly, there build an immersive environment bathing the space in red with radiant sculptures in a dynamic choreography. Some haze is accentuating the luminous structures, and all is embedded in an experimental organ soundscape.
BP// We are standing in your installation in the „Marktkirche“ in Essen.
How do you describe what we are seeing?
MH// The theme of „Apocalypse“ is associated with increasing drama. From my perspective, this required an installation with a dramaturgy. The installation’s calming element is the “barrier”, accompanied by the sound of an organ, which seems to block access to the altar. It can be seen throughout and has a playful, interactive character, as the rays disappear as soon as they are touched.
This playful peace is disturbed, however, as a result of a programmed sequence of different sub-installations, whose dynamic orientation in space brings unrest to the relaxed hustle and bustle of the barrier in front of the altar. Two “bundles of rays” shoot across the room one after the other from a great height and in different directions, accompanied by a swelling organ sound. Shortly after they have disappeared again, the “grid” builds up beam by beam above the heads of the viewers.
Down below at the feet of the audience, the “will-o’-the-wisps”, robots with their attached laser devices, wake up one by one and follow their chaotic paths. The laser beams follow their movements and whiz through the room in a criss-cross pattern. This chaotic situation is accompanied by the now menacing thundering sound of the organ. After this climax, the action calms down. One by one, the robots return to their loading bays. The sound becomes calmer and more peaceful again.
This sequence programmed in the loop lasts about 20 minutes, which results in the effect of a sequence of states rather than a rhythmic dynamic.
BP// Your intervention has static and dynamic components, how do you develop the components?
MH// When designing the time sequences, I started from the premise that the viewer should have enough time to engage with each element, to touch it, to look at it.
The “barrier” is an absolutely static moment, a constant in the installation. For the first 5 minutes, it is the only thing to be seen in the large room. I wanted to achieve a concentration on this installation, in which there is a lot to discover. Unfortunately, I had to close off some areas where I could not use the adjustment-intensive safety lasers due to the installation height.
Viewers can observe the glowing movements in the beams, the arrangement of the elements in the room and the dynamics in the sequence. This worked wonderfully in the midst of the hectic hustle and bustle of the festival, where many people aim to see everything in one evening, take a quick two cell phone photos everywhere and that’s it.
BP// How did this cooperation with the „Marktkirche“ come about?
MH// Last year I had an exhibition at the Floss & Schultz Gallery in Cologne, where I showed my laser object “Caged Light”. The curator Holger Hagedorn saw this exhibition and was impressed by the dynamics and drama of what was happening in the 150 cm long but only 25 cm high black glass object, which only allows a view of the laser beam shooting horizontally through the glass object through the front pane. Thanks to random programming, sometimes the entire object is filled with glowing red light, sometimes the laser beam almost seems to disappear and in between a glow moves along the beam. Holger told me about the „Apocalypse“ project of the Protestant churches in the Rhineland and asked if I could imagine developing a laser installation on this theme for the „Marktkirche“ in Essen. I was spontaneously enthusiastic and threw myself into developing ideas.
BP// How did the collaboration with the Essen Light Festival come about?
MH// The participation in the “Essen Light Festival” was based on a prior agreement between the „Marktkirche“ and the festival management. I didn’t know the festival beforehand and had no contact with the organizers during the whole time. I can’t say much about the festival, I didn’t do a tour. To be honest, I was put off by the poster. I found it more interesting to observe the viewers, some of whom interpreted the barrier as a wall and were absolutely astonished to learn that you can walk through it.
BP// What were your conceptual starting points for this site-specific installation? What role do the viewers/audience play in your work?
MH// The orientation of my installations according to the location in which they are embedded – both in terms of the architectural dimensions, the special features in the space and the content (if any) – is a central point for me in the development of my laser installations. An installation has to fit into a place like a composition in space.
I had long wanted to develop an installation for a church interior, based on the idea that the laser beams would link perfectly with a church, both visually and in terms of content, through the symbolism of the light alone.
Church interiors are usually characterized by their impressive height and central focus on the altar. For this reason, I placed the “barrier” in front of the altar and a “bundle of rays” at a great height, as I wanted to incorporate the entire room.
As in most churches, the church interior of the „Marktkirche“ is divided by pillars. The distance between the laser beams of the “grid” above the heads of the audience is defined by the width of the pillars, past which the laser beams shoot to the right and left.
The “Irrlichter”, robots equipped with attached lasers, have their place in the blue glass cube that adjoins the body of the church, which was destroyed in the Second World War.
A central role in the development of my installations is played by the viewers and the way I anticipate experiencing and “feeling” the installations. That is why I have developed a series of installations that you have to walk through, which block the passage. Even after years of working with laser beams, the contrast of perceiving the laser beams as a solid object that melts into nothingness every time you touch it, as well as the expectation that the red glowing beams could be hot, but you feel nothing.
The fact that the standing laser beams are made to glow and blaze by the fine haze, which lends them vitality and also something threatening, fits in with the potential threat of the „Apocalypse“. Laser light, especially red light, is one of the few types of light whose associative potential also includes menace. I was quite inspired by the question of a little girl who asked her mother: “Mommy, am I too small for the fire?”
With my installations, I want to create impulses so that passive viewers become actors who actively explore and analyze the installations, who associate, experience and feel, who influence the installation through their movements.
BP// This installation seems to be larger than others I have seen before. Is that true? What role does the size of the space play in the immersive experience?
MH// This installation is not necessarily larger than the previous ones, but denser, and of course higher than the previous ones. My exhibition at the Center for International Light Art was certainly just as big. However, the static installations were spread across the rooms, whereas in the „Marktkirche“ everything is concentrated in one room and grows upwards. We are powerless against what comes down on us from above. For the sake of this immersive experience and based on my premise of including the space in all dimensions, I planned the installation of a bundle of beams at a great height.
But the installation is also denser because – apart from the permanently present barrier – the other sub-installations appear and disappear. There is a dramaturgy in the sequence. If you want to experience the entire sequence, you need to allow around 20 minutes for the 4 sub-installations to change. The impatient, who are fixated on fast consumption, will not be able to keep up.
BP// What is it that we hear?
MH// An installation of this kind needs sound, otherwise it is dead. Sound is an essential component because it reinforces the atmosphere that the installation creates. In this case, here in the church, it was clear to me from the outset that I wanted to work with a single organ sound. The sound designer, Kilian Cremer, electronically modeled the organ sound recorded it for me. The basic installation, the static “barrier” that encourages people to explore the laser beams, is accompanied by a quiet and pleasantly purring sound that swells in volume and becomes more and more unpleasant and threatening as the installation progresses.
BP// How do the works that you realize as individual projects or as part of festivals differ from the gallery works? For your own artistic development, what role does the long-term collaboration with the gallery Floss & Schulz in Cologne play for you?
MH// The works that I conceive for an exhibition at the gallery are definitely no different from the works that I have developed for festivals. I developed my first “barrier”, which divided the room in half, for the “Sculptured Light” exhibition at the Cologne gallery in 2020, using two opposing pillars in the room as a source of inspiration. As usual, I based my concept for the exhibition on features of the exhibition space. I showed the next barrier at the “LOST” festival in Berlin and in Mantua at the “International Biennale Light Art”. The “Barrier” in the „Marktkirche“ is a variation, because it stands freely in the room.
It’s fantastic that the gallery owners Kirsten Floss and Michael Schultz have no influence whatsoever on what you want to show. That’s why I’m also very happy about this long-standing and reliable collaboration. I admire the fact that the gallery is not fixated on art that sells quickly and instead engages with bulky, hard-to-sell light installations out of conviction.
BP// You have been developing site-specific installations and interventions for years. Which of these play a special role in your personal retrospective?
MH// The installation “Bordering Light”, which I developed as part of the light art project INTERFERENCE curated by you and Aymen Gharbi, does indeed play a special role. So far, this has been the only installation in which I have incorporated an object, namely the babouches, the traditional women’s shoes.
When you invited me to take part in this project, I hesitated at first because I thought I couldn’t create a site-specific version of my previous installations in Tunis, in the midst of this completely different culture. I had to develop something special. I only definitely said yes when I had the idea of creating a room within a room made of laser beams in the atmospheric prayer room of the Madrasa Bir Lahjar between the pillars of the somewhat dilapidated yet spiritual place. I placed the festively embroidered “babouches”, a kind of slipper, in the middle of this laser room. Of course, the visitors asked about the meaning. I asked for their interpretations and while I was convinced that the answer was provocatively clear, I was amazed at the diverse and completely different ideas of the visitors. So, what Marcel Duchamp said is true, it is always the viewer who completes a work of art.
LINKS