On The Record: Alexander Trattler of Elektropastete
‘Let there be light.’ According to some narratives, that is the makings of an epic beginning. In today’s world of music performance and art, (the control of) light is often as necessary a piece of a scene’s air as… well, take your choice. There is one group based in Berlin who seems to understand the weight of light more fully than most. Elektropastete began as something of a moveable party, but now they help to bring the party to widely varied venues and other ways around the globe. I had the chance to chat with Alexander Trattler of Elektropastete and the results were illuminating.
[The following Q&A has been edited for clarity.]
Tell us a bit about you, Alexander.
I was born in October 1983, in the south of Bavaria in Germany, close to the border of Austria. In a really small village on a mountain top, about 500 people are living there. I have a sister and a half-brother, both creative people. [Early on], I started drawing comics a lot, taking pictures with my Pentax k1000 all the time, and always wanted to become an artist. I went the creative way in every educational institution and finished with a diploma of design in media in 2011. For one and a half-year I was photographic assistant for Clint Clemens in Newport, Rhode Island and Ivo von Renner in Hamburg, Germany. I did a lot of others internships in design, print, marketing, online stuff but quickly realized I have to do my own stuff. Since then, I am self-employed with Elektropastete and living in Hamburg. In my second year in Hamburg I met Antonio de Spirt, who founded “La Boum Fatale” together with Levente Pavelka. They asked me to create a stage light “object” and a visual show for them, that’s how it started.
Where does the name “Elektropastete” come from?
It was a big party in the beginning. Every time we invited people, we changed our location—changed our decoration concept. You never knew what was gonna happen there. Also the music was always different, that’s why we called it “Elektropastete”. There is also a french dish called pâté–you never know exactly what’s inside :). While we were preparing for every party, we made big progress in light & event design. The parties were kind of our development platform, our playful experiment for the people. Everything was self-made and totally different compared to others.
We all (the makers of Elektropastete ) met in the same city where we studied design & electronic engineering. Current members of Elektropastete are Johannes Brendel, Alexander Trattler, Benjamin Schnabel, Raffael Ziegler and Max Mittermeier.
You’ve told us that Elektropastete started as a sort of movable party. Can you talk a bit about the role music plays in your life and your other artistic/professional pursuits?
I like to go dancing when I get a chance; a good party means good dance music. Besides, I’m DJ since 2000 – that’s how I got into Elektropastete, to become a famous DJ. It hasn’t worked out so far. Music plays a big role, but who does not! One thing is always in my mind when I listen to music; I set pictures due to the beat instantly. But it doesn’t need to be strictly in time, I like the chaos, the space between synchronized points. I don’t like predictable stuff.
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From everything that you are sharing, Elektropastete seems more than only a German digital arts collective. It seems every bit a community. It would not be what it is without each member, and it couldn’t do what it does without each of the members. Would you agree with that?
It started with friendship and evolved to [something] like a company. It was very important that the 6 to 8 guys met in Nürnberg a couple of years ago, but the orientation of Elektropastete has changed a bit. Each member is contributing his own diversity of skills. For example, the guy who is making the hardware is also doing the show later on or dancing drunken on the dance floor. There is a solid core of people always involved somehow in projects. We share our power due to the requirements of the projects brought to us. So we can lead a project, or we are a part of a bigger plan.
Has there been a time when Elektropastete unilaterally excluded someone who had an interest in being a part of what was/is happening?
It hasn’t happened so far that a fellow was ushered out; we can talk about everything. Our collaboration is based on sympathy, creative freedom, and honesty; if this won’t work, most likely it wont lead to a collaboration.
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Let’s talk about club design. Have you ever walked into a space (i.e. hole club, Hirsch or another club) and Elektropastete had an idea they wanted to do terribly bad, but the client was not keen on the idea?
So far we have been able to do everything we wanted.
Talk us through one of Elektropastete’s best club designs.
One thing I really liked, was an interactive club installation where [guests] could control the light. We had this tetrahedral object synchronized to the club light flying around the dance floor. You could jiggle for stroboscopic light, turn to control the color and jolt to change program. It took us 3 weeks to develop the hardware, the software and to build the objects. Everything was customized for this one event.
Interactive Dance Installation from elektropastete on Vimeo.
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Some of the projects that Elektropastete has worked on are removed from what most people think of when they think of clubs. Elektropastete’s client list includes museums for instance. And the group has worked on projects which have been on exhibit in places like Platoon Kunsthalle whose Seoul arm hosted a talk last year (2013) with world-renowned philosopher Slavoj Zizek. For those that don’t know, just saying the name Zizek is heavy. Do you or others in Elektropastete acknowledge a conceptual difference between these varied projects? Or does most of Elektropastete’s focus stay on the technical aspect?
Technology is a big part in our projects, and innovation is important too; this is self-explanatory. Actually the idea is conceptual and stands on its own. Technology is not our basis it’s a communicator. Shall I say ‘something in between technology and philosophy’ supports the idea—behind it ultimately.
Do you personally have a preference between one variety or the other? Or maybe you prefer to work in clubs sometimes and museums sometimes?
While doing a project we have to deal best with the place, so we connect given things to achieve the best results. In this way there are almost no preferences—drinks should be free. We like to play with the recipients, to provoke and to challenge them.
Was there a moment or project when you realized that Elektropastete was established in its field? If so, tell us about the moment?
Sometimes, we are really surprised by what has happened so far. But, in that specific moment you are working on a project, you don’t realize what you are doing. It’s just self-evident. There is a goal and you want to get to it as good as possible. Besides that, we always follow other people’s work, that is inspiring to us and keeps us doing things. We have a large network to share our knowledge and news with others. The tools we are working with are quickly making great progress, so there is always something to explore. I personally feel a kind of restlessness in me, it keeps me going.
So, Elektropastete has done a little VJing too. That’s a bit of an understatement, but maybe you can talk in general a bit about VJing with Elektropastete.
Elektropastete started totally as just a VJ-crew in the beginning; we were doing live-VJ to big acts like DJ Koze from Germany. In addition, we have suggested installations to venues to power up our shows, and it worked out. The various study backgrounds in our team, enabled us to do increasingly complex things. Like building control software, customized hardware, or [our] own light-objects. Actually, every time we played a show the setup was a bit different. The best thing in the end is to show your work to people, to an audience and to go with the flow.
Does Elektropastete VJ when you DJ?
Both ways :), I wasn’t the only DJ in the crew. The parties we were doing in the past, everybody could do everything he liked. It was like a big playground for us, we were swapping activities. When the one guy was DJ, the other guy was VJ, for example!
What does your best of futures look like, Alexander?
Best future: There are no cables anymore. This would be great, because I just can’t figure out how to sort & store them.
Alexander has far more to see online; check out some of it at lexpop.de.
[all images courtesy of Elektropastete & Alexander Trattler]
On The Record: Alexander Trattler of Elektropastete was originally published on Devise Magazine