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Leigh Sachwitz is the founder and principal of flora&faunavisions. She has worked in the theatre and art space for 20 years and is an experience designer and international creative director. In our interview, Leigh tells us more about her background and about what happens at the flora&faunavisions design studio.
Leigh Sachwitz is originally from Glasgow, Scotland. In 1994, she bought a one-way ticket and moved to Berlin with just her suitcase and a thousand pounds as starting capital.
Leigh quickly got into East Berlin’s underground and house music scene. Soon, she was setting up temporary spaces together with musicians in warehouses and old factories.
It didn’t take long for people to ask her to design these kinds of events for them.
Leigh started working with lights, projections, and super8 films. Bought old Eastern European equipment, slide and film projectors on flea markets, etc.…
Today, she is a global designer of immersive spaces and experiences.
My work was visual designer. And, as you already mentioned, I started creating spaces using these light forms. I always loved music. So, designing these light spaces for musicians was a natural step.
Over time, I just kind of moved with technology. In essence, what I am doing now is not that different than what I did 25 years ago, when I used less advanced equipment.
It makes me a bit of a veteran in my field, I suppose.
At flora&faunavisions we create digitally designed, immersive spaces. Visual stages.
There aren’t that many people who do it really well. They come from a film background. Or from a tech background, but they don’t have a lot of architectural knowledge.
My background is in architecture. Which gives me the distinct advantage to understand space on a deeper, more structural level.
Nowadays, visual spaces and immersive experiences have become very popular. Looking back, it seems logical that they became the next big thing.
When I remember what I was thinking about as an architect, all of what I was thinking back then is also true to my craft now.
Today, my work is architectural, technological, as well as highly creative. Technology is a beautiful enabler to create different types of shows and experiences.
Now some ideas which used to not be possible have become possible, e.g., a talking Mona Lisa.
A lot of people are very tech driven. I don’t experience my profession like that. I think, the best ideas are coming from your brain. For me, there is an emotional connection.
What we used to do, to go with cameras into our models, it’s actually just VR. No matter how technically advanced we are now, we are still doing the same. It’s still human centred, even though it’s the machine that’s creating the picture.
There are fascinating discussions about the metaverse and how experiences will look in the future. We are looking at a mixed reality, a hybrid of real and augmented spaces.
Traditional spaces like operas will end up becoming these types of augmented spaces. It will be cool to see what people can do to visualize Wagner’s operas for example.
Due to the cultural developments, our attention span is getting shorter. Because the amount of information we have to absorb is growing continuously.
Thus, as artists, creators, and audience members, we have to move with the times and embrace mixed technologies in order to survive.
flora&faunavisions immersive, interactive experience Genius is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.
We imagine Da Vinci opening his eyes after being asleep for 500 years. How will he see the world? And what became of his inventions today?
DaVinci drew satellite maps and the view of our planet from outer space without having the possibility of flight. He was a complete visionary.
We’re also doing a kinetic digital stage for Wagner’s Ring Cycle. A totally epic project we’ve been working on for three years. Very specialized. It’ll come to the stage end of this year.
One of the things I find interesting is the idea of creating optimistic, beautiful, multi-sensoric spaces which enable someone not familiar with high art to enjoy it. It’s a way to democratize art.
Another important side of creating immersive spaces is that the audience is basically inside the image.
In my installations, this is very well curated. If there is a waterfall which runs across the floor, then in my space people are literally jumping up to avoid getting wet.
This is where my architecture knowledge comes in. Where I combine my visual and architectural talents.
I trigger as many senses as possible in my creations. Hearing, seeing, touching. Smelling and tasting are difficult to do, but there are some amazing smell artists around.
If all of your senses get triggered and you can play in the space, then you interact and create your own environment. It gives you the feeling of being a superhero, like “Mommy look, I just did that.”
It’s playful entertainment for everybody. You are transported out of your daily routines.
Compared to 30 years ago, it’s becoming ever more challenging to live in the world we live in.
Why does everyone spend billions on the mindful industry? Mindfulness, meditation? Because everyone is trying to pause and live in the moment.
I feel like these immersive spaces do that for you too. Because for a moment you are absorbed by this space. You are transported into the picture and ride with it. You forget about all else for a short moment.
There is this fleeting moment of optimism and inspiration. And if you are feeling optimistic, you are more likely to be a part of something, change something.
Offering this ray of life in that moment for people is why I want to create these immersive experiences.
In the end, it’s all about taking you away and about inspiration and spirituality.
One great element in flora&faunavisions experience around Da Vinci was the educational view.
I have a ten year old son. In Germany, they teach the great Renaissance masters in 5th grade. When you ask a 9 or 10 year old, they’ll say, “Da Vinci, oh yeah.” They know a little something. But not enough. And not in the right way to get them dreaming, inspired.
Our kids grow up in a digital age. They don’t know what it’s like not to have a mobile device. Yet, in the classroom these kids are still learning quite analog for the most part.
Then maybe their parents, grandparents want to take them to Paris, and they’re in the cue for the Louvre and the kids roll their eyes and think… “Boring.”
But maybe if they’ve been to see a cool immersive experience in between they’ll be more likely to feel a connection, “Oh yeah, I can talk to the Mona Lisa.”
In an immersive experience it’s almost as if she was living now. She talks to you about her dress. She says, “Did you know my dress is created from recycled plastic from the ocean?” The kids can identify with and learn something from the painting at the same time.
History is very important. We need to find ways to keep it alive in our digital age, transport it.
Another installation we did with flora&faunavisions was called Magenta Moon.
It was about building a rocket together. Charging it and going through different chapters while doing so. It entailed learning about sustainability. About what’s real and fake on the internet. And about how to know which is which.
As you charged your rocket battery and learned, you ultimately reached 100 percent and you could then send the rocket off to the moon. Or wherever else you wanted.
There were a lot of school kids and families enjoying this immersive experience.
We are a boutique design studio, based in Berlin, working around the globe. What’s important though is that we work across genres. Opera, theatre, anywhere really, even an AI project about flooding the internet with art.
A lot of our flora&faunavisions immersive spaces are tour-able. At the moment, we have experiences in the US, Spain, UK. And we’re looking at Switzerland.
Basically, I just want to be one of the best in the world for creating immersive emotional experiences. If possible for free.
We did this one project. It was called Photography Playground. Looking back, this was a signature moment. It was a project that transformed our vision.
The art project was sponsored by Olympus cameras. And it was indeed for free. You received a camera when you entered the space.
The idea was that you would photograph through many installations. And, at the end of the experience, you’d know how to operate a camera.
I remember this one moment when there was a whole family from Turkey. They were 19 people. Kids, grandkids, cousins. Everyone was there. They all stood in line together.
As soon as they got closer to the entry point, they took off their jackets, brought out the lipstick, etc. And they pulled out this huge banner. It said, “We love you” in their language. They were using the experience to take a family photo.
They had no connection to digital art. They had no elaborate background. They just came to take and then send this photograph to their family back home who they probably hadn’t seen in many years.
It was such a moving and creative moment, them all coming out together to take this picture. It’s one of my ultimate highlights. Democratizing art. Making it available for everybody.
Click here to have a look at Genius.
Here to read more about Magenta Moon.
And here, to check out our immersive and interactive theatre Mountain Seaing.
Further projects are featured on our official website.
I hope you’ll be able to catch one or some of them.
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Liam Klenk was born in Central Europe and has since lived on four continents. Liam has always been engaged in creative pursuits, ranging from photography and graphic design, to writing short stories and poetry, to working in theatre and shows. In 2016, Liam published his first book and memoir, 'Paralian'.
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