Thomas Mahnecke absolvierte seine Studien in visueller Gestaltung, Medientechnologie und digitaler Nachrichtentechnik in Berlin und München. Nach seiner Ausbildung als Video und Tontechniker an der Berufsschule des Deutschen Fensehfunk Berlin arbeitete er seit 1989 ua. als Video und Grafikdesigner, Bildmischer und später als technischer Leiter, für RTL, Pro7, Sat1, Kabel 1, MTV, ZDF, ARD, Bavaria Studios und vielen andere Medienunternehmen.

Bereits seit mehr als 20 Jahren beschäftigt sich der Videokünstler schwerpunktmäßig mit der Erstellung komplexer Multimedia-, interaktiver Video- sowie dreidimensionaler Rauminstallationen.

Seine Arbeiten finden sich in zahlreichen Museen, Musiktheater-, Tanz- und Performance-Projekten wieder. In seinen Arbeiten versucht er stets, moderne Technologien und bewährte traditionelle Bühnentechniken zu einer neuen visuellen Ausdrucksform zu verschmelzen. Sein besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf der Veränderung von Räumen durch dreidimensional wirkende Lichtprojektionen.

2012 konnte ihn das Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz München als Videodesigner gewinnen und verwirklichte dort über 20 großformatige Bühnenprojektionen.  Aber auch außerhalb des Gärtnerplatztheaters kann man immer wieder seine Arbeiten für die Bühne erleben, so z. B. im Sommer 2015 bei der Neuproduktion »Der Mond« bei den letztmalig stattgefunden Carl Orff Festspielen in Andechs, oder auch seine interaktiven Videoinstallationen in der Münchner Kulturszene oder seine Projekte im Deutschen Museum. 

Seit 2016  beschäftig er sich mit dem Einsatz von XR Technologien und immersiven dreidimensionalen Projektionen im Theater, Museen und im Unterhaltungsbereich. Die Anwendung modernster Interfaces und Motiontrackingverfahren in Verbindung mit neuesten Softwareentwicklungen und Projektionstechniken und deren Umsetzung als dreidimensionale immersive Wahrnehmungserlebnisse, prägen seine künstlerische Handschrift. 

Seit 1.Mai 2024 arbeitet er am Konzert und Theater St.Gallen als Leiter der Videoabteilung.

Das AVISO - Magazine für Kunst und Wissenschaft schreibt über Thomas Mahnecke

Thomas Mahnecke completed his studies in visual design, media technology and digital communications engineering in Berlin and Munich. After 4 years of training as a video and sound technician at the vocational school of the German television broadcasting company in Berlin, he worked as a freelance video, graphic designer, cutter and later as technical director for RTL, Pro7, Sat 1, Kabel 1, MTV, ZDF, ARD until 2011 , Bavaria Studios and other media companies.

From 2000 he changed his main focus as a digital media artist in the areas of theater / opera / dance / show / performance. There he focuses on the creation of complex multimedia, interactive video and three-dimensional room installations.

In his work he always tries to fuse modern technologies and proven traditional stage techniques into a new visual form of expression. His special focus is on changing rooms through three-dimensional light projections.

In 2012 the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich was able to win him over as a video designer on a part-time basis.

There he realized over 20 large-format stage projections. But his work outside of the Gärtnerplatztheater is particularly important to him. There you can experience your work for the stage again and again. B. in the summer of 2015 in the new production of "The Moon" at the last Carl Orff Festival in Andechs, or his interactive video installations in the Munich cultural scene or his projects in the Deutsches Museum.

Since 2001 he has been researching and working with his wife the choreographer and director Angelika Meindl on complex video installations that uniquely combine state-of-the-art media technologies, 3D projections and contemporary dance to create a total work of art. At the moment he is working on the moitioncapture technology and the real-time processing of the movement data in a game engine in order to create 3-dimensional space projections in real time.

AVISO - Magazine for art and science in Bavaria above Thomas Mahnecke

English:

He is actually an emotional wizard. Or a light wizard who enables strong emotional art experiences by:

creates virtual spaces with light.

When the video designer Thomas Mahnecke works with a director, the first question he asks him:

What feelings should the visitors of your piece have? Mahnecke wants the theater goers or art lovers

immerse yourself in a world that is related to reality and overlaid by means of video art, enriched, transformed.

He lets reality and virtuality as an augmented reality into a viewing experience space merge and see great potential in this immersive art form.

Since the 2012/13 season, Mahnecke has worked alongside his freelance artistic work at the Gärtnerplatztheater, where

he and his colleague Raphael Kurig have created virtual sets for a number of large productions. His workplace consists of a huge graphics tablet, behind it three screens, the material limits of which the cursor effortlessly crosses. Mahnecke has made a decisive contribution to the fact that the newly refurbished Gärtnerplatztheater now has video technology of the highest standard.

All screens and PCs in the theater are networked with each other, which not least saves costs, but above all enables the effortless use of video design in the stage area. Mahnecke paints with light. Its light flows, is three-dimensional in motion, plays on rooms and props.

He merges modern technologies and traditional stage techniques into new visual forms of expression.

Wherever there are projection surfaces, he models with light. Mahneckes wants to show the artistic possibilities of digital technologies, which as a complex and highly effective artistic medium can bring into contact with deep emotions, resonate with other people, who share the stage event that occurs every evening as a collective emotional experience. Since 2005 he has been researching and working with his wife, choreographer and director Angelika Meindl, on complex video installations that uniquely combine state-of-the-art media technologies, 3D projections and contemporary dance to create a total work of art.

The next project “Man Machine”, supported by the Deutsches Museum, will not only bring the actors but also the spectators into one with a 360 degree 3D stage design in 2020 bring another dimension and remove any limits of reality and projections.