Ich habe meine Studien in visueller Gestaltung, Medientechnologie und digitaler Nachrichtentechnik in Berlin und München absolviert.

Nach meiner Ausbildung als Video- und Tontechniker an der Berufsschule des Deutschen Fernsehens Berlin arbeitete ich ab 1989 unter anderem als Video- und Grafikdesigner, Bildmischer und später als technischer Leiter für Sender und Medienunternehmen wie RTL, Pro7, Sat1, Kabel 1, MTV, ZDF, ARD und die Bavaria Studios.

Seit über 20 Jahren liegt mein Schwerpunkt auf der Gestaltung komplexer Multimedia-, interaktiver Video- und dreidimensionaler Rauminstallationen. Dabei verschmelze ich moderne Technologien mit traditionellen Bühnentechniken, um neue visuelle Ausdrucksformen zu schaffen. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf der Veränderung von Räumen durch dreidimensional wirkende Lichtprojektionen.

Meine Arbeiten finden sich in Museen sowie in Musiktheater-, Tanz- und Performance-Projekten.

2012 gewann mich das Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz München als Videodesigner, wo ich über 20 großformatige Bühnenprojektionen realisierte. Auch außerhalb des Gärtnerplatztheaters sind meine Arbeiten zu erleben – etwa 2015 bei der Neuproduktion „Der Mond“ im Rahmen der Carl Orff Festspiele in Andechs, bei interaktiven Videoinstallationen in der Münchner Kulturszene oder in Projekten des Deutschen Museums.

Seit 2016 beschäftige ich mich intensiv mit XR-Technologien und immersiven, dreidimensionalen Projektionen für Theater, Museen und Unterhaltungsformate. Durch die Kombination modernster Interfaces, Motiontracking-Verfahren, Softwareentwicklungen und Projektionstechniken entstehen immersive Erlebnisse, die meine künstlerische Handschrift prägen.

Seit Mai 2024 arbeite ich in der Videoabteilung am Konzert und Theater St. Gallen

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

I studied Visual Design, Media Technology, and Digital Communications in Berlin and Munich. After completing my training as a video and sound technician at the Vocational School of German Television in Berlin, I worked from 1989 onward as a video and graphic designer, video mixer, and later as technical director for broadcasters and media companies such as RTL, Pro7, Sat1, Kabel 1, MTV, ZDF, ARD, and Bavaria Studios.

For over 20 years, my focus has been on creating complex multimedia, interactive video, and three-dimensional spatial installations. I combine modern technologies with traditional stagecraft to develop new visual forms of expression. A special focus of my work lies in transforming spaces through three-dimensional light projections. My projects can be found in museums as well as in music theatre, dance, and performance productions.

In 2012, the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Munich brought me on as a video designer, where I realized over 20 large-scale stage projections. My work can also be experienced beyond the Gärtnerplatz Theater – for example, in 2015 with the new production “Der Mond” at the Carl Orff Festival in Andechs, in interactive video installations within Munich’s cultural scene, and in projects at the Deutsches Museum.

Since 2016, I have been working extensively with XR technologies and immersive three-dimensional projections for theatre, museums, and entertainment projects. By combining cutting-edge interfaces, motion-tracking systems, software development, and projection techniques, I create immersive experiences that define my artistic signature.

Since May 1, 2024, I have been leading the video department at the Konzert und Theater St. Gallen.

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.