Austrian born performance/environment artist-cum-magician and engineering genius Kurt Hentschlager wowed me with his new show “Zee”. It was again, for me, a mind boggling experience that transported me to outer space, to the nether regions of the dimension between life and death.

Kurt uses dense fog, stroboscopes, pulse lighting and surround sound to immerse the visitor in his own biosphere. If that is what death portends to be then hell, get me there sooner rather than later.

The intimate vastness gave me a sensation of flotation, of freedom. I could almost shed my limbs and the weight of the vessel called “my body”. Unencumbered, I allowed the sparkles, twinkles, dust balloons and squiggly shards of light to guide me through. No thought of horizontal or vertical measurements slowed down the free form movement I sensed through my nose. The chemicals released from the fog machine were somewhat acute causing my nose to twitch while I coughed once or twice.

However the moment I stepped out of the Zee world and into the waiting area those sensations vanished. I wonder why he chose the word Zee which is German for sea? Water was not an element that came to my mind as I plunged into the space, not holding on to the red rope meant to be a guide post for the uninitiated.

Light waves flicker white, yellow, blue and translucent. Some people might be afraid of this quivering almost blinding light pulsation. It takes faith to leap into Hentschlager’s unknown space, as life seems to grind to a halt. Others who are fearful of bright lights may shield their eyes from a harshness that doesn’t ever come to harm. Others might feel claustrophobic in his sequestered territory, yet I didn’t. I found the experience liberating imagining my self disappearing into the oneness of the hallucinations induced and the endless drone of the sound machines.

FuturePerfect at the 3LD Center at 80 Greenwich Street near Battery Park City until November 15th, 2009.
http://www.3ldnyc.org/