Stefan Ihmig

Pioneering atmospheric light installations

A central strand of Ihmig’s practice is the development of water-and-fog projection methods that move beyond a sequence of flat screens. He works with the varying density of the scattering medium along the direction of projection: concentrated image-bearing regions, thinner atmospheric filling and clearer intervals form a single composition in depth.

The fog does not simply replace another screen. It also partially fills the space between more defined regions, allowing projected imagery to gather, dissolve and extend through a volume. In this approach, the atmosphere helps form the image.

At Boom Festival in 2023, Ihmig realised a multilayer waterscreen installation. Building on that experience, he found that fog positioned farther behind a waterscreen could carry imagery with a perceived quality comparable to an additional water surface. His subsequent hybrid approach uses this substitution and the fog’s non-uniform distribution to extend the composition without constructing a complete waterscreen system at every depth.

His installation BEYOND, presented at Boom Festival in Portugal and O.Z.O.R.A. Festival in Hungary, embodies this development. Alongside the hybrid works, he develops large-scale multilayer fog hologram installations.

Explore BEYOND: the work and its development →

Artistic roots and research

Ihmig’s background connects experimental electronic music, spatial sound, computational art and media architecture. He studied Religious Studies and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cologne, followed by Digital Media at the University of the Arts Bremen and the University of Bremen, graduating with distinction in 2009. His early work explored electronic and acoustic soundscapes, multichannel sound systems and real-time three-dimensional sound processing.

A founding member of the URBANSCREEN artist collective, Ihmig began creating 3D projection-mapping installations in 2007. He helped realise the Urban Screens festival in Cáceres, Spain, in 2009 and 2010, and led Mapping in Movement, a research project combining high-speed camera tracking with sculptural simulations for projection onto moving structures.

This relationship between artistic expression and technical development continues throughout his practice. The image, the projection medium and the surrounding space are developed together rather than treated as separate production stages.

The Digital Sanctuary

RE:SORB’s Digital Sanctuary approach brings light, darkness, moving imagery and sound together in environments for immersion, contemplation and shared attention. Architecture and landscape are not simply backdrops: their depth, scale and physical character become part of the artwork.

Ihmig’s work connects the collective experience of electronic music and festival culture with the spatial focus of installation art. Technical construction makes room for an unstable, transient image — an encounter with light that changes through its relationship with atmosphere and place.

International practice and collaboration

His exhibition and performance history includes Boom Festival, Fusion Festival, O.Z.O.R.A., Ars Electronica, Genius Loci Weimar and Berlin’s Festival of Lights. His collaborations include Low Bros and Gérard Rancinan at Urban Spree in Berlin. For The Party Is Over — Rancinan × RE:SORB, Ihmig contributed the concept and art direction.

Through RE:SORB, this practice extends from gallery installations and audiovisual performance to architectural projection and public-space commissions. The studio’s portfolio includes work on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and the Torre Latinoamericana in Mexico City.