Tentacles (2022)
Tentacles is a site-specific light sculpture and live lighting instrument by AUSGANG studio (Alex Zelina & Radovan Dranga). Dense bundles of cabling and LED “appendages” are suspended over audiences—most often in clubs—so the room feels “cut open,” exposing the hidden infrastructure that powers cities and nightlife. The piece is equally at home as a daytime exhibition and as a night-time performance environment.
Technical Details
Concept and Process
The work treats cabling as living, tentacular matter—both biological and machinic—to reveal the networks usually hidden under streets, oceans, ceilings, and walls. It grew from Radovan’s early “cable creatures,” discovering that a commonplace, artificial material can feel uncannily organic at scale. In clubs, Tentacles is played like an instrument: the artists mix light in real time with the DJ and light techs, favoring an organic, hand-made rhythm over algorithmic audio-reactivity. The result balances spectacle with restraint so the atmosphere supports, rather than overwhelms, the dance floor.
Title Meaning
“Tentacles” names the organism the audience stands beneath—cable appendages that “reach” into space. It points to hybrid techno-nature and to infrastructures that feel alive and grasping once exposed.
Artistic Context
Tentacles extends AUSGANG’s ongoing fusion of club culture, sculpture, and AV performance, bridging gallery openings and underground raves. The studio’s background in painting, photography, stage design, and video mapping informs the piece’s sculptural presence and its live-played light language.
Additional Information