Interview with Matthias Zuggal
The soul of Bregenz Festival House is the staff – those dedicated employees who work behind the scenes to deliver more than 250 events per year and thus support the event organisers in their creative work. One of them is Matthias Zuggal, deputy head of the lighting department, who has been working at Bregenz Festival House for 15 years now. We visited him at his workplace and put a few questions to him.
Matthias, what makes your work at Bregenz Festival House special?
What's special is how varied it is – no two days are alike. We work on projects with clients from various industries, including people in the cultural sector and even Oscar winners. That makes it exciting. My aim is to ensure that everybody involved is happy and that what they envisage is implemented to their utmost satisfaction.
The range of events that are held at Bregenz Festival House is exceptionally wide – from congresses, meetings and corporate functions to large-scale cultural events like the Bregenz Festival. Are there significant differences in the demands that are made on the technical department?
Yes, definitely. For cultural events lots of people are involved, for instance lighting designers, set designers, stage directors right up to the artistic director, and they have precise ideas on how things should be. At conventions or social events I can be more creative myself and bring in my own ideas.
If you could have a new piece of equipment for the lighting department, what would you wish for?
Obviously, you could always wish for the very latest spotlights and lighting consoles. But in terms of technology we're actually very well equipped at Bregenz Festival House. What's more important in my view is that we continue to have such brilliant people in the team who really live for the work.
Bregenz Festival House is a certified Green Location. What resource-conserving measures have you introduced in your area?
Converting the Great Hall (Großer Saal) to LED technology has reduced the electricity consumption in that area by 90%, which makes a big difference given the large number of events. Saving energy is a hot topic in all areas.
What do you do between events?
I plan upcoming events, wait and improve the technical equipment and make preparations for the coming festival season. I'm also involved in training apprentices.
Is it difficult to interest young people in a career as an event technician?
No, in fact it isn't. It might not be such a well-known occupation yet, but once young people see how the equipment operating in the background at events actually functions, they're often really into it. The variety of tasks enables apprentices to develop further and be creative.
uk / 16.1.2024
