Vague Terrain, a journal on digital technology, has put together an issue surveying the global state of VJing, edited by VJ, sound artist, and designer Carrie Gates of Saskatoon. (Saskatoon, the place, though that’d also be a great name for, like, an edgy Web animation firm or something…)

Vague Terrain 09: Rise of the VJ

Blogged by Vague Terrain’s Greg Smith @ serial consign

The issue is fully of great stuff, with VJs Ana Carvalho, Kelly Bolen & Jake Hardy, Defasten, Francis Theberge, Jackson 2bears, Lara Houston, Leeane Berger, Michael Betancourt, Mo Selle, Neubau & Kero, Ryan Stec, Tim Jaeger, VJ Pillow & VJ Mademoiselle, VJzoo and Chrism & Fenris, Xárene Eskandar and Ziv Lazar, and an interview of Jaygo Bloom by Michelle Kasprzak. I contributed our interview with Solu.

Why? Because…

…live video mixing performances certainly address a hunger for immersive and synaesthetic sensory experiences where aural and visual elements work together to create a whole that is something beyond the sum of the parts.

From video turntables to political messages (Singapore riots), deconstructed vehicles to guerilla visual actions, vintage gear and VJ history to modern digital techniques, they run the gamut. And it’s clear that the range of expression and subject matter in VJing is far deeper and broader than what many people recognize.

Let us know what you think, and if you have any favorite bits.

Hong Kong, seen through the eyes of vj pillow & vj mademoiselle (Thien Vu Dang and Yasuko Tadokoro).

It’s been almost 6 months since we posted about Shiffman’s Most Pixels Ever processing library, but that doesn’t mean there’s been no progress.

Recently he’s left the lab and ensconced himself in front of the IAC Video Wall, bringing Most Pixels Ever to the screen with the most pixels to give.

Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run from shiffman and Vimeo.

A little technical detail, with an announcement:

Each cell of video is 60×45 pixels. The entire system is run by 3 Mac Pros each pumping out 2720×768 (totaling 8160×768 for the entire wall.) I’m going to be releasing the Processing library/framework this week! Stay tuned!

Releasing the library? You mean this library?

The site is still a little lean, but early adopters can download the Alpha version and read a little about running it with processing.

Bouncy bouncy!

Data Is Nature brings to our attention the Valsuka Archive, an incredible trove of early video art history, exhibitions, work, designs and circuit diagrams. Paul describes it better than I:

The Vasulka Archive is massive repository of documents from the pioneering days of electronic, computer and video art. Containing a staggering 27000 pages of scanned documents, replete with hand typed texts, circuit diagrams and skuzzy ink marks, I could spend the rest of the week perusing this stuff, believe me. The big names are here, Crutchfield, Conrad, Paik, Van der Beek, Youngblood etc - hand written correspondences to the Vasulka’s as well as reviews and even obituaries of each artist/scientist - but history is selective and remembers according to its own algorithm. Encouragingly, not only do we find artifacts from the so called key movers of the time but also an exhaustive list of lesser, and relatively unknown practitioners waiting to be (re)discovered.

Check out the The Vasulka Archive and see what has inspired every generation of video artist. From TV to film to Music Video and club style VJing, it all started with these pioneers.

Via Data is Nature.

Has it really been 2 months since episode 1 of Steven Watkins‘ Backspace podcast was released?

Episode 2 came out on Friday. It doesn’t quite recapture the ethereal feel and technical polish of that first episode, but it’s still very impressive work for a one-man band (showreel here).

Previously:
Interview with Stephen Watkins.
Backspace Episode 1.

The Web is becoming a more and more powerful archive for film-making that you might not otherwise see. In addition to sites like the Internet Archive / Prelinger Archives, you can now catch up on more recent film, video, and sound history, ca. the 70s and 80s, and works with a decidedly more experimental tilt:

Expanded Cinema, blog by Joao Ribas (via Rhizome.org)

For feeding inspiration to your eyes, it’d hard to do better than Jaoo’s choices. Two of my favorites:

This work by Abigail Child is a perfect example of her knack for cutting together faux documentary scenes with actors, narration-free sound, and brilliantly edited sound scores into subversive experimental works. The results are always witty, and as much about music composition as film. I got to work with Abi while an undergrad at Sarah Lawrence, which was a great way for me to both get inside her head and annoy the real film students. (I was in music.)

Charles and Ray Eames are design geniuses, and they’re finally starting to get mainstream recognition for their film work and not just their (also wonderful) chairs. Their design sense is just as fresh today as when applied to this otherwise-dated Polaroid ad:

I’m betting James at Retro Thing is going nuts for the cameras, too.

In other news, the Eames films are now being made available on DVD. Study them well, and — as long as you makes sure the Eames people don’t find out — go VJ with them. Well, if you can bear to touch them, anyway.

Got a favorite source for online video inspiration? “Curating” your own video history blog? Let us know about it!

Backspace is the Honors project of Melbourne Communication Design student Stephen Watkins.

… a Stimulating video podcast showcasing experimental short films to provoke your imagination.

I’ll be interviewing Stephen soon about his project, but for now: Watch that wonderful video again, and subscribe to the podcast.

via Wooster Collective.

A commissioned installed will transform the Museum of Modern Art in New York into a walk-in/walk-by movie theater. Artist Doug Aitken will be creating his first large-scale installation in the United States. And there’s no question it’s large-scale: the new MOMA has vast, hulking rectangular spaces on its exterior, a nod to the museum’s High Modernist past. It’s almost as though this museum were build for projection. Now the question is, just like the irreverant podcast “tours” of MOMA, I wonder if anyone is brave enough to photonbomb the installation with a counter-projection.

The work will feature footage shot around New York leading up to the installation, and is presented by MOMA in conjunction with Creative Time. Aitken’s past work seems a perfect fit: he uses stark, human-focused urban imagery in installations that somehow manage to make the ubiquitous rectangle of projection art cool. The installation pictured below is an interior from his Kunsthaus Bregenz installation.

Creative Time, the presenting organization, is known for its New York installation work, including the Tribute in Light that memorialized the World Trade Center as two brilliant beams of light. The new MOMA installation will incorporate drool-worthy digital projectors provided by Christie Digital Systems, Inc., a global provider of industry-class projection (and high on our “green with envy” list here at CDMotion). Check back in January ‘07 when we get to see this in the flesh (or in the photons, anyway).

Project Description [Creative Time]