What defines a performance in realtime is the evidence of the process, of making it visible and allowing it to be experienced by an audience. In most realtime performances all elements of the performance play a role in the creation of the experience, in the construction of the moment: each performance is unique. These elements include the performer(s), the sound and visuals, lights, audience and space, with its physical and sociological features. The term visual performer in broad terms, describes practitioners working in live cinema, interactive installations, gallery performances, guerrilla interventions and club performances. Definitions related to these practices are open, as different practitioners tend to look at their practice through their own social context and personal professional history. This research into the personal diversity in these definitions is the reason for the first of the Small Projects at VJ Theory: Rather than reifying a single definition we would prefer individual perspectives.1 The project is a call for definitions, open to everyone and requires contributors to present their own definitions about these practices. The Project VJ Theory VJ Theory came into existence in early summer of 2003 as a result of a need, felt by academics and practitioners, for theoretical and philosophical work closely related to VJing and realtime interactive performance practices. This project started with a call for papers with the objective of compiling existent texts into a book but soon developed into a broader project. Soon it evolved to focus on the ongoing collection of texts and in setting up projects to create texts collectively. VJ Theory came into existence in early summer of 2003 as a result of a need, felt by academics and practitioners, for theoretical and philosophical work closely related to VJing and realtime interactive performance practices. This project started with a call for papers with the objective of compiling existent texts into a book but soon developed into a broader project. Soon it evolved to focus on the ongoing collection of texts and in setting up projects to create texts collectively. This project intends to develop a community actively discussing and reflecting on philosophy and theory related with VJing and realtime interaction... We aim to produce a body of work which, for the first time, will address these theoretical issues and place the practices of VJing and Interactive Installation, into a useful context... The website is a growing collection of articles, references and art projects in collaboration with contributors from the book and the growing community.2 Small Projects' aims are to create a dynamic between the collaborators of VJ Theory and between them and a broader group of people interested in theories and philosophies that inform, and are informed by, the practices of VJing and realtime interactive performance. These Small Projects are attempts to develop structures for collaborative reflection and creation of theoretical collaborations limited by time and subject. Crossovers and Hybridities in these Practices Hybridity describes these practices. This hybridity can be found in many ways from the professional background to the way technologies are mixed, combined, misused and crossed. A great diversity in the areas of knowledge of each individual professional background comes together in the development of performative works. This is a common path to many live performers. Eugenio Tisselly, for example, is a poet and a programmer. In his work, areas of interest include "...physical interface design, multimedia software development, and digital narratives."3 His individual approach to the performative work exposes this crossover of areas of knowledge, interests and individual needs, which makes his work unique: I made MIDIPoet because I wanted to become a Text Jockey. I wanted to do to text what Disc Jockeys were doing to music: cutting, scratching, mixing and remixing. I needed a tool that let me do live manipulation of textual elements on the screen. Since I was wanting to explore text in a performative way, I also needed to have the possibility to play this tool as a musical instrument... It took me some months of coding, but finally there it was. Very soon I was performing live text using a MIDI keyboard, and I would do it whenever and wherever I could find an open door. I had the fortune to connect almost immediately with a group of brave poets, and on we went, doing poetry performances with me improvising on MIDIPoet and projecting texts on walls of cafés, clubs and galleries.1 The diversity in the use of technologies is of great relevance. Many practitioners develop their own tools, while others adapt or misuse existent ones. My own experience as VJ includes experiments with Photoshop, turntables, cameras, self-made devices and everyday objects which I combine in new ways for each performance. These crossovers and hybridities make every performer or collective of performers unique and should be taken forwards into new areas, as for example in the construction of theory that informs and is informed by practice. The term Artist Theory is here well appropriate to describe this combination in individual work.
Artists' theory is relevant to both theory and practice developing together because, obviously, artists do think as they make and what they make is informed by ideas (in different degrees, depending on who and which work we are talking about). On the other hand the way some practitioners articulate their thoughts may not fit in to the most rigorous academic structure of thought, it is rather a reflection of their own creativity. This creativity of the written word that comes from the mixture of theory and practice is fascinating.5 This is part of a dialogue between me and Mark Amerika about his recently launched book META/DATA and VJ Theory project. This text was indeed a good way to reflect on many issues related to theory and practice together. Both books META/DATA by Mark Amerika and Rhythm Science by Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid) are personal approaches to theories and philosophies as well as other references, including their own personal experience that informs the practices of VJing and DJing, where the idea of remix is used both in their work as well in their texts. The approaches are both biographical, representative of their life style, attitude, ideas and practice. One of the aims of VJ Theory is to develop, in a theoretical context, all these elements of hybridity together within collaborative environments. Writing Collaboratively A key area we wish to explore [at VJ Theory] is non-traditional trans-disciplinary and hybrid approaches to practice and theory. Although the book and web site are specifically related to theoretical debates many of our contributors are practicing VJs and artists as well as being academics. From this perspective traditional theoretical discourse are often seen as insufficient to deal with the practices they attempt to explain. This can and does produce various forms of trans-disciplinary hybridity.6 As collaboration is an important feature of these practices, when the subject is theory, the same feature is apparent: theory may now be developed by individuals as part of a collective or even collectively. VJ Theory has been looking into ways to have its collaborators working together in collective reflection and writing. The work we started as VJ Theory has seen repercussions in recent times. We see a rise of texts and books, specifically about VJing for example, a practice dedicated to clubs and to the study of this cultural phenomenon. The books we were finding when the project started were mainly focused on the practice aimed at those interested in starting or for those who wanted to know more about what was going on. A couple of examples of the newness of methods and media which have been explored recently are the VJam Theories, the upcoming book and first to be published by VJ Theory as the publishing house 'realtime' and the ongoing collective blog related to the Cimatics MasterClass which will also be published as a book.7 There are also many people like Mia Makela (aka Solu)8, for example, who write, organize publications and perform as VJ. Like her, there are a growing number of people writing, either as part of their studies or as independent academics or theorists. These are more interesting times in which these practices are being contextualized from within. Those actively participating and shaping theory related to practice are from all over the world and from many cultural backgrounds. The collective is interested in reflecting on individual and collective practices. These are also good times for those who are starting: material is now becoming available, on the internet but also in magazines dedicated to new media and specifically to live performance. Many artists still float from the live cinema presentations of their work to the club and vice versa, this though still leaving all definitions still open to personal interpretation. During a conversation, not long ago, a Portuguese VJ told me, referring to the Brazilian scene (but that I agree in generic terms to apply to the community as a whole) that there is a spirit of the collective though some are more commercial and others are more experimental. Art is half there mixed with theory and with pop culture and this is reflected in the theoretical work. This is the nature of performance in realtime, in the cross borders of many things: technologies, practices and theories, areas of study, popular culture and art. Communities and Networks VJ Theory becomes more of a community every day. If it started with the idea of compiling the book, now the organic, live creation and evolution becomes as relevant.9 These practices demand a permanent flow of knowledge and ongoing network. Artists tend to travel to perform and present their work regularly. A nomadic or semi-nomadic life style is inherent to these practices. The Internet is therefore a medium that serves many purposes. Some of them are connecting to other people doing the same or interested in realtime performance, reviews and debates about technologies and promotion of work. The best examples of these online networks is no doubt VJ Forums and VJ Central, which are used by VJs all over the world and exist in several languages. Having the importance of the Internet in mind, VJ Theory, in which the starting point was a call for written texts to be compiled into a publication, has focused on developing a website instead. If a book is a fixed and finalized object, which is a documentation of a period of time, the Internet comes to value the ongoingness of this process of collecting written works on these practices. Online spaces are of great importance, but it's in physical spaces that people get to know each other's work and more or less formally discuss it as well as its processes. These festivals are gradually organizing theoretical discussions and putting into evidence the reflection of these practices. It is through festivals and symposia that VJ Theory has been in touch with collaborators and maintaining awareness of trends and practices while discussing the importance of developments in theoretical and philosophical work. At this point in time, looking into a closer future, theoretical works and compilations of written texts are changing in their format, structures and content to become more creative than before. This is informed once again by the practice that opens up the possibilities to new formats and hopefully to broaden the media used to its construction. |
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