Artificial Eye

RFID for Everyone

Finally starting to come down from a mind-blowing week at AVIT UK in Birmingham. After meeting Toby Harris last summer at AVIT in San Francisco, I decided to get myself over to the UK to see what other VJs in Eupore were doing and hopefully meet some interesting folks. The trip exceeded my wildest expectations. Everyone at the conference was amazingly friendly and open. The sense of community was tremendous. The AVIT organizers put on the most fantastic event I have attended.

Highlights included getting sponsored by vidvox, makers of the awesome GridPro application, scoring a midnight to 1 a.m. VJ spot to play along with the amazing Kraddy at the Drop Beats Not Bombs party which I shared with Michael, winning the grand prize of an Edirol V4 mixer in the raffle as well as two pieces of software.

Really got a thorough going over by the inspectors at Heathrow and Dulles airports on my way back home to Los Angeles. Both sets of screeners were particularly intrigued with the folding tripod I was carrying. The imigration official at Dulles hassled me about not looking anything like my passport photo. Guess most folks have more of a stable look and their identification has longer relevance. The new breed of RFID enabled identification on the cusp of being legislated in the US has potential to help with this, but I doubt it would be made useful in such a manner.

A big thank you to fALk and Michael for welcoming me onboard.

Music: Dilemma's "sawtooth" Chip Tune.

Nice Guy Dave Guest Entry #1

We have a new guest blogger: Nice Guy Dave. I have meet him through my very first vj collaboration ever. The aveja mailing list was set up to promote vjs that wanted to collectively play at the glastonbury festival in 2002. One DVD with a short timesnap of VJ history was its only outcome back then but from there the AVIT idea formed and the core of the people active in that group somehow stayed connected throughout the last years. It is very nice to see Dave joining us.

At the Birmingham AVIT UK05 VJ festival I met with some amazing minds, and they showed me new things. Things vibrant with life. So I made a little VJ Blog when I got home. Each building block you see here is from AVIT - my rail ticket to get there, the little local map they gave out, my notes on a great masterclass, and all the graphics that glue them together are techniques I covered in software workshops helping people get more out of Adobe's After Effects package. I've never vlogged before. I've never even blogged before. Fun isn't it?

NiceGuyDave

Dots for a future city

exiledsurfer fresh from our discussion of the convergence of the vj community with videoblogging, Avit, birmingham... a walk around the city and u cant avoid passing the city landmark, "the bullring". no bullfighting, just a mall...with big dots. i also couldnt miss the conversation with oldskool guru Peter Rubin and the face of willow...simple impressions from a spring day. The audio track is a creative commons track of dark, mellow electronica built around distorted synths, dreamy choir sounds and machine noises called "Music for a future city" from mirror shades Nothing beyond simple pleasures :)

AVIT05::Peter Maxavision

As promised a little VJ blog coverage of AVIT through the artificial VJ eye. Yesterdays first real session for me was with Peter Maxavision. The oldest VJ in existence I would say and one with the most thoughtful ideas regarding VJing in general of all of em. He sees the survival of mankind directly connected to subculture and therefore sees the vjs as big part of it. He does not stop to criticize the new upcoming young vjs for their moving wallpaper without thoughts and sheds some bright light on the state of the world. He presented his thought through a 2 and a half hour taped interview with some inbetweens of the past times (great footage of the chromapark and the only vj gig ever in east berlin when it was still east berlin in 1988). I try to get the tape from him and put it online in some way or the other. He commented live on the tape and the discussion round afterwards showed that he is not alone with his thoughts on how to shape the future - not only for the vjs.
You can read some of his thoughts in this PDF document called "A look at Video Mix Culture.

Update: I got some great music for this entry is a loop remix from MoGreens the original loop is a free sample from Pete Namlook.
Also wanted to point out that all Visuals in the Mix are filmed and recorded during Peters session.

VJ Blog presentation at AVIT

That you do not see much new content on here lately has to do with the fact that Michael and me are preparing for the upcoming AVIT VJ Conference in Birmingham /Uk next week. Among other lectures and showcases we have the opportunity to present the full concept behind the VJ Blog, say something about the future of our VJBlogging endeavor and invite others to join VJBlogging.

The presentation will take place on

Wednesday April 27th 2005
at 8 p.m.
in the Old Library 2
at the Custard Factory Birmingham.

Michael and I will speak for as long as it takes about any technological, content and delivery issue regarding this VJBlog.
If you are interested in taking part in this project or just want to know more about our thoughts you are welcome to join in.

AVIT VJ conferences Birmingham

First little apology for not posting in frequent manner. I was a little sick the last days and had to recover. Now I am back with full force.
Back on topic.
The AVIT VJ conferences return to their hometurf – the good old United Kingdom. This time they are in Birmingham. I thought what would make a better entry then this? Not much. So here the AVIT entry.

* AVIT 05 Birmingham

Whicked Creative Commons music by Dr. Colossus song called Criticial Beatdown