VJ theory book

[videoswitchboard]

seems to be out:
http://www.vjtheory.net/book.htm
http://www.lulu.com/content/1930514

has anyone read it or looked at the online excerpts?


with the recent upsurge of youtube based material, it might be interesting to round up some of the more academic developments that have been happening- as there are promising discussions/panels programmed as part of several forthcoming AV/VJ festivals.

any other relevant sites where those issues get a mention?

:confused:
dav

[vjpixylight]

The description has relatively nothing about who has contributed to it, and nothing of an outline of what is covered in it..
It definately need to be vetted out.

[haris]

I bought the downloadable copy, and it seams really interesting. It's a collection of thoughts, posts, and chat between performer’s, theoreticians, vjs etc (in the introductory page all people involved are mentioned by name). In general I could say that's a positive outcome containing valid points and theoretical conclusions / propositions.

[evomedia]

a collection of thoughts, posts, and chat between performer’s, theoreticians, vjs etc

Sounds like VJ Forums :)

[Lara]

Helloo

Yes they VJTheory stuff is very interesting, lots of talks from chats between VJs of all kinds with differing views.

Here's a recent issue of Vague Terrain which is all about VJing -

http://vagueterrain.net/journal09

[Lara]

Also a book from Cornelia and Holger Lund, which I haven't checked out yet -

http://www.fluctuating-images.de/en/node/16

[haris]

hi, nice link that vaqueterrain.net thanks for sharing it

[videoswitchboard]

Yeah, the Vague Terrain journal (writing+ video interviews), is the best collection of essays about VJing i've read recently.
"is VJ a subculture" (http://vagueterrain.net/journal09/ziv-lazar/02) is my favourite one out of the lot, with some nicely presented arguments which would make good reference points for the recent "VJF too coarse" thread.

Carrie Gates called for VJF members to contribute (http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=21939&highlight=carrie+gates) but nobody took her up on it. Although many forum threads were "quoted" throughout the essays, it would have been good to have some active forum members officially promote our platform to the more academic readership of such a blog.

i considered it myself but didn't like the "rise of the VJ" title.

[Rovastar]

Yeah, the Vague Terrain journal (writing+ video interviews), is the best collection of essays about VJing i've read recently.
"is VJ a subculture" (http://vagueterrain.net/journal09/ziv-lazar/02) is my favourite one out of the lot, with some nicely presented arguments which would make good reference points for the recent "VJF too coarse" thread.

I have just read that and it is the worst and most insulting article on VJing I have read. Full of factual inaccuracies and wild presumptions - well presented lol. This is not the place to comment on it properly I'll write another thread on that.

[ristuuk]

i actually think the vj subculture article is very good and hits a lot of nails on the head.

[sleepytom]

is it really necessary to constantly refer back to Understanding Media? Really there must of been at least some other relevant texts written in the intervening 44 years since McLuhan wrote Understanding Media.

Many of today's VJs parents were not even born in 1964! And whilst i understand that it is perhaps the classic text on media analysis and was ground breaking for its time and that it's core argument can be timelessly applied to any future media as well as all past media that doesn't change the fact that seemingly all texts on modern media related topics seem to use McLuhan for at least half of their reference points. This hardly furthers the debate and conversely simply goes to prove the common knowledge opinion that media studies students are lazy people who've chosen a soft option which mainly involves watching a bit of TV and reading only one book!

[videoswitchboard]

is it really necessary to constantly refer back to Understanding Media? Really there must of been at least some other relevant texts written in the intervening 44 years since McLuhan wrote Understanding Media.

7 out 10 references in this article are less than 10 years old (http://vagueterrain.net/journal09/ziv-lazar/references)
maybe it's not good enough to qualify as "up to date" in such a fast moving field. However, i think it's a good practice and example to apply to some of our own discussion where facts are often only backed up by our personal experience our just plucked out of thin air.

there aren't enough good quality reference texts around (theory or technical based)- it would be great to encourage budding projects such as VJtheory rather than dismissing them outright for their shortcomings.

Tom: i think your techie vs academics analysis (http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=25738&highlight=too+coarse&page=8) is one of the most pertinent i have read and sums up the state of this forum very well. Howerver, over-generalisation will cause more harm than good.
I started this thread as an encouragement for ppl like Lara to come out the woodwork and prove that VJF members at large aren't "anti-theory".

maybe i'm wrong afterall.

:grouphug:
dav

[Rovastar]

i actually think the vj subculture article is very good and hits a lot of nails on the head.

Sorry I think it is terrible.

Here are my reasons why.

http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=26112

I would be interested in everyones responses to it.

[sleepytom]

Tom: i think your techie vs academics analysis (http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=25738&highlight=too+coarse&page=8) is one of the most pertinent i have read and sums up the state of this forum very well. Howerver, over-generalisation will cause more harm than good.
I started this thread as an encouragement for ppl like Lara to come out the woodwork and prove that VJF members at large aren't "anti-theory".

maybe i'm wrong afterall.

:grouphug:
davI'm not anti-theory but i'm depressed that so called vj theory often avoids actually looking at anything specific to VJing and instead falls back to a more general media / yoof culture analysis. VJ as a subculture is a pretty weak starting point, when we could be talking about Vjs as commentators and documenters of the subculture of rave / club culture. Or Vjs as artists of the street (eg the idea put forward in the text that VJs use of logo and typography is simply because rich club owners have tricked the stupid vjs into providing free advertising is pretty offensive if viewed in a street art cultural context of graffiti, typography and wall art which is provided (much like vjing) to an audience which has not gone out to specifically look at art and is often based on the construction of text and logos / tags purely for the aesthetic of the typography rather than the more mainstram and commercial purpose of transmitting a message)

Don't confuse criticism of the analysis with wholesale rejection of theory!

[videoswitchboard]

Don't confuse criticism of the analysis with wholesale rejection of theory!

i strongly agree with your typography point, but, for the sake of keeping a thread on topic, i don't think that overly negative criticism is the right strategy to keep visualists from "other" backgounds engaged with VJF.
I'm not knowledgeable enough in this field to advocate for it (and often have the same concerns as you do), but i would be interested in learning more about it through forum contributions.

Isn't it a shame that the book's publishers haven't even announced their production here and given us the opportunity discuss the work?

[Lara]

Heehee glad to have got some people's hearts racing!!

Ana's piece in Vague Terrain http://vagueterrain.net/journal09/ana-carvalho/01 (here) introduces what they're up to really nicely.

Ok, ok there are always criticisms to be made. But there are all kinds of articles in the journal, and an interview with Solu. So it can't be argued that talking to real VJs about VJing has been left out. The articles are not supposed to represent Truth, but rather to be a new starting point for thinking about things.

[Rovastar]

To be honest I try and keep this Resonance section free from such discussions. I would actually like to enter into discussions on these art topics but I feel that would be unwise as it will just be seen as unwanted criticism. That is the reason that I posted my response to the VJ as a subculture in the General Chat forum.

[videoswitchboard]

as mentionned in another thread:

I've unearthed this article (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ziv.lazar/vjworkshop/pdf/Ziv_Lazar_From_The_Cinema_of_Attractions_to_VJ_Cul ture.pdf) by the same author:
"In this article I will demonstrate how the modern filmmaker comes in the form of a club VJ who uses computer based editing software to manipulate original or already accumulated media from different sources (found footage). By using computer based techniques of media access, manipulation and analysis and by displaying visuals of modernity in the underground clubbing scene, the VJ produces the new radical avant-garde cinema of today"

it's a 10 page .pdf document from this site (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ziv.lazar/vjworkshop/articles/).

I think it's a great article full of interesting references that haven't been mentioned in previous writings linked to from VJF.
particularly like the mention to Vaudeville, Melies and Cinemagic- as well as the point it makes that VJ techniques are just catching up with the concepts developed by avant-guarde cinema.
The mention of the Artist-Engineer concept also fits very well current conceptions of the VJing practice and hope will appease those who are otherwise allergic to theory/artistic ramblings.

I think papers like these prove my point that good quality written contributions would be beneficial to VJF to get respected beyond the technical realm and inspire the community at large.

let's get the theory geeks back on board.

:club:
dav

[vj_jasper]

"VJ as a subculture is a pretty weak starting point, when we could be talking about Vjs as commentators and documenters of the subculture of rave / club culture. Or Vjs as artists of the street " - sleepytom

heya i havent read the thread so cannot comment but this piece of writing is pure brilliance. so fkn simple~! almost too simple, it's that good. don't present VJ-ing as a subculture, present it as a tool, and then document its use by different subcultures.

yes there is a subculture of vj-ing but it is too diverse to pinpoint without loosing too much.. so, it must be regarded as a tool.

thanks, am enlightened now.

[Marina17]

I'm not anti-theory but i'm depressed that so called vj theory often avoids actually looking at anything specific to VJing and instead falls back to a more general media / yoof culture analysis.

I am not a VJ and I am doing a PdH on Vjing. I look at the technology, the 'art' and the social aspects of club culture.

The question is not how old are the quotes, what aspects we want to highlight, etc. The question is that those few 'academical' quotes are not leading anywhere. That article touches quickly VERY BIG ISSUES like that of 'technological determinsm' (many other classic authors talked about that, like Raymond Williams) and the cultural identity/appreciation of VJing, but it is not clear what the conclusions are... I'll comment on Rovastar's thread on that.

As the 'VJ theory book' concerns... I also participated in the discussion with a comment, but, at least my comment, was not edited or re-framed for the publication. I don't know, maybe it is good to have an on line panel published in this way. It is not 'academically' rigorous, but still gives a good overview of the various issues at play.

[Marina17]

let's get the theory geeks back on board.
dav

thank you!

I am posting video recordings of VJ sets on youtube.com/Brigittolina and vimeo.com/Brigittolina ... a 'personal history of VJing'

I hope I am among those academics who look first of all at the specific aspects of the performance and use theory in a useful, non-dogmatic way, in order to stimulate understanding and discussion :argue: