The first Visualists(VJ)

[vjpixylight]

I know there have been threads on the early visual artists <and> that there have been many early pioneers mentioned in threads here on the forums, but I couldn't find those threads, so now I ask it again in 2010...
Who were the first?
Well I can show some back to before 1919...

http://www.gazette.com/articles/nort...est-great.html

In 1919, brothers J. Don and Don M. Alexander founded an electrical company in Spokane, Wash. J. Don was the salesman and the entrepreneur, Don M. the engineer. Right from the start, the brothers saw the commercial possibilities for the nascent film industry. As boys, they created advertising messages for clients and projected them onto bedsheets.

seems even the 2 brothers had a bed sheet start

[SteveG]

2010 and VJ's are still projecting advertising onto bed sheets....now that's progress

[KillingFrenzy]

http://www.shadow-puppets.com/Asian_...omparison.html

[KillingFrenzy]

Cinema actually started a little more rough and ready and visualist-like, then settled into more of a theater mode. Early experimenters were essentially self-promoting roadshows that created a space to show off the magic lantern style creations they used to create moving images. They created displays at fairs and other impermanent sites to show off their new inventions and seek investors. It was only later that people began to sit down and really have a more reverent, theater (as in stage play style) relationship with film.
Probably one of the best examples of someone eschewing more narrative or documentarian interests, and going straight for the eyes was Melies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s
Once the Surrealists got into film you get Man Ray and Duchamp experimenting with forms that are similar to the way visualists use patterns for purely kinetic sculpture. It got "put on tape," but what they were doing was nothing scripted or heavily choreographed. There is a lot of improvisation with visual mediums in something like Anemic Cinema.
Then, the cat's out of the bag and it goes about a zillion directions. There is the rhythm and flow of Dziga Vertov's "Man with the Movie Camera." You can look at Oscar Fischinger, Jordan Belson, and Stan Brakhage for color and form. Maya Deren, Bryon Gyson for cutting up and remapping time. Bruce Conner for juxtaposition and clever reworking of found footage. Norman McClaren for a sort of DUI sense of invention and exploration of technique. For the first video innovators you have Scott Bartlett and Nam June Paik. Bartlett's "off-on" looks like a VJ set, but had to be constructed in about as meticulous a manner as you could imagine. About here is where the ability to grab cameras and projectors that had become as common as military instruments before jazz opened the door for the light shows and live band interaction of the late 60s. You get the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Joshua Light show and clubs like the Fillmore and UFO.
I could go on for a long time, but that's a start. Just wikipedia and run with any of that.

The thing is, it really is a progression that goes back so far you can't really get a simple answer. Which is why I take it back to the shadow puppets. The first time people were hanging out by the fire and someone started to sculpt the light with their hands. When their friend noticed, things were off to a start.

[dEp]

Originally Posted by vjpixylight

I know there have been threads on the early visual artists <and> that there have been many early pioneers mentioned in threads here on the forums, but I couldn't find those threads

here's one: http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=29109

[vjpixylight]

Originally Posted by dEp

here's one: http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=29109

Yea, I found that one, but it is more about club visuals, and really doesn't go back in years very far..

[vjpixylight]

Originally Posted by KillingFrenzy

Cinema actually started a little more rough and ready and visualist-like, then settled into more of a theater mode. Early experimenters were essentially self-promoting roadshows that created a space to show off the magic lantern style creations they used to create moving images. They created displays at fairs and other impermanent sites to show off their new inventions and seek investors. It was only later that people began to sit down and really have a more reverent, theater (as in stage play style) relationship with film.
Probably one of the best examples of someone eschewing more narrative or documentarian interests, and going straight for the eyes was Melies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s
Once the Surrealists got into film you get Man Ray and Duchamp experimenting with forms that are similar to the way visualists use patterns for purely kinetic sculpture. It got "put on tape," but what they were doing was nothing scripted or heavily choreographed. There is a lot of improvisation with visual mediums in something like Anemic Cinema.
Then, the cat's out of the bag and it goes about a zillion directions. There is the rhythm and flow of Dziga Vertov's "Man with the Movie Camera." You can look at Oscar Fischinger, Jordan Belson, and Stan Brakhage for color and form. Maya Deren, Bryon Gyson for cutting up and remapping time. Bruce Conner for juxtaposition and clever reworking of found footage. Norman McClaren for a sort of DUI sense of invention and exploration of technique. For the first video innovators you have Scott Bartlett and Nam June Paik. Bartlett's "off-on" looks like a VJ set, but had to be constructed in about as meticulous a manner as you could imagine. About here is where the ability to grab cameras and projectors that had become as common as military instruments before jazz opened the door for the light shows and live band interaction of the late 60s. You get the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Joshua Light show and clubs like the Fillmore and UFO.
I could go on for a long time, but that's a start. Just wikipedia and run with any of that.

The thing is, it really is a progression that goes back so far you can't really get a simple answer. Which is why I take it back to the shadow puppets. The first time people were hanging out by the fire and someone started to sculpt the light with their hands. When their friend noticed, things were off to a start.

I concede Leo, looks like Melies beats my boys to the punch
I would also say that one visualist(VJ) that seems to get over looked in the early visuals dept. is Edison with his Kinetoscope

[vjneef]

Then, the cat's out of the bag and it goes about a zillion directions.

Yes but after that most directions became very obscure and television and narrative cinema were the things that the general public would see.
I really like the idea of people sitting by the fire and creating shadows with their hands as the start of cinema and moving image because they would be discovering something magical.
Most of the arguments about where cinema starts are about patents money and nationalism.

[many2]

This website is a treasure trove of pre-cinema imaging history. I wish I had time to really go through it, I'm sure it's full of very inspiring gems !

http://users.telenet.be/thomasweynan...ema.index.html