Artificial Eye

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.

Retro Petrol Surf Vibes

Michaels lovely 60s surf "short before AVIT" post:

Ah yes, the day approaches when falk and i depart for the AVIT VJ conference, so time for a bit of last minute creativity before packing the bags, checking the equipment list and going throught the airport hassle on tuesday morning. Traveling with a laptop, hard drives, monitors, and cameras is NEVER fun. It means 3 security checks between istanbul and london for me...after awhile u learn how to pack all your gadgets so its easiest to unpack them even after they have been bombarded with electrons...all those layers of cables, motherboards, and power adapters makes airport screeners reeeeeel nervous these days...and u cant help but having short nerves yourself. I'll make sure that i am travelling with less than two books. Just because you are paranoid doesnt mean you aren't. under continual global surveillance. Its about OIL WArUM SONST. So i thought i would brighten my (and your) day with a bit of retro sun and surf action..hula girls in the 60's in hawaii with ray-banned surf hodads mixed with a nice bit of flash animation from a chrysler car add made in canada. Retropetrol sunshine wishes from exiledsurfer... i've spent all week getting the my new website up and running... check it out here , getting stickers printed for the aritficialeye and a nice big white vinyl banner for the vidvox boys david and ray who will be jetting across the ocean... so catch u from Birmingham with hopefully some spontaneous collaborations from me and falk sometime this week....At least he's scheduled to help drop some beatz not bombs on friday nite at the Custard Factory!

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.

Exoskeletons, Mechwarriors and Robosapiens

I am coming across so many things that seem to come from the future - at least an early future. Topic of today for me is Mechwarriors and Exoskelotons. So basically we are talking about machine extensions for human physical weakness. The japanese have drawn it in their Mangas for a long time - but now one Mechwarrior gets build and a "driver" sits inside and on top of the world.

The Land Walker from Sakakibara Kikai
Slashdot Artikel on Exoskeletons
Japan Times about Yoshiyuki Sankai
Robosapiens from ThinkGeek

Music from dilvie.com - song called not tonight

Searching for Zod

Last week we had to take a small break from vjblogging as real life interfered a small bit. A little later now an answer to our little copyleft discussion from Michael:

Although at my live gigs i repurpose, mix and match mostly found content, i do also create original material. This was created for a gig i had last week in istanbul. The source material is a 8 bit version of the DOOM gaming engine which a friend of mine named Dara coded just for fun. The material was filmed from the screen as he played (and i LOVE the field scan lines, adds to the feel of the material) and then colored. The audio track is some unnamed loops i also created for the gig last week. And who is ZOD?