VJ

V Jing is the process of connecting manipulated imagery with sound, to create a live experience within a realtime visual performance. Vjing was first connected to the New York club scene of the 70’s, however now-a-days it is more commonly associated with nightclubs, concerts and music festivals. So as VJ is relatively new it had a strong connection to the Fluxus movement, which began in the 1960’s, it is also related to synaesthesia (mixing of the senses, in this case sound and vision) but it was also viewed as a dominant postmodernism take on visual art performances, which proved to be a new postmodernism experience that pushed boundaries. So it is evident that VJ brings together sound and artistic understanding of images using three carefully crafted yet simple elements; up to date technology, artistic understanding and visual space, it is a collaboration that works in collectives that coexist.

Pioneers of VJ were the likes of Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead, who were brave enough to try something different in the attempt to alter people’s minds. It had a major impact when bands like the Grateful Dead experimented with VJ as it was previously unheard off, it was new, exciting and had connections to psychedelics, which could have been the inspiration behind the vivid colours and motions. Although from 2000 onwards there seemed to be an explosion of VJ as it subdivided and spread into different areas, including more main stream artists like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia as it is repeatedly used in clubs and music festivals. Having been to Oxegen I witnessed the overall experience of VJ combined with complementary remixed music, from artist such as Calvin Harris, Chase & Status and Swedish House Mafia who managed to mesmerise me by the visual combinations and lights that contributed to an overwhelming atmosphere.

This video of Swedish House Mafia’s intro is a spectacular array of visual culture; although I don’t think the video does it justice because when your there all your sense combine into an experience that is driven by the atmosphere!

When it concerns VJ culture there is only one name that can be described as legendary, ‘The Light Surgeons’, a pioneering collective of multimedia artists, this company was founded in 1995 and has pushed boundaries to create masterpieces from print to live performances. The name ‘The Light Surgeons’ also contributed to the companies fame, as it gathered publicity from its references to drugs, LSD in particular, which I’m sure they probably had experimented with as it is known that alternative art like this has some close connection with psychedelia. But never the less they still produce captivating and astonishing pieces of work, and without doubt I’m sure their success and popularity will continue to in grow.