Introduction
We would like to invite you to participate on the discussion/chats
VJ Theory is organizing.
This is a small project to invite our contributors, mailing list
and others to participate in the discussion of ideas and theories
informed by practice.
For this project, six of our contributors moderate six chats online.
Each chat last one hour and has a specific theme within the area
of realtime interaction. There is one in the morning (10AM/London)
and another one in the evening (7PM/London), from the 4th until
the 6th of April.
Check
WorldClock for time at your geographical position
This is our first experiment in hosting a debate for anyone interested
in the subject of realtime interaction.
You are welcome to join with your ideas.
The resultant texts will be available after each chat through this
page.
Information on chats
4th April (Wednesday)
10AM
Authorship
Michael Betancourt
Authorship is often considered as a simple dichotomy
between what can be characterized as the epistemological concerns
with sources and origins familiar from Barthes, Foucault, et. al.
and ontological ones with the empirical, physical producer who creates
the text as object-under-consideration. Far from being incompatible,
or even critical of one another, this paired understanding of authorship
is undergoing a fusion in digital technology. Not only in appropriation/remixes
but also in the form of generated-content such as Amazon.com's "Page
I Made" where the mechanical recording of actions produces
a variety of "digital authorship" that is essentially
a valorization of the authorship concept: activity as authorship;
authorship as constitutive of commodity-generating data. This discussion
will explore these ideas.
.......................................................................................................................................
7PM
Technology
Federico Bonelli
Unconventional approaches to interactivity in new-media and a search
for roots in avant-guard theories and practices. How does this relate
to the design of new objects? How these objects can relate to situation
space and modify it's architecture and the way people experience
it?
.......................................................................................................................................
5th April (Thursday)
10AM
Networks and Collaboration
Magda Tyzlik-Carver
Collaboration has been a buzz word for many decades now. It is
a way of working which is done together, with others, and so it
is assumed that a particular, good quality characterises this mode
of working as it requires the creation of a community – that
is an entity united through shared values. Thus, the importance
of collaboration comes from its assumed ability to enrich and fulfil
our lives. However, what is understood as collaboration changes
within the context of a network society – that is, a society
which is organised as a combination of media (such as the Internet)
and social networks.
If we consider that networks are the organisational structure of
the post-Fordist, post-industrial world, the new social formations
are being composed through the context of availability and use of
technological tools (eg the Internet). Furthermore, collaboration
has become implicit within the network society and constitutes what
is called immaterial labour.
In this context I would like to propose a discussion based on the
question: Is it possible not to collaborate? What happens if we
refuse to collaborate?
.......................................................................................................................................
7PM
Narrative
Paul Mumford and Lara Houston
The Narrative Lab has been examining types of narrative structures
that could be used in the context of VJ performance. It was clear
from the outset that traditional linear narrative structures were
incompatible with the random access and live construction techniques
of video performance. The notion of hypernarrative is prominent
which links directly with the techniques and processes of the VJ.
But what role does collecting, processing, storytelling have in
production for Vjing? Can VJ works demand narrative interpretation,
activate memory, and give rise to a continually shifting map of
shared cultural meaning? How can this be approached?
.......................................................................................................................................
6th April (Friday)
10AM
Ideology
Bram Crevits
What kind of ideological message is exhaled by the practice of
VJing 'as a whole'? Modern Art, with its focus on the autonomy of
the individual artist for example, can be seen as an expression
of a liberal ideology, although often pretending to be pure and
only influenced by art itself.
VJing and its subsequent Live Audio-visual Art, has close connections
to the most influential media-technologies and practices: electronic,
audio-visual, mass, pop,... Those closest relatives, of which we
say that they are highly influential to society and the consciousness
of its members are very clearly reflecting the dominant ideologies.
How does VJing relates to these close relatives, and what are the
ideological implications? What is symbolised by VJing and Live Audio-visual
Art and how are these related to the autonomous contemporary art?
.......................................................................................................................................
7PM
Performer
VJ Theory
We would like to start with a quote from A Thousand Plateaus
'The two of us wrote Anti-Oedipus together. Since each of us was
several, there was already quite a crowd. Here we have made use
of everything that came within range, what was closest as well as
farthest away.' (Deleuze and Guattari) which suits this subject
well.
Why do VJs (as well as DJs, for example) use another name while
performing?
Does an interactive installation react as a performer as a proxy
to the artist?
We would like to examine the role of the performer and the performative
in realtime interaction.
Documentation on previous chats
4th April (Wednesday)
7PM
Technology
Federico Bonelli
5th April (Thursday)
7PM
Narrative
Paul Mumford and Lara Houston
6th April (Friday)
7PM
Performer
VJ Theory
Should you like to know more about these events send us an e-mail
to vjtheory@yahoo.co.uk
with 'Let's Chat' as title.
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