D-FUSE: Last Night A VJ Zapped My Retinas

14 Dec 2006 Category: Features, Film / Animation, Music, Worldwide

These days VJs getting more and more omnipresent: Not only at live shows, club nights and parties, but moreover at corporate events, too. That’s one of the reasons scene leading man Mike Faulkner from the London-based visual wizards D-FUSE edited the volume VJ: Audio-Visual Art + VJ Culture. Published by Laurence King Publishing this book introduces 128 VJs from all around the world, sticks its nose into software & hardware, and doesn’t forget about the history either. PingMag had a little chat with Mike about his book, the VJ scene, and who he thinks is the world’s greatest VJ at the moment.

Written by Chiemi

Mike, could you tell me first a bit about D-FUSE, please?

The D-Fuse core consists of three people: Mike Faulkner as Creative Director, Keri Elmsly as Producer and Matthais Kispert as the Audio Director, together with a group of really talented contributors that both do VJing and editing. We are some London-based artists that explore a range of creative media with cutting edge technology. Some people might know us from our visuals for Beck’s “Guero” DVD and his accompanying tour, a small global installation and our China-UK project Undercurrent.

D-Fuse is fluid, moving between the worlds of Design, VJing, and Fine Art thus generating collaborative works. We believe that the concept for a project ought to grow organically with the artists working as a collective. We take pride in our professionalism although there are no hard and fast rules.

You not only edited the entire VJ: Audio-Visual Art + VJ Culture book, but it was also originally your idea to make it in the first place, as I heard. What was your motivation?

We felt there was a need to educate the masses. VJing is quite an underground thing and there was no documentation about it until recently. Producing a book might give the scene some academical support and we hope that people will see in VJing something more than just club visuals.

The title includes not only “VJing” but also “audio visual art”. I guess there are some people who are confused with these two words. Can you explain the difference?

Generally VJing as a term refers to video, whilst Audio Visual means audio and video. But there are lots of VJs who do also audio.

The content of this book is very wide stretched. It introduces the roots of VJing, software & hardware, and DVDs related to VJs. Then it features a lot of VJs from all over the world. You must have spent a very long time to finish it…

We started with the original concept four years ago, then a small book about European VJs being released in Japan only. The deal fell through and we then discussed doing the book with IDN. By this time the book had expanded to global VJs and was going to include over one hundred VJs. But it wasn’t until Laurence King Publishing gave us the publishing deal. Moreover we had to delay the work on the book as we were busy with our Beck Tour and a project in China. However, we feel it was worth spending the time with developing the book – as the scope of the involved artists’ output grew immensely from the time the idea germinated.

How did you gather all these VJs?

We had a list of VJs we felt that were important and we recommended VJs from established artists and curators in different countries. For example the Belgian festival Cimatics helped us regarding Europe and we had people submitting through word by mouth. The final selection was based on a work spectrum and on the artists that delivered their work complete and on time. We could have easily had more than 500 VJs but the final count was 128. A few important ones are still missing but this book is not about listing VJs after all. It is really meant to be a snapshot of the culture but also a way of documenting the development of the art form beginning with its roots.

Which country has an interesting VJ scene right now?

Brazil and Latin America are definitely the ones. There has been a real change in this part of the world regarding politics and art and VJing seems to produce some interesting results there.

Who is the best VJ at the moment? Can you give us three or four names?

Mmm…It’s difficult to list only three or four but I like The Light Surgeons from the UK, Actop from Spain and Dienststelle from Germany. I heard Ryoichi Kurokawa from Japan is good but I haven’t seen him live yet.

Do you notice any differences between the UK/London VJ scene and the scene in other countries after editing this book?

The UK and London scene is interesting as it’s one of the most populated. But there is a real lack of events and suitable venues to perform in. However it is very well developed in the sense that art institutions such as Tate modern, V&A and ICA all now host live audiovisual events, plus there is a large amount of arts and new media festivals that feature live performance and VJing in their programme. So in many senses the UK is a very strong market.

On the cover of this book it says “the term of VJ was first used at the end of the 1970s in the New York club Peppermint Lounge”. Looking back the twenty years of VJ history, how has the VJ scene changed?

It’s becoming more accepted, most people now know a VJ is not a presenter on MTV.

What part of VJing attracts you and many other people so much?

Whether it is a highly conceptual performance or a freeform club event, you can express your ideas and work. You are a curator and controller of the projected images and you can interact with the spatial aspects of a venue plus with your audience during the performance.

Any advice for people who want to become a VJ?

Be prepared to work hard and stay positive. Plus you need to be good at promotion and networking.

One last message for our PingMag readers?

The book has taken a lot of time and energy to produce but we are proud of the work and of being able to support and promote so many global artists. Now we are building a website to accompany the book that should be ready by next January. We are also developing a world tour that uses the book as platform for debate and live performances. So, please help support the scene with us!

Mike, thank you so much for your story! And we are definitely coming over to see your performance!

63 Comments

1. cool, the graphic is nice.

   Posted by: munchy on December 15th, 2006 at 12:31 am

2. Lots of stuff about London.

   Posted by: Badger on December 15th, 2006 at 5:14 am

3. Great! Everything seems vivid!

   Posted by: tunokuda on December 15th, 2006 at 1:35 pm

4. hm-hm-hm… although I believe that onedotzero did a whole lot for bringing up audio-visual art in the first place and opening people towards motion graphics that eventually lead to VJ, I don’t think that the UK are currently THE place where VJ is happening at all.

   haven’t seen that book yet, but from attending various events in europe as well as japan i would certainly say that france and germany stretching over to spain are well more exciting. tons of upcoming and experimental vjs around next to the well established ones.

   not so sure that nobody knows what a vj is either… isn’t that a pretty well known thing already? pfadfinderei did vj for “normal” classical concerts ages ago… well - educating “the masses” probbaly still works i guess.

   i’d be very interested in comparing their view on vj to all the other documentation material out there from the continental market…

   Posted by: lk773 on December 15th, 2006 at 4:07 pm

5. looove pfadfinderei…..

   Posted by: ill p.e. on December 15th, 2006 at 9:20 pm

6. I know that usually the big city are disputing the ownership of the VJ.
   But I have to say that during all this time, Montreal (Canada), has been developing strongly the VJing commercialization and experimentation.
   We also develop the interactivity vj concept, giving people the opportunities to interact with image while music is playing.
   Or event using motion capture camera to create a full experience of interactivity.
   Thanks to Society for arts and technologies center, about 20 bands of VJ have been develop this concept: VJ into commercial event. please check those groups, momentfactory.com, mixsessions.net, tind.org, k-motion.com, and many more…

   Posted by: Dany K. on December 17th, 2006 at 12:41 am

7. Hi Dany K,
   Thank you for the links! I actually heard a little bit about VJ scene in Montreal recently.
   According to the member list of VJ central web site (http://www.vjcentral.com/), there are some VJs in the countries like Rwanda, Tunisia and Congo too. It will be very interesting to know about the VJ scene there.

   Posted by: chiemi on December 18th, 2006 at 3:58 pm

8. [...] VJ: Audio-Visual Art and VJ Culture Sick of trying to explain what it is you do to random wrinklies at family gatherings? VJ, put together by the immensely talented D-Fuse gang. Pingmag interview about the book and the state of VJing here US$26.40 [...]

   Posted by: Create Digital Motion » CDMotion’s 2006 “Fill Your Holiday With Geekness” Shopping List on December 23rd, 2006 at 6:52 pm

9. [...] Pingmag recently interviewed Mike Faulkner. Related: 8gg Big, In the mood for clubbing, Colder, Big tanks, Video printing. [...]

   Posted by: digital aesthetics » Book: Audio-Visual Art and VJ Culture on December 26th, 2006 at 6:13 am

10. [...] Article that talks a lot about the new book by D-FUSE . [...]

    Posted by: Notes | Blog Archive » VJ Article on PingMag on February 1st, 2007 at 2:22 pm

11. [...] time, I came to know you through an introduction by a British artist… You seem to present many installations and audio & visual performances in Europe despite [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » 8gg: Chinese Art for a Sense of Accomplishment on March 19th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

12. [...] at around the same time as “VJ: Audio-Visual art + VJ Culture” edited by D-FUSE - and recently featured on PingMag, of [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Visualux: A New VJ Networking Space on May 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

13. Posted by: Alexigr on November 15th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

14. thank you nice blog :)
    forex bank forex işlemleri forex şirketi forex ticareti parite işlemleri, forex bülten forex analizleri:)3

    Posted by: FOREX on September 24th, 2010 at 6:59 am

15. maurers

    Posted by: maurers on February 22nd, 2011 at 5:47 am

16. Thank you for nice technique, it is neccessary for us…

    Posted by: cctv kamera on February 27th, 2011 at 3:09 pm

17. I want to see the many development of this site.

    Posted by: innovative healthcare on June 15th, 2011 at 2:10 am

18. Can I just get that wonder pill and call it a day.

    Posted by: weightlifting routines on June 16th, 2011 at 10:39 am

19. Turbine Eoliche

    Posted by: energie rinnovabili on June 17th, 2011 at 10:11 am

20. Nice site.Really interesting reading.Thanks for the post.

    Posted by: The Diet Solution by Isabel on June 24th, 2011 at 11:20 pm

21. Everyday I learn something new and im loving it.

    Posted by: Free Traffic Referrals on June 25th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

22. You obviously spent a lot of time organizing this site. We thank you for your effort.

    Posted by: Affiliate Marketing Reviews on July 14th, 2011 at 8:48 pm

23. If u like soccer visit us!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted by: Soccer on July 19th, 2011 at 3:28 pm

24. keep up the good work and ill tell my friends about this blog

    Posted by: united health care quotes on August 13th, 2011 at 2:16 pm

25. That is an attention-grabbing subject and also you carry up some really attention-grabbing points. I by no means thought of it like that.

    Posted by: Skinny Guy Muscle Building on August 21st, 2011 at 8:52 am

26. I like your website,looking fora healther body.

    Posted by: Flu Cures on September 11th, 2011 at 12:26 am

27. Great site you have. Love what you are doing!

    Posted by: games and fun on October 9th, 2011 at 12:09 pm

28. Companies Hiring Freshers Now. Sign up for Free to Apply.

    Posted by: Railway Recruitment Jobs on October 19th, 2011 at 5:33 am

29. Text Message or Mobile Marketing is the future

    Posted by: SMS Text Message Marketing on October 27th, 2011 at 12:17 pm

30. Gran articulo. Somos seguidores vuestros desde hace tiempo y queriamos aprovechar este comentario para felicitaros por vuestro blog y por el trabajo que estais haciendo en los articulos…

    Posted by: Jamon Iberico on November 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 pm

31. http://www.happyseasons.gr Online Store

    Posted by: χριστουγεννιατικα δεντρα on November 8th, 2011 at 9:41 pm

32. This is good Internet marketing and public relations.

    Posted by: christian louboutin on November 10th, 2011 at 3:41 am

33. ผลิตภัณฑ์อาหารเสริม เพื่อการเสริมสร้างผิวขาว กระจ่างใส

    Posted by: อาหารเสริม on November 24th, 2011 at 5:03 pm

34. school of thai massage and spa certificaes Association of thai treditional medicine Appoved by the Ministry of Health

    Posted by: School of thai massage on November 25th, 2011 at 1:45 am

35. anunciar no katavendo agora ficou mais facil, os anuncios s�o 100% gratuitos e voc� conta com suporte on-line e atendimento por telefone. anuncio, anuncios, anuncie, anunciar, classificado, classificados, classificados gratis, anuncios classificados gratis, imovel, imoveis, autos, automoveis, automovel, veiculos, carros, motos, celulares, video-games, computadores, dominios, cameras digitais, livros, quadinhos, revistas, cds, cd, dvds, DVD, hd, informatica, eletro-eletronicos, eletronicos, audio, video, decoracao, joias, relogios, esportes, lazer, negocios, filmadoras, videos, selos, moedas, ferramentas, antiguidades, raridades, oportunidades, promocoes, empregos, curriculos, servicos, artigos esportivos, empresas, produtos, vestuario, revistas, Sao Paulo, sp, Rio de Janeiro, rj, parana, pr, classificados, katavendo, kata-vendo, catavendo, cata-vendo, an�ncios, gr�tis, gratuitos, gratuitamente, empregos, oportunidades, comprar, vender.

    Posted by: Kata-Vendo - Bons ventos para seus neg�cios on November 25th, 2011 at 3:35 am

36. wat a nice post

    Posted by: Movies and TV Series on November 30th, 2011 at 3:36 am

37. Timex Running Watches

    Posted by: Watches Timex on November 30th, 2011 at 5:57 pm

38. สารสกัดจากธรรมชาติต่างๆ ที่นำมาเป็นอาหารเสริมเช่น กลูต้าไธโอน,แอลคาร์นิทีน, น้ำมันรำข้าว, กรดอะมิโนต่างๆ และอื่นๆ นั้นมีประโยชน์ต่อร่างกายของเราอย่างไรบ้าง

    Posted by: แอลคาร์นิทีน on December 6th, 2011 at 9:39 pm

39. Thank you so much for this content, Im so lucky and glad that I found this website, Please keep this website going and I will keep

    Posted by: The Visayas on December 9th, 2011 at 1:09 pm

40. Your business sounds very interesting. It is great to have businesses that can contribute to so much to our society these days.

    Posted by: Removing Tattoos Naturally on December 12th, 2011 at 5:17 am

41. How To Succeed With Social Media Outlines Specific Social Media Techniques For Small Business Owners To Use In Marketing Their Business Online Effectively Using Social Media.

    -> http://www.niyom.net

    A few weeks ago my family and I went on vacation

    Posted by: Make money on December 15th, 2011 at 2:17 pm

42. HalloHi is Social Network service . You can write what ever you want you have your space on this site and you can do whatever you want share music , videos , write blogs , read blogs , ask question , answer question , play games , upload documents , do what ever you want your free space:))).

    Posted by: HalloHi Social Network on December 18th, 2011 at 3:54 am

43. مجموعة اعلانكم الاعلانية البريدة المجموعة الاولى للدعاية والاعلان والاشهار

    Posted by: مجموعة اعلانكم الاعلانية البريدية on December 23rd, 2011 at 1:16 am

44. thanx for your valuable post….bookmarked it…love to see this type of interesting posts again and again.

    Posted by: Enes Osmanovic on January 1st, 2012 at 4:35 am

45. Hey this is awesome blogs. Keep posted usefull information. Thank you

    Posted by: roll up awnings on January 5th, 2012 at 5:49 pm

46. Cele mai noi stiri

    Posted by: news on January 7th, 2012 at 5:06 am

47. Thank you. O like this post. I would like to share at my facebook account.

    Posted by: zayifla on January 11th, 2012 at 6:00 am

48. ηλεκτρονικο τσιγαρο,ego-T

    Posted by: ηλεκτρονικο τσιγαρο on January 12th, 2012 at 6:33 pm

49. Yes I like your comments and i hope you also like my suggestion here. Please click to view.

    Posted by: Recreation and Business on January 14th, 2012 at 1:01 pm

50. Hi Very informative page, I will be back to view more. Keep up the good work.Play free flash games at http://www.gametriot.com ,It is a place for one who cannot live without gaming.

    Posted by: dress up gal on January 15th, 2012 at 10:29 pm

51. An Ihrem wichtigsten und wunderschönsten Tag begleiten wir Sie als Videografen Team und produzieren ein hochwertiges Hochzeitsvideo

    Posted by: Carsten on January 18th, 2012 at 10:56 am

52. This piece of information is a gem for me, very helpful, really a great piece of writing, thanks for the effort made, really impressed.

    Posted by: Temple Jewellery on January 23rd, 2012 at 7:12 pm

53. This piece of information is really very helpful, i am pleased by the information provided here, will keep coming to check further, thanks.

    Posted by: Rotaract Club on January 26th, 2012 at 10:39 pm

54. Live Music MOTET - deutsch polnische Hochzeitsband f�r Ihre Hochzeitsfeier.

    Posted by: Hochzeitsband NRW | Hochzeitsmusiker | Musiker f�r Hochzeit | on January 27th, 2012 at 4:05 am

55. Hi ….. I have information about Whirlpool washers, you should read them and get tips and tricks commersial business with Whirlpool washers.

    Posted by: whirlpool washers on January 27th, 2012 at 1:56 pm

56. 
    

    Posted by: Polnische Band MOTET ist eine deutsch polnische Band die sich auf internationale Hochzeiten spezialisiert. Deutsch, schlesische, polnische und russische Tanz-, Show- und Hochzeitsband. Wir spielen auf polnische, russis on January 27th, 2012 at 6:41 pm

57. MOTET - Deutsch Polnische Band polnische Band polnische Hochzeitsband polnische Hochzeitsmusik

    Posted by: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- on January 29th, 2012 at 10:00 pm

58. Haftalık kiralık villa kampanyalarımızı takip edin, beş yıldızlı otel konforunda, SPA, türk hamamı, açık ve kapalı havuz farklılığına 96 TL ye sahip olunuz

    Posted by: istanbul günlük kiralık on February 9th, 2012 at 8:24 am

59. Im so happy, now that I found your website, your contend is very informative and educational. I will always come back for

    Posted by: advertise to millions on February 16th, 2012 at 11:11 am

60. stopitnow.gr Great Site

    Posted by: ηλεκτρονικο τσιγαρο on February 29th, 2012 at 7:27 pm

61. Very nice site.Thanks

    Posted by: hlektroniko tsigaro on March 15th, 2012 at 4:59 pm

62. D-FUSE: Last Night A VJ Zapped My Retinas good post417

    Posted by: air multiplier on April 20th, 2012 at 7:49 pm

63. Wow, how come it took me almost 4 years to find your website, I have been looking for something like this online for the pass four years,

    Posted by: Catch your spouse cheating on April 24th, 2012 at 9:39 pm

Name

Website

• Similar Articles
• » Visualux: A New VJ Networking Space
• » 8gg: Chinese Art for a Sense of Accomplishment
• » Addictive TV: Audiovisual Delights
• » PingMag at PechaKucha Night!
• » PingMag Party!

• Share and Enjoy:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• Luluxpo = Pink Love from SwitzerlandCategory: Fashion Features Graphics Music
  December 7, 2006
• Logan: Production company making people danceCategory: Features Film / Animation Graphics Music
  December 6, 2006
• Nima Nourizadeh: the making of making music videosCategory: Film / Animation Music Worldwide
  December 4, 2006

Notice

As of December 31, 2008, PingMag and sister site PingMag MAKE are both on extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future. We are eternally grateful for your fantastic support over the years.

Search