Cities that start with an ‘A’


The Modul8 VJ Team (along with some of the Mapping Team) has been invited by ‘The Erasers’ to Athens to light up the Cyclorama Party. The Erasers were one of the highlights of Mapping Festival 2009. We will actually be in town from the 30th through the 5th so feel free to chat us up if you are in Athens.

For those of you based in the U.S.

Atlanta: From July 10th through the 12th Motion Graphics Festival showcases explosive artists and motion picture creators.

The ATL-MGFest will be hosting workshops and lectures about the shift in motion-picture audiences and explores the new technologies that motion designers will need on the video internet frontier. Motion design, sound design and interactivity, are all featured during July 11th and 12th, with daytime workshops at Atlanta’s Adobe Certified Training Facility, Sterling Ledet. Evening screenings and live performances will be hosted at Atlanta’s Internationally-renowned portfolio school, Creative Circus.

This festival in the fast moving field of design technology has opened it’s Art & Entertainment events for only $7. Rather than charging the typical $500-$1500 conference fee, the Motion Graphics Festival encourages participants to stop complaining about the economy, and spend their money on something that will upgrade their tools, technique and aesthetics. Software, DVDs and music will be available at a discount rate throughout the festival week.

Silent Auction for over $18,000 in software, DVDs and training materials.

.: MGFest Schedule + Registration :: http://www.MGFest.com

Finally, coming up next month will be an AVIT gathering in the town of Kezmarok in northern Slovakia. It will be a audio/visual feast of performances, outdoor and indoor, open jams, workshops, talks. I’ll have more accurate details in the coming week.

posted by admin @ 30 June, 2009 0 comments »

Mapping 2009 (albeit small) wrap up


[ Sonom ] Live at Mapping Festival 09 from Sonom on Vimeo.

Somewhat recovered now from the intense glory that was the production of the 2009 edition of the Mapping Festival. It was quite a ride. A bit smoother then previous years yet still leaving me almost completely exhausted but fully inspired.

One of the continuing benefits of the connectedness of GarageCUBE/Modul8 and the Mapping Festival is how we get to meet people in person who are working with our software in interesting ways. One such project was the work of the Spain based Sonom. I had some contact with Borja Alexadandre prior to his invitation to the Mapping Festival. In fact just before the festival we received a video from him.

The Sonom installation/performance entitled ‘Symphonic lighthouse-phony’ was a tad tucked inside the Bac but worthwhile to those that made the effort to see both the performance and the resulting installation. The Sonom team consisted of four people including Borja. The center of the room was occupied by a tall, steel skeletal tower outfitted with a projector and a rotating mirror that acted like a light house but one that projects images. Additionally there was a 2nd static projector and a smoke machine that created the etherial atmosphere that was the light house. The result was that the space of the room was redefined into something akin to a native american hot tent minus the heat.

Another group previously covered on this blog and that I was happy to have had the chance to meet is the Stuttgart based Frischvergitung. The energetic duo really enjoyed every moment of the Mapping and the following is their own self documented tribute.


Frischvergiftung @ Mapping Festival ’09 from Frischvergiftung on Vimeo.

This same night was quite a deck of cards being the Kompakt night (featuring Chaton, Burger/Voight and Tobias Thomas) along with the refined visuals of the legendary Okinawa 69 and the seasoned Bruno Tait. Added to this was Geneva’s own Daschund and Superposition.


electric kettle vs sansculotte live at mapping festival 2009 from sans culotte on Vimeo.

On a less mainstream count the following Thursday featured the high powered punch of the Berlin based VJ duo Sans Culotte with the live Breakcore masher Electric Kettle.

I could go on about all of the little moments. If you have ever organized a festival you probably know how exhausting this can be. Staying up all night and then hopping on a train to nearby Lausanne to do a radio interview and then returning to Geneva to conduct a four hour modul8 workshop. But when you see all the people who come to have a good time and do just that, so happy with the results that they produce nice video clips that capture all those little moments, each in their own unique way? This is where it all comes together.

posted by admin @ 24 June, 2009 0 comments »

New beginnings

New beginnings
I have been silent for a bit. Still in a sort of recovery mode from the Mapping Festival. And suddenly we are another transition. We are in the process of moving our office from its old trappings of Ultrapepita on rue de la muse to another location within the borders of the Canton of Geneva. This is pretty exciting. More space for the team for working and testing things out and being creative.

Email based technical support will continue unhindered.

Once all of this is done in a week or so we should be back to our (ab)normal operations. More postings and some official announcements to follow along with the usual postings and reports.

posted by admin @ 11 June, 2009 0 comments »