[ Audiovisual live based on sinusoidal waves ] from Sonom on Vimeo

I have a bunch of things to write about but this video above from Borja Alexander of Sonom. Water is one of those properties that does not come quickly to mind when working with computers. And here we have a pool a very, very cold water that is projected on with geometry responding to sound in real time. This is somewhat less moody then previous works of Sonom but no less otherworldly.

Just recovering from the past weekends festivities at PixelVärk. Some special special memories collected from this experience like walking a few kilometers, ankle deep in snow through fields and forrest, dimly lit with a half moon to take a bus into Gothenburg. Helping setup a video wall at club Nefertiti and in the process getting to know VJs of the area, most associated in the Swedish VJ Union. Chatting with a very enthusiastic couple who came up from Copenhagen and like to VJ to Balkan music. I also had a chance to meet up with part of the Startsladd crew again, the discussion led to an interview I am conducting with Andreas Apelqvist about the Startsladd project Club Visual Planet, coming to you in a future post.

Sadly I had too much stuff to cary with me, 2 midi controllers, small LED lamp, DMX controller, all in one backpack and the camera got left behind. The Midi Thief (aka Mikael Wehner) was taking a lot of photos so I hope we can see some of those at some point.

The weekend ended with trip off usual path to a similar world of obsessions, at the recommendation of a friend, GOTO80, Mikael and I took a cab to an industrial park area of Gothenburg to see the week end long demoparty, Datastorm. If you are not familiar with the demoscene, the basics are that computer enthusiasts use older computers like the Commodore 64 or the Amiga to create short animated sequences with music that represent their skills in coding, design and sound. The demoparties bring the community of demoscene creators together to compete in various categories. The animations are never rendered but are played back in ‘real time’ as you would do if you used the animation FX in modul8 or if you coded it using the module system.

What really excited me about this party, besides beer drinking computer enthusiasts was how people were gathered together and motivated to do something, to be creative amongst other creative people. There were no big sponsors and you could actually talk with people about what they were doing. It reminded me somewhat of LPM in Rome, the ongoing bustling activity, a cycle of presentation and creation. It was spirited and therefore liberating.

DesOrbitArte CUE Berlin TorpeDeArte from JERONI on Vimeo

If C64 and Amiga programming is not your style there are a variety of other activities that combine social activities with creation. The video above features a semi-time lapsed video of a party with visuals created on the spot by Visual Berlin’s one and only beloved
Oigovisiones films. Not the entire video is dedicated to his humorous VJing, but the overall concept of this event is quite endearing. Get a bunch of people together, put up a green screen and camera, take video portraits of everyone who attends, get some bananas and then promote it on sites like qashqaiurbanlife. I am a huge fan of Oigovisiones. Unfortunately I can’t embed my favorite demo of his here for the same reason he got kicked out of doing visuals at a party in Berlin last year. Now that’s a reputation a VJ can stand on.