VJ + The Hack

A few things stuck out at me while watching the VJ documentary. Regardless of the fact that Vjing is still a pretty new art form, it has still gone through the same growing pains that other areas feel. Not only the form itself, but also the people involved.

Taking a survey of VJ's from its start to present (present being around 2004/2005 relative to the documentary) you still have a division of what you could call traditionalists and...neo-VJ's? What I mean is there is a schism in execution. Early video performance was all analog. I recall one guy saying he just has truck loads of VHS tapes on loops and stacks and stacks of VHS players. There were quite a few people in the film that seem to look down upon the fact that everything has gone digital. Instead of spending hours setting up a rig, people just walk into a venue now with a laptop and a keyboard. Those traditionalists didn't seem to set up a good argument for not giving the digital guys and respect...but that could have been the documentary's fault. Either way...I find it funny. Even though VJing has only been around roughly for maybe 50 years there are already groups dividing themselves up within video art. Which is not at all a bad thing, I feel like it probably encourages different lines of thinking. Different lines of thinking that all eventually lead back to the same thing, live video art.

As discussed in class, I feel the documentary ties in nicely with Wark's 'Hacker Manifesto.' When Sony first put out its portable video camera, they in no way intended it to be used by artists. The video art scene in NY saw the potential of it, and it was hacked it. Here in lies another great aspect of digital art. The hack. You can hack just about anything. Digital art represents limitless possibilities...although some might not be fully realized as of yet due to current technological capabilities, digital art represents the continual development and change of the art form parallel to changes in technology. Touchscreens have actually been around for quite sometime, but with the now (relatively) cheap multi-touch technologies of the 21st century more and more interfaces are being designed and in conjunction being used in art. I am pretty sure Apple never intended the iphone to be used as a multi-touch OSC unit in a live video performance, but the hackers saw the potential.

While it is key to make sure one doesn't not hide behind gear and their technology, when integrated flawlessly and fluidly, interactive digital art being a living organic thing. Which is sort of scary when you think about. No?

p.s. I also dislike the label VJ. And there ya go...I have already aligned myself to a group in digital art. Silly new age art forms.