AUDIOVISUALIZE

Although working in an area with a rich but relatively little-known history, today's audiovisual artists perhaps owe as much to the VJs and music producers who've emerged from 90's electronic music culture, as some of the most influential 20th Century experimental film makers like Norman McClaren, Len Lye, Jordan Belson and notably Oskar Fischinger, who began laying the foundations of this fusion genre, based on a synthesis of motion, colour and sound, over half a century ago.

Now, using contemporary techniques such as sampling, remixing and digital manipulation alongside traditional film, video and music production methods, modern audiovisualizers are able to push creative boundaries ever further. Music and image play an equal, complimentary and indeed synergistic role in this arena with modern software allowing a much closer and more specific integration than was ever possible previously.

Whether it's finding new ways of visualizing music, or expressing images sonically, the goal is the same now as it ever was; to produce something that can be watched in much the same way as we listen to music. Again and again.



Audiovisualize trailer - dur 00:03:03:12 - 4 Mo - Get quicktime here





Primarily a live act, London based Eclectic Method comprise three members who between them represent two VJs and two DJ/composers. Specialising in ‘bootleg video’ remixing, the crew are known for their work with audiovisual sampling, taking images and sounds and working them into new visual and musical patterns. They’ve performed all over the UK and are currently producing music video remixes for the MTV Mash series.



Award winning AV act Bauhouse are video artist and musician Fabian Grobe and DJ Clemens Wittkowski. The duo have been performing since 1995 and have played in Japan, Singapore, China, Korea, England, France, Sweden and all over their home country of Germany, including a tour with Kraftwerk’s Karl Bartos. As well as creating club performances, the group also create motion graphics, music and design work for broadcast television and corporate clients, including BMW, and recently had an audiovisual installation placed at Hong Kong’s City Hall.



Vitascope - aka Simon Richardson - started VJing for dance events in 1994 alongside the fledgling Yorkshire drum'n'bass scene, using hand-made abstract celluloid loops mixed using three 16mm projectors.  A move to Scotland in 1998 found this VJ presiding over Saturday nights at My Machines making visual music for visiting techno behemoths such as Andrew Weatherall and Derrick May.  Various jaunts abroad such as the trans-Siberian VJ tour
Kulturedrang Nach Osten 2002 and an appearance at the File Festival Sao Paulo 2003 compliment broadcast work for Addictive TV's Mixmaster's series in 2003 and 2004. Plans for the future include both a DVD album and research into audiovisual interface tools to further performance beyond the now dated VJ set-up.



US based Brian Kane was one of the founding members of the innovative video art group Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN), who were early pioneers of video sampling and VJ software in the late 80's and who gained popular acclaim after their involvement with U2's ZooTV Tour in 1992.  Brian still develops innovative visuals software and writes articles for Mondo2000, Wired and Electronic Musician. Pushing many buttons as well as creative envelopes, electronic composer and sound artist David Fodel makes strange music indeed and has collaborated with Kane since the early 90's.  In 2002, the pair toured their live AV act on the US west coast.  Both are partners in the internet electronic music station RadioValve.com.



Red-Ochre are Brian McClave and George Millward; the pair have been working together since the late 80's and are long time collaborators with Addictive TV, having worked on all their visual music projects.  McClave is a digital artist and photographer and has created work for DNA, Saatchi and the BBC's Shooting Live Artists project amongst many others; producing idents, title sequences and techno-art projects.  George Millward is the unusual mixture of well-respected scientist, leftfield ambient/techno producer and DJ; making a unique brand of poly-rhythmic cyber-chill, he draws on samples of reflected radio waves and natural sounds inspired by his work as an atmospheric physicist.  They are currently producing the Worlds first stereoscopic film of the Aurora Borealis.



Justin Eade is a film-maker, promo director and VJ. Under the name Glimpse, he's mixed live VJ sets across the US, in Sydney, Cairo, Budapest, Paris, Helsinki and on the UK club and festival scene, appearing regularly at the Big Chill. He’s performed alongside live acts like Daft Punk, Plaid and Instrumental. With Fructose, Eade has produced numerous visual idents for MTV. Under the name Fructose, multi-instrumentalist Jim Copperthwaite produces music in genres as diverse as full orchestra scores, techno and ambient drum 'n' bass. He's written film scores - including the British movie Club!, television series theme tunes - including Close and True and King of the Castle and music for commercials including Tommy Hilfiger, Honda and BT. As well as releasing on his own Fructose label, working with former writing partner Ollie Vessy, Fructose's work has appeared on Law and Auder Records Avantgardism and EastWestercism series of albums.



The Mellowtrons are visual artist Giles Thacker and music producer Lee Walker.  Resident VJ and animator with Orbital, one of the UK's most established and best known electronic dance acts, Giles Thacker has been producing visuals and operating their live shows since the early 90's.  Producer and remixer Lee Walker specialises in dynamic multi-layered sound design and has previously worked with Autechre, Mike Flowers and Meat Beat Manifesto.  The pair have been collaborating for nearly a decade and are currently producing their debut DVD album for Addictive TV.



Cinderbud is a team of musicians and digital designers.  Fusing their knowledge in all areas of digital media production, the group take on high-end commercial and non-commercial projects from television and interactive media to art installations.  Since its inception in 2001, Cinderbud have created work for the BBC, Channel 4, Sainsbury's and Renault.  They’re continuously developing new works which fuse audio and visual material, using digital technology as an instrument.



Addictive TV are the London based group of artists, DJs, VJs and television producers who, back in 1999, set up what is acknowledged as the world’s first VJ-focused DVD label.  Addictive TV have performed in Japan, North America and across Europe, from the Pompidou Centre to Tokyo superclub Ageha, and from Resfest to the Glastonbury Festival. As VJs, they’ve mixed visuals for artists such as Howie B, Miss Kittin, 808 State and Fatboy Slim and have created many recorded AV works fusing visuals and music, which have been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, La Cite de la Musique in Paris and the Moving Image Centre in New Zealand and at many international festivals including Villette Numerique, Midem and Sonar.