Vague Terrain: Rise of The VJ

www.vagueterrain.net

Call for Submissions:

vague terrain 09:
Rise of the VJ: call for work


There has been a distinct upswing of activity in the realm of audiovisual culture over the last few years. Specifically, the role of the VJ has become noticeably more prominent in audiovisual collaboration, whether it takes place in galleries, electronic music festivals, nightclubs, noise shows, academic institutions, public intervention art, online, or other places altogether. This growing focus on the live mixed projected image begs the question of the relationships between moving image, sound, body, environment, economics, and technology. Since this field is relatively new, and moving along at such a brisk pace, it is wise and exciting for us to critically consider the role of the VJ in audiovisual culture.

For this issue of vague terrain: Rise of the VJ, we are seeking three types of submissions: audiovisual collaborations (in the form of a video to be streamed on the vague terrain site), critical writing, and interviews.

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):
-economies of VJ technology
-art historical takes on the rise of the VJ
-haptic cinema and synaesthetic approaches to live video mixing
-semiotics and/or aesthetics of contemporary audiovisual collaboration
-possibilities for using VJing for social change
-human-computer interaction
-the role of festal culture in promoting VJ culture
-mapping, precision, and subjectivity in relationships between visual and aural elements
-interactive video installation
-collaboration strategies, processes, and concerns
-working conditions of the VJ
-critiques of VJ performance content
-copyright, Creative Commons, file sharing, and sampling
-crowd-based interaction techniques
-writing custom VJ software with programs like Max/MSP/Jitter and Pure Data
-alternative user interfaces (e.g. biofeedback, MIDI controllers, Google Image search, etc.)
-relational aesthetics
-the role of the Internet in facilitating critical dialogue between VJs
-gender, race, age, and class concerns
-generative video
-vintage equipment vs. emerging technologies on the market
-education and information-sharing vs. trade secrets
-why VJing is so darn fun
-future movements in VJ culture

As a general rule of thumb for all submissions, vague terrain welcomes the recontextualiztion of past work, but the onus is on the contributor to obtain permission to (re)publish material online if the rights belong to another publication, label, journal, etc.

Vague Terrain is an emerging quarterly web-journal which solicits and showcases works from a range of international artists, musicians, and writers. Our intent is to stake a claim which samples the focus and methodologies of academic and art journals while commissioning parallel excursions into the sonic realm. Content usually consists of a mix of visual art, audio, and text curated by Neil Wiernik and Greg J. Smith. On this occasion, for issue 09: Rise of the VJ, guest curator Carrie Gates has been invited to select content for vague terrain. Heading into its eighth issue, vagueterrain.net is currently attracting an audience of about ten thousand visitors a month and has been receiving press and support from a diverse range of online communities and print publications including rhizome.org, we-make-money-not-art.com, Wire, and earplug.
Each issue of the quarterly examines a specific theme and all invited artists have been asked to submit work pertaining to this topic. Since vagueterrain.net is a non-profit, unfunded entity, all submitted work will be published without compensation. We understand that everyone has bills to pay and a fixed amount of time they can dedicate to pro-bono work. With this in mind we are open to recontextualization or showcasing of past projects if they relate to the quarterly theme. Ideally, we would prefer that some new work is done specifically with our invitation in mind.

submission deadlines:

If you are interested in participating, please send a brief email describing the audiovisual project, critical text, or interview you would like to propose to Carrie Gates at otherartists@gmail.com by Wednesday, November14th. Please also send a weblink to any other related work of yours that is relevant to your proposal.

Selected creators will be confirmed via email on Saturday, November 17th .

The submission deadline for vague terrain 09: Rise of the VJ is Sunday, December 30th. The issue will launch in mid January.

uploading information:

coming in November

legalities:

Vague Terrain will utilize Creative Commons - the standard protocols for online content sharing to protect the work of invited artists. Our base site-wide policy will be Creative Commons Deed ‘Attributive-NonCommercial-NoDerivs’ which allows for the following:

Work is free to be distributed, displayed, and performed assuming that credit is given to the originating artist (you) and content source (vagueterrain.net), is noncommercial, and that the work may not be altered and transformed. A detailed explanation is available at online in both plain English and legalese.

We are open to different Creative Commons deeds if an invited artist is unwilling to display their work according to the above terms. So, if you’ve got a specific agenda regarding the manner in which your work is accessible to the public let us know.

technical specifications and formatting:

There will be three components to the issue:
3.1. Audiovisual Collaborations (5-10)
3.2. Critical Writing (3-5)
3.3. Interviews (1-2)
*this will be a total of 10-12 items

3.1 Audiovisual Collaborations
Artists will submit one video work in Quicktime format, with a focus on the relationship between the mixed moving image and audio. The video will be compressed as an Apple Motion JPEG, 320 x 240 screen resolution, no compression. Videos will be between 2-10 minutes long. These videos can be uploaded to a server that is yet to be determined.
Video and audio artists will be required to include a short text (100-750 words) about their collaborative work. The format and style are at the discretion of the artists involved, however all texts will be subject to minor editing.

Audio and video artists will each submit a biography (100-200 words) and artist photo, however if the collaborators have formed a collective, they may submit a single group biography and photo instead. Artists may choose to share their contact information and website listings at their discretion.

3.2. Critical Writing
Writers will each submit one text of critical writing about a particular aspect of audiovisual culture that they have specialized knowledge of. Articles may be any length. Articles will be emailed to Carrie Gates at otherartists@gmail.com and are subject to minor editing.

Writers will each submit a biography (100-200 words) and bio photo and they may choose to share their contact information and website listings at their discretion.

3.3. Interviews
Interviews may be of any length, and will be submitted via email to Carrie Gates at otherartists@gmail.com and are subject to minor editing. These interviews may be done over email in a question and answer form, or they can be done over the telephone or in person in a more journalistic approach, subject to the decision of the interviewer.

Interviewers and interviewees will each submit a biography (100-200 words) and bio photo and they may choose to share their contact information and website listings at their discretion.

curator biography:

Carrie Gates is a VJ, sound artist, educator, and academic from Saskatoon who has been producing work over the last 12 years for independent electronic music events, public galleries, artist-run centres, festivals, conferences, academic institutions, and symposia. Her work often deals with subjects such as synaesthesia, situationism, and the fantastic, using/abusing technology as a means to tease out diverse perceptions of social and psychological space. With the assistance of a Production Grant from Soil Digital Media Suite, she is currently working on an interactive installation work utilizing EEG biofeedback as a controller for a Jitter-based video system, investigating the paradoxical relationships between consumption, capitalism, and human-computer interaction. Her artwork and academic research has been shared with audiences across Canada, as well as in Germany, New Zealand, and the United States. Gates also is a Co-Director of the BricoLodge net.label, and is employed at the University of Saskatchewan as a Media Developer.

 

http://www.otherartists.com http://www.youtube.com/carriegates http://www.myspace.com/thesoundsofcarriegates http://byteme.net.au/spea05.html http://www.notype.com/bricolodge http://www.vinylinterventions.com
	Carrie performing at send and receive, 2007


As the second guest editor of vague terrain, I would like to express gratefulness for the opportunity to extend my practices and reach out to creators and thinkers working within this field. My background in experimental turntablism, noise music, and performance art has wound through many wonderful twists and turns over the last twelve years, and I have found myself in a very exciting and fertile place as I have developed my work as a VJ and educator since 2003. It is my pleasure to facilitate a deepening of the discourse surrounding audiovisual culture and the growing prominence of the VJ.