beat/blink/sync
beat/blink/sync is a book about audiovisual culture, aiming to explain vjing as a form of synaesthetic performance. Unfortunately this book is written in german, as it is closely related to a part of Maximilian Mittermeiers thesis in communication design at Georg-Simon-Ohm Hochschule Nürnberg, Germany. But anyway, it has many colorful pictures and schematics, that might be easy to understand even for non-german speakers.
In the first chapter historical context is given as ideas and concepts, that are part of vjing, are traced back in the history of popular culture and the arts. In parallel, technological developments are shown, that were necessary for the emergence of visual performances throughout the times as well as vjing today.
The second chapter narrows the focus on one of the most common instances of audiovisual performance: The combined DJ/VJ set at nightclubs. Here, the situation in which the VJ performs in the club is analyzed on various levels to derive and make clear the function of the VJ in the context of the club night.
Following in the third, and last, chapter is a reflection on the act of vjing itself, i.e., how the creation of live visuals is done. To this end, the distinction between the basic concepts of sampling vs. generative visuals is made and rounded off with a detailed description of the authors’ own theoretical system for making visuals.
You can find more information about beat/blink/sync on the elektropastete website www.elektropastete.de/beat-blink-sync-thesis-about-vj-culture/. If you want to get hold of it, write an email to max@elektropastete.de
Yochanan Rauert aka Yochee is working as a VJ in Münster, Germany since 2002 and is the editor and founder of www.visual-society.com