VJ Anyone

Is VJ culture making an impact on club design? Are owners incorporating the technology and space to allow VJs a decent set up?
Its funny, each time I start such an interview, I feel the urge to introduce what is VJing because I’m unsure where the article is going to go. Your question implies that VJ culture is all contained in club culture, and disagree completely on that point. if anything, VJing is bleeding out of club culture from all sides, into finge festivals, and other venues like cinema, theatre, bands performances, the visual arts: anywhere music and moving images meet. I actually think VJing is a good opportunity for club culture to bleed out with VJing, to follow VJing as it crosses new boundaries. Just as MTV helped musicians travel from radio to TV, VJing is helping DJs become visuals artists, or at least impersonate them…
Now to answer your original question, I think the scene is quite uneven. For example I know some clubs consciously want to stay as dark as possible because they feel the music is most important. However, generally speaking, as club become bigger, the more they feel the importance of video, ie moving images to act as attention grabber for the stage where the main acts are performing. As a general rule, you could say the bigger the club, the more focus there will be on visuals.
 
Are clubs and bars attractive to VJs as performances spaces ?
Again this depends on the size and the type of audience and also genre of music for any given club. For example, although Dubstep is a great genre for adding visuals to, it is not a scene where DJ and punters like anything to light up the dancefloor. Clubbing is not a new thing anymore, nether is VJing. I don’t think a club can add more bums on seats by adding on a flyer “there’ll be lots of visuals” now they need to add “visuals by…” because people are starting to recognize names and build a following around VJs they have seen before… So I think any promoter that is focused on the success of a highly visual venue should nurture a team of visual artists and VJ residents, like you do with DJs of course!

What is (or what would be) the ideal setup for a VJ entering a club?
To be onstage next to the musical act performing. That’s the best place to feed off the energy of the artists doing their thing.

What are the best clubs to perform in from a VJ perspective?
You want names? Well, from my experience, there’s of course Womb in Tokyo, the new Matter club at the O2 in London, and Avalon in LA, but also loads of little gems you can find along the way, like club Kristal in Bucharest, Romania. I think good clubs depend on good promoters with a vision, who know that well thought visual layout translate into positive customer experience and that this is part of the reason why they’ll come back, that’s what it’s all about, making the punters happy…

Is VJ culture a worldwide phenomenon? Are there regional differences in style / demand / popularity?
VJing is certainly more popular in certain countries over other. Its also more popular at certain times, more than others. Like at a time of credit crunch, some promoters may want to invest in a good DJ and little else. In times of growth and prosperity, they are more inclined to splash a little more with an extra VJ…

Who is pushing the scene forward (performers, collectives, software producers / technology manufacturers)?
I think DJ Mag is certainly doing its bit to make the VJ scene grow, they has for the fifth year running published a top20 list of most popular VJs in the same issue as their celebrated top100 DJ poll.

What makes an excellent VJ set?
When a VJ is inspired to follow the musical act – DJ, band, whatever– into the feeling du jour, and remembers it’s a team effort, the music always plays the lead and a great VJ is someone who can follow well. There are plenty of much better designers, cameramen and animators than me out there, but I’m quite good at following, being perceptive and anticipating a dJ’s next move, a choosing within the range of footage I have to relate the images to what’s being played out musically. All in all, I think that’s why I’m a better than average VJ.

http://www.myspace.com/avsocial