New Australian Experimental Video Resource

So a while back I heard rumblings about this and have been meaning to post this for a while, Stephen Jones (one of the pioneers of media art in Aus) designed  the Supernova 12, a system owned by Jeffrey Siedler who has very kindly donated it to a new experimental video lab set up By Tom Ellard (of severed heads) and Ant Banister at the University of New South Wales, Other Stephen Jones machines have also been resurrected and integrated with some newer devices and at some point in the future hopefully we will see some new work! I believe Ed and Liz of LZX and Pia VanGelder are also lending a hand  (thanks to Ant for the Photos) and Tom for his blog posts http://tomellard.com/wp/2013/09/operation-big-iron/ http://tomellard.com/wp/2014/09/update-to-big-iron-fingers-crossed/

Why Not, Jim Sosnin (1980)

A recent upload by Jim Sosnin drawn to my attention by the ever vigilant Jeffrey 
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/sosnin-jim

"Video synthesis demo from 1980, realised using EMS Spectron video synth plus some homebrew gear. The audio was created in 1978 using 3 Transaudio synths linked together. This digital transfer via an old U-matic (3/4-inch format) VCR, repaired for the occasion, to retrieve original stereo audio (my more recent VHS copy had mono audio only)."

Tele Visions Project

http://televisionsproject.org

great line-up! 

"Commemorate the end of TV with Tele Visions, a series of live and broadcast events interrogating the medium of television on its death bed.

Devised, curated and produced to mark the occasion of the analog switch off around Australia, Tele Visions introduces audiences to the works of more than 100 artists working in the televisual space.

You can tune in live via the Tele Visions website or catch it on the analog broadcast if you live nearby. Box Set will be running 24hrs a day until midnight this Wednesday the 27th, from then on the Tele Visions channel begins a five day long continuous broadcast of artworks made for TV. Box Set is one of five live works commissioned by Tele Visions. Other artists include Lara Thoms, WRONG SOLO, Joel Stern and Pia van Gelder.

The entire broadcast program is now online with more than 120 works from 100 artists scheduled up to the minute each day. You can peruse the program from the Tele Visions website or download the TV Guide which also features short critical essays from Doug Anderson (SMH TV reviewer for 40 years), Sherry Miller Hocking (Experimental Televison Centre) and John Gillies (Video Artist and academic COFA). Pick up a limited edition printed (in glorious pink!) TV Guide at live events at both Carriageworks and Verge Gallery.
Tele Visions (28 November – 3 December 2013) is a project devised, directed and produced by Alex White and Emma Ramsay. Presented by Performance Space as part of the YOU’RE HISTORY, a program celebrating 30 years of Performance Space."

Pia Van Gelder

I have been meaning to post up some of Pia's work for a while now I originally found it through Stephen Jones as she has worked with him in the past (see videos below) she has ome interesting pieces
http://piavangelder.com/



Gelder
on Vimeo.

Bush Video Collective

A find from Stephens book mentioned a few posts back

"Bush Video was a prominent group using video as an experimental art form in the early 1970s in Australia. Bush Video was set up by the experimental filmmaker, Mick Glasheen, who had been using video since 1968. He was approached by the organisers of the Nimbin Aquarius Festival held in May 1973 to provide video access to festival participants. Bush Video applied for funding to build a cable network throughout the town of Nimbin. This was the very first experiment in cable television in Australia." In Stephens book it also talks allot about the computer processing and video synthesis  and feedback work that some of the members did as well as their activist work.

www.scanlines.net/person/bush-video

Synthetics Aspects of Art and Technology in Australia, 1956-1975

Just been reading Stephen Jones (of Severed Heads) book on early Australian media art, It's kind of like the book I wish someone would write about the subject world wide but because it limits itself in scope by confining the subject to Australia and between 1956-1975 it actually deals with the mechanics of the work better more thoroughly explaining the significance connections and evolution of this type of work. Stephen also goes on to compare video to writing as the technology stems from encoding images of signatures down a single telegraph wire using  synchronisation pulses to set the start of each line of an image, this is amazing to me as for a while now I have been giving talks explaining the relation of video to drawing and drawings links to writing so it was nice to read a really concise explanation of this linage similar to what I have been saying but backed up by the very roots of the technology. I had been explaining that a video image whether raster or vector drawn was actually linear in nature and then showing early sound and image recording technologies roots in drawing with examples such a the phonautograph. Australia made some big strides in media art and there are some amazing artists work dealt with here https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/synthetics.
More Jones inspired posts to follow at some point.

Michael Nicholson

Michael Nicholson Born in 1916 in England now in his 90s he has lived and taught in New Zealand and Australia since the 1950s. He worked with the scanimate in Canberra in the 1970s as part of his visual music explorations. The series of works available online were restored for exhibition with the help of The New Zealand Film Archive. Please see the informative article linked below from Circuit.org a relatively new resource for New Zealand based film and video art.

http://circuit.org.nz/artist/michael-nicholson

http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/

http://artbash.co.nz/

http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/

http://wellingtonista.com/2008/08/12/video-synthesizer/

and some videos

http://circuit.org.nz/film/visual-music-project-stage-3-op4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glD5-GfVE5k

http://youtu.be/SI-f7xzE5Rc

http://circuit.org.nz/film/visual-music-project-stage-3-op3

Ian Andrews

Ian Andrews has a great site detailing his multimedia work here  but he also has some great info on Subvertigo a VJ/video art collective started by Ian, John Jacobs and Marco Fante  here  (also see skynoise for more info)

I really recommend reading the interviews and ideas on the Subvertigo but as always the technology caught my eye including the Arlunya VPS210

I think I already posted this a while back but it can't hurt to do it again

Video Synthesis at Sydney Opera House!

Johnny Woods will be performing at the Sydney Opera House with his LZX and some prerecorded material !!!

28 May 2011 7:30PM - 11:59PM

"Gavin Russom, the synthesizer wizard behind The Crystal Ark and Black Meteoric Star, has been specially commissioned to create his most ambitious work ever exclusively for Vivid LIVE. The show is a 90 minute concert and installation featuring a 10 strong collective of musicians and artists from NYC, DFA Records, LCD Soundsystem and more.

Known as "The Wizard" for his technical prowess Russom has built instruments for the likes of James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Tim Goldsworthy (UNKLE) and has toured playing synths and percussion with LCD Soundsystem.

Bringing the full Crystal Ark collective together with dancers, lighting designers and video and projection artists, Russom will expand on the immersive multi-sensory experiences he has developed for the 28th Sao Paulo Bienial, MOMA and PS1 in New York.

Sydney Opera House is the perfect location and Vivid LIVE the ideal occasion for this fusion of intense visuals with the living sound of The Crystal Ark full band."

Severed Heads Video Equipment

Here is a shot of some of pioneering australian experimental audio/video act Severed Heads gear via sprklg on flickr. For more info on Severed Heads go here and here and do a quick search on youtube 

video from jonnycourageous