As part of the semester, I designed a VJ show to mix live at the Generate26.
Furthermore, I took it upon myself to curate part of the DJ line-up, with bookings such as the design collective “Curieux Dilettantti – with residents “KOMMODDITY” and “Disco Veloce”, and “Generator” collective resident “t.mane”.
Concept and Performance Approach
My goal for this visual performance is to focus on rhythm, spontaneity, and live visual mixing rather than relying on automation. The visuals will be performed in real time, much like a DJ mixes music, allowing for improvisation and responsiveness throughout the set.
The performance is a collaboration with my brother, who performs under the DJ name KOMMODDITY and is a co-founder of the music label and design collective Curieux Dilettanti (CXD). Because we are performing together, I can closely react to their mixing decisions and create visual moments that are synchronized with the music in ways that cannot be planned or repeated.
At its core, the project explores the relationship between two brothers working in sync. We aim to create a synesthetic experience in which sound and image become closely connected, allowing the audience to witness and experience our shared creative language.
Art Direction
The visual concept draws inspiration from the meaning behind KOMMODDITY’s artist name. The name references the idea that DJs and performers often become commodities within the music industry: public figures whose image, identity, and artistic output are packaged and consumed.
To reflect this idea, I use rotating 3D scans of ourselves presented like commercial products or collectible figurines. These digital representations emphasize the tension between artistic expression and commodification, inviting the audience to reflect on how musicians are marketed and consumed.
The visuals also incorporate graphic elements and logos from Curieux Dilettanti (CXD), the label and design collective co-founded by KOMMODDITY. Branding is deeply embedded within contemporary music culture, and these references acknowledge that reality. Rather than functioning as advertising or encouraging the purchase of music or merchandise, the intention is simply to make the audience aware of the label’s visual identity and its role within the project.
To further establish a personal visual signature, I created a kinetic animation of a cube-based logo. The cube is a recurring form within my work and serves as a recognizable element that connects the performance to my own artistic practice.
Music by KOMMODDITY
138-146 BPM
1,5 hrs journey through 3 techno sounds, thus 3 stages of the set
- spacey hardgroove like Phil Berg – Rinn – will be a good transition to Dj t.mane
- mainstream hardgroove like Fenimore – “Kasss”
- more bouncy “shake your hips” with few lyrics hardgroove like KOMMODDITY & Disco Veloce – XXMIGLIA – will be a good transition to Dj Disco Veloce
Visuals
Since my brother and I agreed on performing a 3-act narrative, I made sure that my main visual is procedural and can be mixed with multiple genres.
Additionally, I produce addons that will be used mainly on the side screens and in low energy moments to then kick in the main visuals in high energy moments again.
Check them out
Story Time
Of course, as it was a first-time performance for me, something needed to go wrong. But let’s start at the beginning.
The night before the event, preparations were made at the venue by mapping my Resolume project to the areas for projection. Two projectors were connected to my laptop via HDMI connection, and then 3 slices (a slice is the area in which pixels will be lit, pixels outside of the slice will be ignored) were created within Resolume Arena.
Example:
These are slices created for the visual output.
In the picture above, you see that a solid color is inserted, which normally would fill out the whole screen. However, it fills out the slices (3 triangles) only, as they are the mattes for projection.
To map the pixels correctly at GENERATE26, a plate provided by Moya was used.
The setup was as seen in the picture below.
As you can see, the VJ is standing in the back of the room, operating the screens from a place without visibility of the crowd, as the crowd would be facing the DJ in the front.
Anyway, the next day, after a long day of listening to lectures of the GENERATE day event, I continued making preparations with my brother to curate music and visual mixing for our storyline.
Finally, at the event, at midnight, the performance of my brother and me was supposed to begin. In a rush, we took out the HDMI cables from the ceiling and brought them to the front. We just had to be at the front together. Of course, doing that in a rush, it caused problems. There were issues with the HDMI cables, so that the mapping wasn’t working right and on top of it, after solving that issue, the cables of the MIDI controller were causing issues as well. Resolume did not recognize the MIDI. While the music of my brother was already playing, I was stressed and anxious that I wouldn’t be able to perform together.
After a few very awful and humbling minutes, the system worked again. Or so I thought. All my MIDI controller button settings were mixed up. While mixing the visuals, it often did not control the visuals the way I had prepared them at home before. Thus, I needed to mix the visuals while fixing my Resolume Arena project, all at the same time.
Somehow, everything still kind of worked out. Dancers were having fun and I received very positive feedback about the visual performance and wholesome feedback about a brother-to-brother type of storyline. Everyone thought it is very cute that we look alike and perform together, which was made even more obvious through my 3D scan visuals.
To my own surprise, I didn’t even stop performing after the time slot with my brother was over. I continued together with our friend Carl (Disco Veloce) until closing. What a blast!
In retrospect, I see that preparations need to be done more carefully. There was a lot of missing information that was gatekept by the organisers of the event unnecessarily, concerning projection mapping, mixing visuals live and the technical setup at the venue.
In the future, I will be even more direct about the need for certain information early on and not be dismissed if I don’t receive it.
And of course, I would like to be part of installing the equipment, to decide where the VJ setup is located. Next time, I won’t rip out the setup just before the performance begins. That was totally my bad ^^
Since I’ve learned that MIDI controller mapping can be destroyed randomly, I will create a fail-safe Resolume project backup, to hopefully have an unbroken one even if the original gets destroyed.
