After my Generate26 VJ performance, I felt like it was time to update my “Dancing Lines” Wire patch.
Updated Version:
Through the performance, I myself thought this patch is lacking diversity. Since making a patch that is always adjustable was the whole point, I went back into Wire and began experimenting. Eventually, instead of trying out each and every node and see what happens, I took a step back and thought about what I’ve learned in regular (good) old After Effects. There, I’ve learned that it is ok to cheat about anything and everything and that the name of an effect doesn’t indicate all its possibilities.
Then I thought maybe a blur could create a fake glow effect. Thus, I did some research about Wire nodes and found out that the so-called “Bloom” node is basically just an adjustable Gaussian blur. This quickly created the effect I wanted. However, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the look yet. As the dancing lines were still just white even with the new glow effect. To change this, I started a new patch. This time, an effect patch for Arena instead of a source because I want to use the effect for multiple projects in the future.
This effect patch entails a way to pick a color in the color picker feature I built into the Wire patch. The idea of the effect is not to pick a color like blue and then receive, e.g., blue dancing lines but to receive the complementary color of the picked color. So when the club lights are blue, I pick the color blue, and the dancing lines become orange or yellow, depending on the shade of blue I pick. Here is a short video that shows the updates:
To stylize the slices used in projection mapping, I created a Resolume Wire patch. The patch recognizes the slice input/output and will fill out the outline with a color (currently red). The outline width is adjustable via MIDI controller. Furthermore, to make it even more interesting, I added multiple chaser effects within this patch that can be toggled on and off.
The patch:
What is a chaser effect?
A chaser effect is simple. If the output created in Resolume Arena has, e.g., 4 slices, then, e.g., on a 4 to the floor beat, the first slice lights up, then on the second beat, only the second slice and so forth, creating a chasing effect if the slices light up one after another from left to right. As if the slices are chasing each other.
Here is an example of a chaser effect used at an “Outworld” event. Creating the chaser effect within Wire is not the only option to make it. I’ve made project-specific chase effects within Arena, using different kinds of envelopes.
Ok, I’ll tell you what an envelope is first… An envelope is a similar principle to sound automation (if that rings a bell) or placing key frames on certain frames. The envelope is used to make the visual seem audio-reactive. By choosing a 4-beat envelope, the visual can be automated, e.g. the kick drum.
The picture above shows that the visual is enabled on the first beat and disabled during 2, 3 and 4. Now, if the second visual is enabled on the second beat only, the third visual enabled on the third and the fourth visual… you get it now. It creates a chaser effect. This is just one example of an envelope.
The first envelope shown earlier was an instant on and off, but the one seen below has a slower turn off time.
While the one seen below this paragraph specifically is a bit of an experiment of mine. The chaotic envelope type adds a strobing effect as the opacity of the visual switches many times during that one beat.
These experiments cause interesting audio-reactive looking effects during shows, keeping the audience’s attention and energy high.
A Video Mixer in Resolume Arena enables smooth transitions between clips by blending two video sources in real time. Instead, hard cutting from one clip to another, it interpolates between them using adjustable blend or transition modes such as crossfade, Add, Wipe or Slide. The transition duration and blend mode are customizable, allowing for seamless visual continuity or more stylized scene changes during live performances. Having learnt about this feature, I thought I’d try making my own mixer in Resolume Wire.
Here is the Wire patch:
Node explanations:
A Saw Oscillator generates a repeating sawtooth waveform that ramps linearly from its minimum to maximum value before instantly resetting. It can be used to create continuous animations by driving parameters such as position or opacity at a controllable frequency.
The Fractal Noise generates procedural noise by combining multiple frequencies to create organic patterns. There is no need for pre-recorded or -rendered media.
The patch I created mainly works with these two nodes. As you might be able to imagine already, the transition look is blending between images with a fractal noise mask.
During a music festival a couple years ago, I encountered an experiment with a projector. The setup is quite simple: A hazer, a projector and a projection. But the outcome felt unique. The focus is not on the projected area nor the projected visual on it, but on the light that is projected between the space due to the haze in between (as seen below).
In light of Christopher Street Day (CSD), I experimented with this idea inside Resolume Arena.
Short video example of my experiments:
As explained earlier, the visual itself remains simple. However, if projected through haze, e.g. the rainbow circle won’t just be a circle, but become a colourful tube or tunnel that one can look through. That is because the haze becomes the area of projection, creating a 3D space instead of a flat screen or wall.
I want to take this idea from Resolume to a real space. Currently, I am in talks with other creatives and event organizers, with a possibility to bring this idea to Forum Stadtpark in the summer. Until then, I will continue experimenting until I find shapes that I want to bring to the physical space. By then, I need a Hazer (not a fog machine, there is a difference). If you’re reading this and have an idea where or from whom to get one without paying at least 100€, I’d be thankful for the tip!
Every conversation, every sound, every place, every fear, every act of kindness, every contradiction becomes another fragment. None of it disappears. It accumulates and waits. My work is not about expressing these experiences; it is about processing them.
I make data visible.
It started with a cube. A cube that could dance. That simple experiment never really ended. It became the foundation of everything that followed. I aim to build systems instead of scenes. I rarely recreate the exact same visual language twice because repetition belongs to machines, while experimentation belongs to people. Every performance is another iteration. Another process. Another possibility for something unexpected to emerge.
I don’t want visuals to decorate music. I want them to exist beside it. To breathe with it. To become another performer in the room.
When sound changes, image changes. When energy shifts, the visual body responds. Somewhere between light, movement and rhythm, the boundary dissolves. The audience stops looking at visuals and starts inhabiting them.
Electronic music has always been more than sound. It creates temporary worlds. Worlds where difference becomes strength, where strangers become a collective, where identities can exist without explanation. I believe these spaces deserve protection. They should remain places of solidarity against racism, queerphobia, transphobia, fascism, authoritarianism and every ideology built on exclusion. My work does not always speak these ideas aloud, but they are embedded in the systems themselves.
Technology is my material, not my subject. The software and hardware exist only to carry something human.
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
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.
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.
Sue Slagle (SUE-C) is a pioneering VJ and new media artist whose work redefines VJing as a form of live, performative cinema. Rather than treating visuals as a background layer in club contexts, she approaches them as a central artistic medium, creating what she describes as real-time cinema. In her performances, images are not simply played back but are constructed live, combining camera feeds, pre-recorded material, and generative processes into evolving visual compositions that unfold alongside sound.
A key aspect of SUE-C’s VJ practice is the idea of the setup as a hybrid visual instrument. Using tools such as Max/MSP and custom-built systems, she integrates live cameras, physical materials, and digital processing into a responsive performance environment. This allows her to “play” visuals with the same immediacy and sensitivity that a musician brings to sound. Her approach is highly improvisational, with visuals reacting in real time to music, performers, and the surrounding atmosphere, resulting in performances that are ephemeral and never exactly repeatable.
What distinguishes her aesthetic is the combination of analog and digital elements. She frequently incorporates handmade materials—such as drawings, photographs, fabrics, and everyday objects which are manipulated live and transformed through digital means.
This creates a visual language that feels organic, tactile, and layered, resisting the polished uniformity often associated with digital VJing. At the same time, her work often carries a narrative or conceptual dimension, moving beyond pure abstraction toward micro-stories, surreal compositions, or performative interactions that align her practice with experimental film and installation art.
An example that captures the physical and performative nature of her work is her “Wet Show” performance, documented on YouTube.
What is a Wet Show?
The history of VJing can be traced back to the expanded cinema and multimedia experiments of the 1960s, where artists began combining film, light, and live performance. Groups like USCO and The Joshua Light Show created immersive environments using projections, liquid light, and analog effects during concerts and happenings. These early “wet shows” referred to performances in which artists manipulated liquids such as oils, dyes, and water on glass plates under projectors to produce constantly shifting, organic visuals. The term “wet” distinguishes these fluid, hands-on techniques from later “dry” digital visuals. Over time, these analog practices evolved alongside video technology in the 1970s–90s, eventually leading to contemporary VJing, where artists perform visuals live using digital tools but often still draw inspiration from the tactile, improvisational nature of early wet shows.
In the above-mentioned wet show by SUE-C, she uses water as a central visual and material element, interacting with liquids, light, and projection in real time. The performance emphasizes the materiality of the image-making process, where distortion, reflection, and fluid movement become part of the live composition. It highlights her interest in blending body, medium, and environment, turning VJing into a multisensory act that exists between performance art and live cinema.
Overall, her VJ projects can be understood as a performative, improvisational, and materially grounded practice, one that transforms VJing from decorative visuals into a dynamic, cinematic art form created in the moment.
Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Since I like to experiment myself, I came up with my own wet show concept in which I want to reuse scans I took of graffiti in Graz. This could be combined with objects (trash) I find in Graz that align with the story that the Graffiti scans tell. This would lead to further expanding my own style as well, using only visuals of my own databank. I had an interesting discussion about this with Markus Zimmermann, as he always dreamt of being the kind of animator who is booked for their style, their artistic expression. No fuss, no redo this, redo that or change your color scheme. Clients know who they book and they would receive a “Rasmus project outcome” and that’s what they want (in theory). I believe I can achieve this, as I am observant, curious and playful, which are fundamentals for creating an “original style”.
In this VJ set for the live performance of the song “The Set Up” from 1980, the VJ uses short flashing sequences that alternate between a person and a vampire, visually echoing the song’s underlying tension and sense of entrapment introduced earlier. As the music gradually becomes darker and more vampiric, the Vampire in the VJ set seems to be getting closer to the human, increasing the sense of imminent danger, as if the “set up” is reaching its inevitable conclusion.
The choice of colors for the sequences is made deliberately: black and white to create that old-school vampire movie style, a cold blue tone for the vampire sequences, and sometimes yellow/orange or red for the sequences that include the human, creating a visual contrast that reinforces the narrative. This hints at the coldness of the vampiric creature, that it is undead, and in contrast, the human’s body is flowing with warm blood, making the image resemble a heat camera, further intensifying the sense of vulnerability and exposure introduced in the song’s atmosphere.
In combination with the music and light show (also without), this VJ set tells a story, going through the exposition, a climax and finally the resolution, seamlessly translating the sonic narrative into a visual one. This is the kind of artistic expression that I aim to go for as well, where sound and image are not separate elements but parts of one cohesive storytelling system. Therefore, the evening was highly inspiring and moreover, it made it seem so much more tangible and accessible, bridging the gap between conceptual idea and practical execution. I already had these ideas to make VJ sets with typical movie structures in mind within the production process, but now it is no longer just an idea in my head, but a concrete direction for future work. I know that it is achievable and that the idea can tell a good story at a music event.
After the show, I was so inspired that I went up to the VJ and had a talk with him about his performance that night. He was extremely kind and eager to show me his tools that he used and recommended me some software and websites for VJs. This also gives me a positive feeling for VJing as the community is very open and shares tools, software and many visuals for others to use and have fun with. As Markus Zimmermann always said in class: go and meet your heroes.
This project explores a more intentional and sustainable way of creating visual sources for VJing by working with the node-based software “Resolume Wire” in combination with “Resolume Arena”. Instead of relying solely on downloaded or self-made pre-rendered clips or effect chains, the goal is to build adaptable systems that can evolve, just as the VJ evolves.
At its current stage (see node patch above), the project consists of two lines, a vertical and a horizontal line that behave like dancing entities by giving it specific parameters like minimum and maximum size, line thickness and random position appearances, which creates the dancing look (see below).
By mapping parameters in Wire to Midi controls in Arena, the lines can be manipulated in real time, shifting rhythm, shape and interaction dynamically during a set. This turns a simple visual into a responsive instrument rather than a static asset. What makes this approach particularly compelling is its openness. The system is not a finished or fixed file. It is procedural and expandable. Additional parameters can be introduced in Wire at any point, allowing for more complex behaviors or nuanced control if required. Of course, that is as long as one has a Wire and Arena licence.
For example, arrays of color profiles could be implemented to either randomize colors or trigger specific palettes via MIDI or by making this effect sound reactive. This creates a balance between unpredictability and control, depending on how the performer chooses to engage with it. This ongoing, system-based workflow differs significantly from more common approaches. Creating visuals directly in Arena often encourages experimentation through layering and applying effects in the moment. This can lead to surprising and playful results, driven by intuition rather than planning. On the other hand, producing pre-rendered content in tools like Adobe After Effects offers precision and high visual fidelity, making it ideal for detailed compositions that need to remain consistent. I do not position myself against any of these methods. Both approaches have their place and I will likely try out all the mentioned workflows. However, integrating Wire into the mix introduces a different layer. Independence as a VJ and longevity of visual sources. Instead of solely building a collection of fixed clips, this method contributes to a growing and reusable visual system. A personal databank of generative tools. Ironically, I will mix the content that I am writing about live at the “Generate” event in Graz. As I said, intentional design is the keyword here. In that sense, this project is less about producing a finished visual and more about establishing a process, similar to a DJ set. The two dancing lines are just a starting point: One of the simplest structures that demonstrates how even minimal elements can become expressive when they are designed to be performed.
If you’re curious, here is a snippet of me testing and practicing. Or should i say I am cooking in my kitchen?
The color shift from white to, e.g., green is actually just an iPhone camera fault, but this inspired me to try and add a color randomizer for a certain number of frames, similar to how the lines appear in different positions on the screen. Once again, testing has proven its worth beyond VJing being incredibly fun.
It is also rewarding to see how I presented last semester that I want to get into VJing and now I am already deep into the matter and have gone back to where it started – simple lines, as seen in my old presentation slide below.
In film, sound is often perceived as a supportive layer to the image. Yet in practice, sound design and music are central to how a film feels alive. Long before viewers consciously interpret narrative or visual composition, they respond to rhythm, texture, tension and release created through sound. Film sound does not merely accompany images; it animates them, gives them weight and shapes how time, space and emotion are perceived.
Film sound operates on multiple levels simultaneously. Dialogue conveys explicit information, sound design establishes environment and physical presence, and music shapes emotional interpretation. What makes film feel alive is not the presence of these elements individually, but their precise coordination. Subtle shifts in texture, timing and dynamics can transform a static image into a living moment. A nearly imperceptible low-frequency drone can create unease, while a slight delay between image and sound can suggest disorientation or emotional distance.
The book Creative Strategies in Film Scoring published by Berklee Press emphasizes that effective film music is not about illustrating what is already visible, but about revealing what is unseen. Music can express internal states, foreshadow events or connect scenes across time and space. Rather than reacting directly to visual action, contemporary film scoring often works against the image, creating contrast or tension. This approach prevents redundancy and allows sound to function as an interpretive layer rather than a decorative one.
This philosophy is particularly evident in the work of Hans Zimmer, whose approach to film scoring has reshaped contemporary sound aesthetics. Zimmer frequently blurs the boundary between music and sound design, integrating synthesized textures, processed orchestral elements and rhythmic pulses into a single sonic system. His scores are often built around evolving textures rather than traditional melodic themes, allowing sound to function as atmosphere, momentum and emotional pressure at once.
In films such as Dunkirk or Blade Runner 2049, sound becomes inseparable from the visual experience. Time-based structures like ticking clocks, accelerating pulses or continuous drones create a bodily sense of urgency. These sonic elements do not simply underscore action; they condition how the viewer’s body responds to the image. Breathing, heart rate and attention are subtly guided by sound, creating a visceral sense of immersion.
What is especially relevant for design-oriented research is the way film sound operates as a system rather than a sequence of isolated cues. Sound designers and composers often work with modular elements that can expand, contract or transform depending on narrative context. This systemic thinking parallels approaches in audiovisual design and live visuals, where parameters are defined and relationships are established rather than fixed outcomes produced. Sound becomes adaptive, responsive and temporally fluid.
Another key aspect discussed in film sound theory is the idea of “invisible work.” When sound design functions well, it often goes unnoticed. Silence, restraint and reduction play a crucial role in making moments feel alive. Removing sound can heighten attention, while minimal sonic gestures can carry more emotional weight than complex compositions. This sensitivity to absence and space reinforces the idea that liveliness does not depend on constant stimulation, but on carefully designed contrast.
Examining film sound production highlights how deeply sound shapes perception and meaning. It demonstrates that sound is not an accessory to image, but a structuring force that animates narrative, space and emotion. For audiovisual design beyond cinema, this perspective suggests that making visuals feel alive may depend less on visual complexity and more on how sound and image are choreographed as a unified emotional architecture.
Sources:
Berklee Press. (2016). Creative strategies in film scoring. Berklee College of Music.
Karlin, F., & Wright, R. (2004). On the track: A guide to contemporary film scoring (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Lehman, F. (2018). Hollywood harmony: Musical wonder and the sound of cinema. Oxford University Press.
