Intersections - Nguyen Dang Binh

Julie Andreyev
VJ Fleet [redux]
Mobile audio and video performance using cars
ARTIST STATEMENT
VJ Fleet [redux] is informed by interactive media from popular culture
(specifically custom car and club sub-cultures) and performance art,
experimental music, video projection, and interactive installations.
By combining the mobility of the car with audio, video and interactive
components, that which is private (the interior space of the car)
becomes public and a tool for visual commentary about the city and
its use. Aspects of the host city’s specific car culture are highlighted
through the choice of cars for the fleet, and by custom “styling”
(vinyl labeling) on the car exteriors.
The fleet drives through the city, recording, manipulating, and
projecting video imagery of the route, which is loosely determined
by local participants and drivers who have knowledge of the city’s
highlights. The cars are set up with sensors and software that allow
interaction between the car and driver to create live effects on the
videos, which are projected on panoramic screens in the cars and
made visible to people in the street.
Audio aspects of the city, and from the engine and passenger areas
of the cars, are recorded for use when the cars stop at determined
locations. Here, the cars are arranged to display the video archive
of the drive, and the audio is manipulated by software into a new
musical soundscape that is played on the cars’ audio systems. In
this performance, cars can be perceived as recalling the drive to
the location through the narrative of the videos and the expression
of the sound. Other cars in the immediate vicinity receive the
broadcast on their stereos. The cars’ projected videos are synced
CONTACT
Julie Andreyev
Independent Artist
Emily Carr Institute
1490 Adanac Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V5l 2C3
Canada
julie@fourwheeldrift.com
www.fourwheeldrift.com
COLLABORATORS
Jordan Benwick, technical collaborator
Sean Arden, tactical research, installation
Simon Overstall, tactical research, software
Hyuma Frankowski, tactical research, hardware
Sandra Hanson, graphic design
Three Boston assistants, local knowledge
into a new panoramic response to the music. The effect is a live
vehicular performance of remixed audio and visualizations of the city
and its publics, and the private (now social) spaces of the cars.
TECHNICAl STATEMENT
Three cars are each fitted with: sensors that read acceleration,
braking, turning, and weight-shifting connected to an iCube and
a laptop; a video camera that provides a view out the front or side
windows; a contact microphone in the engine compartment and
a lavalier microphone in the passenger area that sends inputs to
a digital audio recorder; a video projector and screen on the rear
windshield; and custom-cut removable vinyl decals to style the cars.
Digital information about the driver’s actions is sent via icube to a
Max/Jitter software patch that manipulates the video feed from the
camera. This manipulated video is projected on the rear screen and
recorded by the software patch. The audio of the passengers and
crew talking, and of local music played over the car audio system,
is recorded via the lavalier microphone. The audio of the car and of
the outside environment is recorded via the engine compartment
microphone.
When the cars are stopped, the route’s recorded sensor data is read
by a custom Max/MSP patch and applied to the recorded audio
samples to create a new soundscape and played via FM broadcaster
through the cars’ stereo systems. A custom Max/Jitter patch remixes
the route’s recorded video to aspects of the sensor data and projects
a new panorama on the cars’ back screens.
Electronically Mediated Performances Art Gallery Electronic Art and Animation Catalog