Featured Artists - Melissa Ulto (VJ Miixxy)
Vidvox: As an artist you're a painter, photographer, filmmaker, writer, designer of spaces (both real and virtual), and a VJ. How did you come to be such a well-rounded visual artist?
Miixxy: I'm an imagineer and visualnaut. I dropped out of college after a semester (theater college blew), and tried again in my late twenties at NYU, but it was too damn expensive. I've always been a multi-linear thinker, being able to tie technology with image, imagination with elegant execution. I'm too quick for standard learning methods, leaping ahead and around and pushing the envelope of what's possible. I've actively explored all mediums because I'm compelled to, its Pavlovian even. SEE SHINEY OBJECT, MAKE NEWER SHINEY OBJECT. Its just that simple - I play and make stuff, because I'm still that three year old girl on the living room carpet obsessing about my 64 colors in the crayon box, drawing outside the lines in my coloring books.
VV: How long have you been working as a VJ and how did you get started? Is there anything you find particularly appealing about working with real-time video over static images and traditional filmmaking?
M:I've been doing experimental moving image works since I first got my hands on computers in the early nineties. Before that, I was experimenting with video. Combining the two has been a natural process. I started actually VJ'ing (at home) in 2002, and progressively played with more technology, met more people and started performing in 2003.
The appeal of VJ'ing for me begins with performance. I love performing, mixing visuals and live camera with either a DJ, a theater performance, at a concert or as part of an art installation. Its the live interactivity that really draws people into my work. I explode with a good musical build, I accentuate live performance (never overwhelm), and dance visually with the music. I love being a filmmaker, particularly the editing process, because that's where the visual tango begins. With live performance, its like editing, a fast samba or complicated waltz, without the constraints of exactness. Its improv, its visual jazz, and its addictively fun.
VV: What sort of equipment are you using to perform with? How do VDMX and GRID2 fit in?
M:I use EDIROL V4s, my G4 17" laptop, my Canon XL1, two smaller prosumer Canon video cameras, my Canon 10D (for stills to incorporate), video DA's, Matrix switches, and an old iPod as a portable source drive. GRID is my main app - I create a lot of clips prior to an event (I have a library of THOUSANDS), and so I don't really need a lot of live software effects. GRID is the perfect app for me - visual library of a set.
VV: It seems like your work as a VJ is in high demand in NYC, a regular at Spirit, you've also performed on Broadway at the Duke Theater, at Madame Tussauds, and recent show at MoMa.. Am I missing anything else noteworthy? What's a usual gig-night like for you? How do you prepare for a show? Are there any events in particular you like playing the most?
M: Highlights of 2004:
- Ramones Beat on Cancer Benefit Concert
- Mobb Deep Concert
- Psychedelic Furs Concert
- GWAR Concert
- MoMA event
- Compact Impact installation
- Chelsea Market Gallery installation
- DJs - Robbie Rivera, DJ Vibe, Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez, Jonathan Peters, Dirty Vegas, Tsunami Parties
- Broadway with the International Dance Festival
There is no "usual" gig night - which is why I love what I do. Each time its different. Sure, the set up is basically the same, but the concept, clips and performance are always different.
Preparing means rendering new animations and source clips based on the event. That could mean a blue screen shoot. Or corporate logo animations. Or shooting clips of the city, the sky, etc.
I love love love concerts. Really, any live dynamic event - Broadway was a blast as well. Some DJs are so on top of their music and their vibe, they are a complete joy to work with - Junior Vasquez has the ability to build well, as does Jonathan Peters and Robbie Rivera. They build to a auditory climax, the brings the primal dancing spirit out of their crowd, and I ride along visually.
VV: You've been working on a documentary about VJing, could you tell us a little more about that project? Do you have any insights about the future of live visuals?
M: The documentary will be a combo of interviews, footage of my year at Spirit as the resident VJ and an exploration of the medium. Its going to be a while, but worth it.
Live visuals will only increase - vision is our most primal sense and its cultural shorthand. From point-of-purchase video clips to full live events, motion graphics make messages sell and pop and live in a way that standard staging can't.
VJs will, however, need to get their heads out of the conceptual world of programming. Its a PERFORMANCE art, meaning VJs need to learn how to perform, to be a part of the experience, to follow the lights, the crowd, the music, and perhaps sometimes lead, but always be connected to the experience, not be an ancillary add-on that sticks out and distracts from the vibe.