Télépresence
Télépresence is both a recurring event and artist collective birthed from the Video Circuits online community. The structure is loose, but the general idea is to share our works, techniques, and hardware with each other and the public, so the ideas of cathode ray artworks will live on even as the machines that create it die. The second edition of Télépresence will occur in New York on April 7th. Before I make a post pushing that, I thought I’d revisit the first edition in Montreal, 2017.
Poster by Paloma Kop.
The format was divided in two: an exhibition of hardware during the day followed by live A/V performances at night. The former had artists setting up and presenting their video synthesis/manipulation hardware. This allowed the artists to explain their methods and the public to be able to ask questions and play with electronics they might not ever have the chance to use again. Those presenting were: Jonas Bers, Colby Richardson, Kit Young, Christopher Konopka, Francois Létourneau, Phil Baljeu, and Rob Feulner (myself.)
The following photos were taken by Paloma Kop:
Jonas Bers’ home built vector synthesis rig.
Close up of Jonas’ algorithmic video Rollercoaster Tycoon map.
Justine Durand experimenting with Jonas’ setup.
Showing VHS manipulation points on my messy table.
Some of my birds, I own them.
Christopher Konopka’s modular and feedback setup.
Kit Young’s section. The eye doctor-looking instrument on the top left is a rotating video camera lens for video feedback.
Phil Baljeu’s custom modular and vector setup.
Colby Richardson’s neat and minimal video feedback vortex.
Francois Létourneau‘s modular and quad-Commodore table.
Once the sun set and the projector beam cut through the darkness, some of these artists played solo A/V sets and others were paired with local musicians. Mike Mazzotta wandered around between sets with a dirty mixer glitch machine and a wireless video transmitter strapped to his chest. I know he would hate me saying this but it was very trip metal.
Here are the live sets in their proper order. All video excerpts were taken by Sonya Stefan. She helped us in booking La Lumière, a film co-op and screening room of which she is part. We couldn’t have done this without her.
Jonas Bers:
Justine Durand & Eduardo Noya:
Phil Baljeu:
Paloma Kop (formerly known as Nihil Minus) & Colby Richardson:
Kit Young & Wizard Of:
I can’t express just how great these sets were. The general vibe of the room after Jonas ended his set was “How can anybody top that?”, and the event seemed to just get better and better. I spent the night in awe. I spent the next day with the worst hangover I ever had after watching strobing videos for 12 hours.
Télépresence II is just a few weeks away. I’ll be playing my ~first ever~ solo set alongside wonderful video and electronic-experimental artists. Click here for the Facebook event, more info soon.
