User Preferences: Tech Q&A With Visualozik

Each week we chat about the tools of the trade with one outstanding creative to find out exactly how they do what they do. The questions are always the same, the answers, not so much. This week: Visualozik.

The Creators Project: Who are you and what do you do?
Visualozik: We are two visual artists, AV and Joi (The Dogfather). Together, we are Visualozik. Based on the keywords “visual language” and “communication,” we make a variety of experimental works.

What hardware do you use?
AV: Depending on the situation, we use different types of hardware. When it comes to projection mapping, laptops and projectors are, of course, generally used. Then, accordingly, we use hardware like media controllers, scan converters, switches, video splitters, edge blender, etc… But still, what’s always constant is the thinking brain with whatever tool to express communication.

What software do you use?
AV: For graphic source works, we usually use Adobe Graphic Tool and Cinema 4D. For live control, we use all sorts of software like Processing, VVVV, Jitter, Modul8, Resolume Avenue, Quicktime, and more. We actually don’t think software is as significant. Following the circumstances and our moods, we use what’s around.

If money were no object, how would you change your current setup?
AV: Media appliances are so expensive, we almost always have to rent them. It would be awesome to have a spacious studio with the latest and best performing Macbook Pro and highest grade projectors.
Joi: And a beer fridge stocked with Budweiser…

What fantasy piece of technology would you like to see invented?
AV: Our work deals mostly with the use of light since it is the standard and essential visual element. A technology that makes light remain not on screen, but rather, in space, would be the starting point of realizing all our imaginations and beyond. The hologram, we think, is probably the best transitional example of this kind of technology.
Joi: A teleporter…since I’m always late to meetings.

Is there a piece of technology that changed your life or inspired you?
AV: It seems like we get inspired not from technology, but from the thoughts of people. We began to consider light as an aesthetic element after learning about James Turrell.
Joi: The gramophone and TV. The Pioneer gramophone, from which I first heard heavy metal when I was 7 and the ANAM TV, from which I devotedly watched cartoons on my knees. As an adult though, I would say, the monitor. From subway to elevator, everything gets examined by monitors. Every building and every object in the world exists as fluid images.

What’s your favorite relic piece of technology from your childhood?
AV: The (IBM PC XT) 286 computer with Prince of Persia and Superman installed!
Joi: I’d say it’d have to still be kaleidoscopes and periscopes. To this day, I still want to work with mirrors. You could say, it’s the simplest way of projecting.