As Pixelflowers we always perform live, making visuals primarily for techno dancefloors. Admittely, we have been keeping very little documentation of our past shows: at these dance parties most people refrain to take photos and videos (it’s frown upon here in Berlin, often actually forbidden, and for good reasons we think; we have learnt ourselves how valuable this is, how it contributes to the atmosphere and freedom). We could record our visuals directly from the outputs of our video mixer, but we think that wouldn’t really document our performance, as it wouldn’t represent the way projections and CRT TVs look in the physical space and how they become part of the dancefloor experience. Anyway, here are some short clips to give an ideas of how our shows look like.
12/3/2022: secret place, Interzone
18/3/2022: About Blank, Eclectique x Art Bei Ton
26/3/2022: Loophole, Daddies On Acid
12/11/21: Krake Festival, performance with Transistors of Mercy (projections on site + broadcasting show)
Next Friday, we will head with our cameras and TVs to Ostkreuz to perform in the well-known techno club About Blank. From 1am we will make live visuals in the ‘Tent’ dancefloor, supporting DJ sets by Unjin, Jessica Kert, Vibko and Marian Tone. The event is a collaboration between Eclectique and Art Bei Ton.
And on Saturday 26 March 2022, we will be part of the Daddies On Acid party that for the first time will take place at Loophole.
While Autumn gets colder and darker, more and more pixel flowers blossom! A few months ago, the Berlin-based producer and DJ Exildiscount committed us our first music video, and we are now working on a second one for another music act. We’ve still been streaming every Wednesday for the Daddies On Acid and Interzone parties, and uploading all the recordings to the Internet Archive. Since August 2021, as soon as the lockdowns eased, we got back to performing live at techno parties, in a new collaboration with Art Bei Ton and then again with Interzone. A few days ago, we achieved our dream of making visuals all night long at the Gegen party in Kit Kat Club, in our beloved Dragon Floor. Next Friday, we will support the legendary synthesizer band Transistors Of Mercy as part of Krake Festival 2021. More VJ sets at techno parties are planned for November. In December we will also begin collaborating with Autonoma Industriale, whose events feature techno industrial music, often played live on synthesizers.
The title “Going to Bed Hungry” refers to an art performance/video installation by Exildiscount, which was simultaneously video taped from 3 camera perspectives, called “Of the Eternal Fear of Going to Bed Hungry”. We remixed and processed this footage in our own visual style, interpreting the track in a kind of live video performance.
A child being sent to bed without dinner? No, here’s a punishment more pernicious and severe: a life lived in the shadow of a dark past, marred by the attempt to break out of the sway of ideology, biological family, normative identity. A life that has left you hungry, while a history of trauma keeps spoiling your appetite. Here’s to the healing rage – one of the many steps on the way to redemption and owning your truth.
Pixelflowers VJ set at Art Bei Ton: Private 3 event. Berlin, 27 August 2021
While we continue our weekly livestreamings in a collaboration with the Berlin-based queer parties Interzone and Daddies On Acid, in the last months we also got back to performing live. Pixelflowers is a VJing duo and ideally we make live visuals together, but this week-end we will split across the continent, in order to spread our colorful pixel virus to the widest possible area. We will perform simultaneously in Berlin -at an Art Bei Ton event- and somewhere in France. If you would like to attend, please get in touch with us (via Instagram, or email: pixelflowers at privacyrequired dot com)!
scanlines.xyz, an online forum and website devoted to audio/video DIY projects we’re actively involved in, recently got 1 year old.
A community online showcase was organized to celebrate and since it was going to take place on 4/20, we decided to play around the coincidence and created this smoky video.
On occasion of 2021, March 8, we reworked visually Phantom Bra and included it in a collective livestreaming organized by Trial & Theresa, a network of feminist VJs.
We made five different versions of Phantom Bra with original music and Italian dialogs, and a shorter one without audio.
For a few weeks we’ve been playing with a new (old) toy: a Canon XM2 camcorder. We don’t have any tapes at the moment, but we’re using the camera together with two 14″ TVs (found on the street) to rescan and to create video feedback loops. The camcorder has controls for the image quality and effects and we’re exploring its potential.
As we experiment with the camera and try new connections with our other video signals, looking for new interesting imagery to burst out of the wires, our setup grows and is now more involuted than ever.
Below is a diagram representing the equipment we use during our live visual sets and the connections between devices. The graph is made with Graphviz. Graphviz creates automatic diagrams out of text descriptions; we use it as a plugin on the Scanlines forum.
click for full resolution madness
Check out our previous post for a background about equipment and techniques.
We’ve established our main online presence on this blog, powered by autistici.org, because we’d rather use self-managed tools and stay away from commercial start-ups or corporations whenever possible. Using online services comes with a number of systemic issues. For the same reasons we’re currently not on Youtube, or any commercial video platform, and stream on live.autistici.org.
Since we started playing with visuals, we’ve been uploading all our recordings to the Internet Archive, a free, non-commercial, library-style platform. We’ve just uploaded there our 100th video recording!
Also, during 2020 we joined and started participating in Scanlines.xyz, a self-managed online community for DIY audio/video projects.
Pixelflowers is a live visuals duo. Our names are Flo and Pixi. Write to: pixelflowers @ privacyrequired . com Find us on Resident Advisor, Facebook and Instagram.
About
In our work we employ abstract graphics, independent queer video productions, cinematography and lettering. We play with different technologies like software, analog video synthesis, cameras and old digital hardware. We do this live, usually as a "video track" for electronic and techno music. We like to work together with other artists, rather than competing with them. We upload our recordings to the Internet Archive. Here's a list of the sources for our clips.
Live Events
(all events held in Berlin, Germany unless otherwise specified)
A projector with "Composite Video" input (single yellow RCA or "Cinch" input). If it's not available, or if you are not sure, please get in touch with us
A projection screen, or other appropriate white and flat surface
A solid table or other stable surface, with at least 200 x 60 cm of free space (as a reference, our equipment includes 2 LCD displays, 1 CRT televisions, a laptop, a camera on tripod, two mixers and various other smaller machines) and space for two seats (we are two people). The placement must allow us to see our own projection
REQUIRED TO PERFORM: audio coming from the DJ mixer for the whole event (For example: a 1/4" TS jack connected to the left "MIX 2", "MST 2" or "MASTER 2" output; or an RCA cable from the "REC" outputs, if unused. A single cable is fine, as we don't need stereo. XLR, 1/4" TS or RCA plugs work for us). If the cable is not available or if you are not sure, please get in touch with us
12x power outlets on the same power line as the DJ mixer (this prevents ground loops and interferences). If you have less, please let us know
Our setup requires 2 hours
If a lighting system will be used during our performance, someone from the venue should attend our setup to operate the lights and set them in a way that it does not interfere with the projections
Towards the end of our setup, some music will need to be played from the the DJ mixer, for us to check the audio connection)
During the setup, we will lay down our own cable from our video mixer to the projector (unless a Composite or BNC cable is already there). Please provide us with a ladder if needed, and some duct tape or cable ties
According on the dimensions of the space and the distance from the projector and from the DJ booth, more XLR cables may be needed
Nice to have: 2x seats or stools, 1x laptop stand, 2x small lamps
