Video Synthesis

ビデオ・シンセシス / 1969– / Technique / Experimental Film

Generating and modulating the video signal itself like an instrument. Nam June Paik and Shuya Abe's synthesizer turned the television from receiver into raw material, opening video art's technical ground.

Video Synthesis — Nam June Paik, TV Cello (CC BY 2.0) · © Sarah Stierch — Nam June Paik, TV Cello (CC BY 2.0) · CC BY 2.0 · © Sarah Stierch

Video Synthesis — Video installation by Paik (CC BY 3.0) · © by Junho Jung at Flickr from South Korea — Video installation by Paik (CC BY 3.0) · CC BY 3.0 · © by Junho Jung at Flickr from South Korea

Video Synthesis — Sandin Image Processor (on display at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · © Rosa Menkman — Sandin Image Processor (on display at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0 · © Rosa Menkman

At a glance

Visual cues

Modulated signal
Feedback vortices
Waveforms made visible
Television sets repurposed

Best used for

Live stage visuals generated in time with the performance itself
Work that uses the signal as its material instead of recorded footage

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Dictionary entry

Type: Distort letters as signal, moving between legible and collapsed
Composition: Symmetrical feedback around the center, vortex speed setting composition
Material: Color from oscillator waveforms, layers from camera and monitor recursion
Caution: Stopping the moment feedback throws up a pretty accident, then stringing accidents together without learning which control produces which image.
Further study: the Paik-Abe video synthesizer / Steina and Woody Vasulka / modular video synthesis today

Related entries

Scanimate (スキャニメイト)Shared effects: Technique.Compare Video Synthesis and Scanimate
Glitch (グリッチ)Shared effects: Rebellion / Technique.Compare Video Synthesis and Glitch

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/video-synthesis
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