Vivitek – a leading provider of visual presentation and collaboration solutions has today announced that its projectors have been used in a pioneering art project designed to showcase the audiovisual work of Video Jockeys (VJ). The Aavistus festival, which took place across three venues in Helsinki, used a wide array of Vivitek projectors to bring VJ’s work to life. They included eleven* Vivitek projectors. Combined, they provided the VJs and festival attendees with high brightness levels, and exceptional image quality.
When VJ’s work is displayed publically – such as at concerts and events – it’s often overshadowed by the performing artist that their spectacular work has been created to support. To raise the profile of VJs – and the public’s appreciation of their talent and skills – the Aavistus Festival was established.
“This is a project that we have dreamed about for many years,” stated artistic director Merle Karp when talking about Aavistus. Host to a line-up of local and international VJs, the festival showcased their skills via live audiovisual performances, installations and projection mapping, as well as workshops and a panel discussion to hear more about what motivates and inspires them when they are creating their work. The festival aimed to provide them with a high-profile platform to engage both their peers and the public, while promoting the VJ culture and securing its place as an important – if alternative – art form.
The first Aavistus event took place in early October 2020. One of the host venues was the Helsinki City Museum. The main event was held in The White Hall (Valkoinen Sali), and the remaining shows were held at WHS Teatteri Union, an old arthouse cinema and performing arts venue with a rich history.
When the concept of the Aavistus festival was announced, it was met with considerable enthusiasm from VJs, as Merle explains: “We had 60 applications from across five continents,” a response that reflected the VJs’ willingness to participate.
The team was keen for the event to be as professional as possible, so it was important that partnerships were in place to make the festival happen. This is how the organisers came to engage with AV Marketing Finland, which is a presentation technology importer founded in 2009. Given that the requirements of the festival and the space and room available at the Helsinki City Museum’s and The White Hall’s combined court yard, the AV Marketing team recommended Vivitek projectors for this project.
With the event devised to put the VJs’ work in the best possible light, it was imperative that the festival was supported by the best technology, as Hannu Häkkinen, creator and head of technology, explains: “To do justice to the artists’ work, projection quality was essential. It had to be as good as it could be, otherwise it undermines their work and all the effort they put into it.” The choice of projectors went down very well with the VJs, as Hannu added: “Usually, other exhibitions tend to have mediocre AV devices that the VJs have to perform with. With our festival, we wanted to address this and with Vivitek devices, we knew this would be the best way to convey their work. Many of the VJs were surprised and impressed at how professional and high-end our audiovisual set up was.”
Commenting on Aavistus Festival’s use of Vivitek projectors, Holger Graeff, General Manager, Vivitek EMEA, stated: “The Aavistus Festival is an inspired idea for celebrating the fantastic work of VJs. We’re thrilled that high performance projection solutions from Vivitek have helped VJs both unlock their talent and skills and present them in an unforgettable way. We’re looking forward to seeing the great work created for the 2021 Aavistus Festival later this year.”
