VJing is embodied: it requires physical gesture and controller movement and cannot occur without an improvising performer

Unlike a realtime process that can run automatically on a computer without human intervention, a VJ performance does not exist without the performing and improvising VJ. VJ performances are explicitly embodied: they require interfaces and controllers that demand the movement and gesture of the performer or participant for control, as well as the use of expressive movements of the body in space that are translated into audiovisual material. This means liveness in VJing is not just temporal (happening now) but performative (requiring bodily presence). The viewer response, collaboration with musicians, and the improvised nature all ensure each performance is unique.

Examples

A Hydra performance where code is typed live and knobs are turned in response to the music = embodied, improvised. An audio-reactive patch set to run autonomously on a media server during an event = not VJing.

Assessment

Explain why an autonomous audio-reactive visual system playing in a club is not a VJ performance, using the criteria of embodiment and improvisation.