NoTV DVD series
Since the early nineties, the dance scene has been the breeding ground for some of the most important developments in the field of 'live' music-image integration using new technologies. The wide range of experiments in this field generated the cultural phenomenon known as VJing. VJing is a multimedia performance with music and video played live by a video jockey, in the same way and in the same types of places that a DJ plays music. "Editors loop the video and audio of a drummer playing a breakbeat, then add layers of other samples... Scratch video (a synonym for VJing) is performed live, using a video mixer to synch image and sound on the fly" (see Hart Snider, "Scratch Video", www.artengine.ca/scratchvideo). Visuals mixed live by VJs are now an indispensable element in clubs and at festivals, and VJing is an important laboratory for the new media arts (i.e. the aesthetics of the moving image, editing models and visual effects) and ICT developments (many VJs have developed their own mixing software).

Inspired by this new form of art and entertainment, the producers of NoTV have provided a platform to follow the rapid developments taking place in the contemporary dance scene, researching all possible 'variants' of VJing aesthetics (through the development of new products, new forms of presentation, etc.), and analyzing the philosophical and technological consequences of the 'synaesthetic revolution'.

In 2003 the NoTV 'Visual Music' label was launched by NAIT Media Ventures and Universal Pictures Benelux (www.notv.com). NoTV DVDs contain tracks which present image and sound as a unity, blending visual performances by top VJs/video artists with modern electronic music of DJs/producers.

NoTV is not a marketing instrument for party and music producers. In fact, NoTV is not only a DVD label, but also promotes broadcasts and live events. "Unlike other labels and producers, we do not limit our product to a particular kind of music or public. NoTV is a platform that looks for new developments in the field of visual music and combines a wide range of visual and musical trends" says NoTV researcher Sylvester Lindemulder. Companies like Warp and ID&T produce for a very specific target group (young party-goers, electronic music fans, etc.). NoTV, on the contrary, explores the music-image relationship across all dance genres (techno, deep house, R&B, etc.) and even outside the club world. The second edition of Visual Music, to be launched at the 21st WWVF, for instance, contains tracks by young VJs (e.g. Analog Recycling, the C-men), as well as the work of a pioneer television designer, Jaap Drupsteen, whose TV programmes and commercials explored the 'audio-visual territories' from the 1970s up until now.

The 'monographic movies', Danielle Kwaaitaal's HI&LO on tour and Barcode XL (Finister vs. Secret Cinema), offer a broader view of the personal research of two artists with backgrounds in photography and computer animation. The next monographic release, expected in 2004, will be a synthesis of Dadara's artistic projects in the form of an 'animated documentary' of his fantastic travels.

NoTV is a new product, a new format, with new content. The non-narrative content for video is a challenge for the market. When the researchers had to decide on the format of the works presented on DVD they had no clear goal in mind: "We chose intuitively for separate tracks instead of a mix album" says Lindemulder. It is also unusual to put a product on the market without having a specific target group and purpose in mind. The DVDs can be used in many ways and contexts: at home, in clubs and bars as 'background sound/visual track', as raw material for live performances. NoTV deliberately left the choice up to the consumer. 'Creative consumption' is a distinctive feature of the new media in general, and is at the very heart of club culture, which started when DJs began to use mixers in a different way than they were supposed to (see Ulf Poschardt, DJ Culture, 1995). But this time it was the industry that suggested an important 'exploitation' of this product using a new instrument: the Pioneer DVJ-X1.

+ Pioneer DVJ-X1
In the Spring of 2004 Pioneer released the DVJ-X1, a CD/DVD player which "allows synchronised digital audio and video to be manipulated and played back like never before, paving the way for a new breed of performer – the DVJ" (http://www.notv.com/index?section=rigfest). For the first time a DVD player allows real-time video manipulation: anything that could be done with vinyl can now be done with DVD. DVJ-X1 can be defined as a 'DVD turntable'. Some of the functions allow the user to sample, play and scratch audio and video: the hot cue sampler can memorise up to 3 cue points per DVD/CD, the pitch bend speeds up or slows down the tempo of the video and audio, the real time seamless loop allows the user to set a loop while a track is playing and play it continuously.

Real-time digital visual scratches, loops and instant cues are all possible, while the video and audio stream always stay in perfect synch, even when reversed and pitched (www.pioneerprodj.com). By linking two DVJ-X1s together, a CD and a DVD can be played separately or synchronised. Lindemulder defines 'synchronicity' as the parallel development of the same idea (in this case, the integration of music and image through digital media) in different institutions, which can lead to complementary products or results. Believing that NoTV DVDs and the DVJ-X1 could produce unexpected results when used together, the NoTV staff asked some artists to play Visual Music on the Pioneer player. The World Wide Video Festival turned out to be the right venue for this experiment.

= NoTV live acts @ WWVF
The WWVF is a platform for video culture in all its forms, especially those whose quality and complexity of expression raise the status of the art. The use of video in live performances and concerts has always had an important place in the festival programme. The WWVF was also one of the first video art festivals to present VJ sets in a club context.

The activities of both NoTV and the WWVF are based on the idea, central to contemporary (new media) aesthetics, that high and low culture are highly interconnected at all levels. Trained artists work for commercial companies as well as art galleries, pop culture inspires art works and movements (e.g. the widespread use of music clips and video game aesthetics in the new media arts).

In the art context, new art forms and presentation models do not depend on marketing and economic goals. The space for experimenting is broader. That is why NoTV chose the festival to launch its latest release. 'NoTV live acts' is an 8-hour-long event, which combines the promotion of the Visual Music 2 DVD, the presentation of artists and VJs, and a number of live performances by the same artists. This will all happen in the auditorium of the Post CS building, which is equipped with six projection screens (6 x 3.40 m) and six projectors 16:9 with a power of 5000 AL.

The NoTV evening will be a total experience, a flow of sensations, that honours the unpredictable and synaesthetic nature of live performance.