David Resnick music, movement, visuals, vibrations, hardware, code

L to R: VJing at Cielo (NYC), Whitney Museum (NYC), Body Temple (NYC)

I formed Love Intelligence Group in October 2004 with Erik Jacobs and Gabe Shalom with the intention of pursuing the integration of music and visual media.  Erik and I had already been collaborating in an improvised electronic music group, Ultrasonix, and we had numerous discussions about our visions of how to contribute to the evolution of the arts.  LIG was our first step towards making those visions a reality.

We quickly established ourselves as VJs (like DJing and live electronic music but with video instead of sound) in the dance music scene with our musical sensibilities and dedication to creating new experiences for our audiences.  We played at major festivals, including the Coachella Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and the Ultra Music Festival.  Major DJs and bands enjoyed playing with us, including Yo La Tengo, Diplo, Jeff Mills, Josh Wink, and Benny Benassi.  We’ve also played at events for magazines and party crews, including URB Magazine, Heeb Magazine, Flavorpill Magazine, Body Temple, Melting Pot, and Freek Factory.  LIG were the first VJs to ever play at Cielo in NYC.  People consistently gave us these comments: “I can’t believe how sync’d the visuals are to the music” and “that was mind-blowing.”

There are a few reasons why we get that kind of feedback.  We are musicians ourselves so we know how to pulse the triggering, mixing, and effecting of visuals to match the music.  We are very active VJs, meaning that we are physically “playing” the visuals with midi controllers, mixers, and effects, constantly changing things up to fit each song or segment of a show.  Our approach to the content we create, and how it’s all mixed live, very much stems from our study of how light entrains the mind and body with image streams.

Though Gabe left the group in 2005 to go to grad school in Germany, Erik and I continued VJing and also got into producing custom VJ-style videos for music groups to use in live performance.  We produced videos for Enrique Iglesias (with Patrick Hubik), The Flaming Lips, and Dinosaur Jr.  The Whitney Museum also commissioned a Sun Ra-themed performance at the Whitney Museum during their Summer of Love exhibition in 2007, with DJ Steinski, Fred Ho (Sun Ra opera reading), Latasha Diggs, and the Taylor Bynum ensemble (New Georgraphies for Sun Ra).

Love Intelligence Group has also collaborated with other artists in the creation of original work.  We developed Ghost Story, an interactive motion controlled video system, with visualist/programmer Josh Goldberg (as well as numerous live performances together).  Another collaboration was on our first audiovisual piece, “Banana Smoothie,” which used a music bed by Shamburglar and b-roll from one of Diplo’s music videos.  We’ve also created video scenery for dance companies, including Ballet NY and the Joffrey Ballet School, as well as composing music for choreographers Ariel Grossman and Lucy Streuver in York Dance Works.

My vision for future work revolves around the intention of integrating music, video, and dance in an immersive interactive environment called “4th Density.”  4D would be a surround-sound and surround-visual performance experience with the audience seated around the edge of the space and also moving through the space in some sections.  The concept is that density is equivalent to sophistication of consciousness, and we’re moving into 4th Density, where matter becomes energy and energy becomes matter at the speed of will.  I will explore the relationship that computing technology has with consciousness evolution (ie Ray Kurzweil’s theory of the technological singularity wherein technology evolves to the point of being able to produce anything or solve any problem that humankind has).  I will also explore how technological evolution correlates to our collective understanding of society and our expanded sense of self.