RESEARCH PROJECT 2000 - 2001B.A . MULTIMEDIA - RMIT

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PROFILE - OLAF MEYER.

Olaf Meyer is a Melbourne based experimental animator working in collaboration with programmers and musicians in creating real-time sound and video installations. Over the past 4 years, Olaf, together with Aj, Oishii and other Melbourne based video artists have been using and designing systems to make real-time video composition possible not only for studio applications, but also for physical performance art. Where not only point and click interaction can occur but also more physical 'run and kick' interaction.

Olaf was 18 years old when he exhibited his first animation series nationally called 'Hypergalactic Ravers - Hypnosis one' at the National Gallery of Victoria as part of the VCE top cats of 1996. Since then Olaf's Trance music inspired animation and real-time video compositions have been part of many commercial and community based dance / tech-art events including Melbourne Fringe 1998 and NextWave 2000 festivals. Mind-A-Maze, Every Picture Tells a Story, Hardware, Two tribes, Ministry of Sound, Welcome 2000 ect...

In October last year Olaf was invited along with Aj to talk about their work to an enthusiastic audience in Newcastle for the 'Electro-Fringe' festival. There Olaf spoke about the technical development behind Olaf's Laser Harp - an interactive multimedia sculpture / video instrument as well as other topics of 'Visual Trance', real time av composition and issues relating to non-linear story structure.

Olaf 's 'Laser Harp' made of wood and perspex, light, sound and video, was displayed at the Technart Festival held in Rotterdam, Holland in May 2001 along with his 'Dance Screen' of 97 and 'Visual Trance' video of 99. Technart, funded by 'Rotterdam Cultural Capitol of Europe' art and culture fund, is one of the first international exhibits dedicated exclusivley to electronic music related visual art. Olaf's work was well received in Europe where, especially in Rotterdam, where experimental technology related artwork is both generously funded and constantly and enthusiastically developed and refined, continually aiming to expand the way we perceive the term multimedia.

"The original interest I had in starting out with computer generated visual art was that the images I could create weren't limited to being static: colours, images and objects could move around on the digital canvas. When I dream or meditate, the images behind my eyes are constantly changing, sometimes they are clear scenes and sometimes they are just strange moving patterns. My favorite animations are those that I have made to resemble those images, this is very exciting for me because I see this as a step of bringing those images out of my head and into the physical - manifesting through the computer so that others can see them also. My influences come from many places: space and sci-fi, early optical and kinetic art of the 60's, as well as hypnosis machines and mind-power-research. My animations over the past 4 years contain ideas of raving with extraterrestrials - a universal party that anyone can tap into the energy of, as long as they leave their fears at the door. A virtual garden that people can visit and tune out in, tribal gathering, the importance of nature and childhood realities."....

...."A good community focused 'Rave' is not just 'where Anna died' but an inspiration to young people and a playground for experimentation which leads to experimentation and sometimes even innovation in costume, dance and physical performance, light and sound. Creating a hybrid of art forms that create an abstract environmental experience."....

...."Nurturing this emerging art and exhibiting it in parts of the community other than the rave party is of great importance as it will allow these art forms to grow and mature within a more public eye and hopefully improve in its own right. It may also influence more traditional art forms. It is essential that rave art continue to develop as technology continues to merge into all areas of our lives especially entertainment. I also feel that this hybrid art experience known as the rave allows young people to embrace technology with passion and not fear, and hopefully lead us to question its necessity and raise issues relating to it use and context."...