People ask us all the time: what is a VJ, exactly? The short answer is that a VJ (visual jockey) creates visuals live, in real time, usually on a big screen and usually in sync with music. A VJ picks, mixes and scratches video much the way a DJ cuts up records, resampling visual culture and reinterpreting it on the spot.

The longer answer is the one we have always cared about at this festival. As we say on the about page, VJ Fest Istanbul exists to demonstrate veejaying as a social act. It is not a solo performance behind a laptop. It is a gathering: VJs, DJs, musicians, designers, programmers and plain curious people in the same room, trading techniques and ideas.

Realtime is the whole point

What separates live visuals from a finished video is that nothing is pre-rendered to a timeline. The performer responds to the music, the crowd and the room as it happens. That realtime responsiveness is the craft, and it is exactly what our workshops and talks try to pass on.

If you want to see who does this and how, browse the video artists (VJs) who have played here, or walk through the festival archive year by year. Every edition is a snapshot of where realtime visual culture stood at that moment.