Mox

Mox Interview

Przemyslaw Morak, aka Mox is a visual artist who VJ’s, makes films, music videos & video installations for festivals here in London and all over Europe. Mox joined the massively popular Polish group, Skalpel (Ninja Tune) in 2001 and this allowed him to meet and create a long-lasting relationship with Coldcut, the label owners. He has collaborated, additionally, with artists such as the Cinematic Orchestra, Mylo, Imogen Heap, Goldie, DJ Food,Amon Tobin, Bonobo, Daedelus and electronic labels Hospital, Metalheadz and Freerange.  Having worked with Detroit techno innovator Carl Craig, under his Innerzone Orchestra moniker, Mox is presently performing and developing an architectural audiovisual piece entitled Conversations in Space with internationally acclaimed pianists Kelvin Scholar and Francesco Tristiano.

youtube : Beautiful South

- Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your role within Ninja Tune.

M: Originally I am from Poland, but my family and I moved around a lot to places like Germany, Hungary & Austria because Poland was still a communist country at that time. It seemed like the only creative outlet that the Polish government could not control was Jazz and I think that when I eventually moved back to Poland, this was a definite inspiration for me. When we moved back there, I studied Architecture and during this period in the 90’s, I would travel to Berlin a lot to go to raves and parties as the electronic music scene was really taking off. I was especially influenced by the Drum n Bass scene and that inspired me to become a DJ as well as organize parties and book other DJ’s from the UK and places like that. That’s when I started thinking that it’d be really cool to have some form of visuals or graphics playing behind the DJ’s.

I had some Graphic design experience making skateboard graphics and I started to want to mix that with my 3D design experience, gained through my architectural studies. Building walkthroughs and small animations became the basis of my work and I wanted to expand it into something more but didn’t quite know how. A friend of mine who was really into Flash and Web design showed me how to write ActionScript and we started to write various scripts for each other, doing basic animations. At the time we had never really heard of VJ-ing and what we were doing in Poland just seemed like a bit of a novelty to most of the people coming to the nightclubs. A couple years later, we joined with two other guys and we started to notice and really admire what Coldcut were doing with the whole Ninja Cuts stuff. Matt & Jon from Coldcut seemed to be taking visuals really seriously and we also wanted to be part of that movement.

I joined a Polish group called Skalpel which Ninja Tune eventually signed to their label and after some time, they decided to go back to Poland and I wanted to stay in London. I tried to get into the video industry, with the aim of eventually going into film. I work on a lot of music videos & promos for various labels as well as on projects for various Ninja Tune artists, like Cinematic Orchestra. My other side is more grants projects with the NFT or Tate where I will do more video installation work. One of the reasons why I have to multi-task in different fields is because night clubs aren’t really willing to put in a lot of money into visuals and VJ’s. The set up costs are expensive and they know that people will still come to the club to listen to the DJ’s more than wanting to look at visuals.

youtube : Stateless - Bloodstream (!K7)

- When you go about trying to make your visuals, what concepts are you normally trying to achieve?

What’s really important for me, no matter what kind of job I’m doing is the quality of the images and if there is a story to tell, then it must be told. If I’m doing a live show with musicians, then it is really important for me that the video content matches and represents the music being played that night. Everything needs to have some sort of sense and continuity. With the commissioned work, it’s a very competitive field, especially in London. After the record label sends you the tune, you have to be able to come up quickly with your pitch and try to sell your product. So you need to put in a lot of effort and be very lucky and hope that your idea is picked.

youtube : to build a home

One night, I could be playing at a show and then for the next two nights, I’m furiously writing a treatment for a video that has the possibility of never being made! There are so many awesome videos that you can sample with stunning visuals but I have always been about making my own animations, photographs and film; then combining all those together. In the end, that gives me more satisfaction and control over my own work.

- Where do you draw your inspirations from?

M: It al depends on what kind of show I’m doing. If I am working for someone like Carl Craig who plays more minimal-type music, then the visuals have to be quite minimal too.

youtube : Dub Pistols - Rapture Feat. Terry Hall

What I have found is that with animation, visuals, architecture and graphic design; it all depends on the line. If I draw a building on a piece of paper and really zoomed in to it, then what you would see are different combinations of lines. I could print out a section of that and it could be used as a pattern on a t-shirt. If I import it into a 3D program and make it spin then it becomes something entirely different. What is interesting is that everything starts from one basic line. Going back to your question, I would say that overall, it’s a very difficult question to answer because each project is so different. Each project requires different elements so it becomes a theme-based problem; what shall I use where and when.

- How did you get involved with the Tate Modern? Did they approach you?

M: It was actually through the Mayor’s Thames Festival organizers who work with the Tate as it is located on the Southbank which overlooks the Thames river. Hexstatic were given some screens down there and I had a huge ball. I had decided to work with a sphere as my backdrop and the Thames festival approached me to work with them on it. It was a long drawn-out process applying for the funding but it was worth it in the end. It was a shame we couldn’t choose our own music and we were worried that Robert Miles’ music would be a little bit too old-school for us but he actually played a very contemporary set and it was totally different to his older stuff.

- What kind of software and hardware are you currently using?

M: For live VJ gigs, I use a PC with Resolume, which is a wicked VJ software that acts almost like decks; you can just upload video content and affect the video in real-time. Another software I like is VVVV, which is a programming environment that allows you to create visuals and generative art. This is one direction that I am really interested in now, which is moving image that generates itself unexpectedly into something else. I also use something called Processing, which is another language that produces random visuals according to the code that you input. For production, I use loads of stuff. All the 3D packages that I can get my hands on; 3D Studio Max, Maya and Blender (the free 3D tool). When it comes to post production, I will use Combustion and Shake and for film editing, I will use Sony Vegas & Final Cut. I am actually trying to cut down on the amount of computers I use for my work as I have been so reliant on them for almost 20 years now.

I want to make the audience to question what I used to make those visuals instead of doing things that look like they were specifically made on this software or that software. It’s kind of linked to the whole Analogue vs. Digital argument. I don’t really mind where an artist sources his footage, but at the end of the day, a still image taken on a film camera or the effect you get on an 8MM or Super16 camera can not be emulated by digital sources. If I took a picture of this room and then tried to make it in a 3D environment, it would never look as good or as real as the photo. So if I was rich, I would do everything on film as I love the quality and aesthetic that you can achieve with it.

- Any future or upcoming gigs you want to tell us about?

M: I am working on new audio material which will be released on various labels including Japanese imprint Really Happening later this year. Currently working on the short film UNPLUGGED and WATER MUSIC piece which is a first of series of audio visual shows on the building facades across Europe. The first show will take place in London on the 25th to 27th of June on the facade of the National Maritime Museum. 

myspace : www.myspace.com/moxv

blog : moxlive.blogspot.com/

Written by Selph