Micha Klein — the “Steve Jobs of VJ art” — passed away last Friday.
As a young near–dropout at art school, he pushed a lonely Amiga computer in the school basement to produce colourful 3D computer graphics — something almost unseen at the time. This was years before Toy Story. In a conservative environment it was just enough to graduate. In the outside world, it was more than enough to start a revolution.
In the club scenes of Amsterdam and Ibiza, he pioneered the projection of artificial fantasy worlds that elevated house music — another revolution of that era.
I first encountered his work at his landmark 1998 exhibition at the Groninger Museum and was mesmerised: huge, vibrant prints of cartoon figures that felt like they had escaped from a time machine. His fusion of computer graphics with staged photography — reminiscent of David LaChapelle — was unlike anything I had seen before.
When I entered the VJ world (introduced by Daan Nolen), I always saw his slick bold happy style as a great reference point on how to apply 3D visuals. And - to this day- a unique example of a VJ making a name for himself.
We met him about ten years ago when he was a keynote speaker at the Amsterdam Dance Event. He was 45 minutes late, quite a character, super charming and the audience was exuberant. He graciously referred to our VjAcademy students as his Kleinkinderen — his grandchildren.
In the few conversations I had with him afterwards, he struck me as endlessly youthful: kind, playful, curious. It feels strange and sad that we can no longer call him a living legend.
Now he simply is a legend.
Resources
Here’s a decent short article on Micha Klein
some classic VJ work by Micha on Youtube
Originally published on LinkedIn · 30 January 2026
colorful visuals during the Pride, where amsterdam was the place to celebrate diversity.
st ADE parties. Leading urban artist Frenna was partying in front of the 
Detty Rave: 
Discover the amazing origins of VJ-ing and have a party at the same time! Saturday 17 February our VJs 
Peter (1941-2015), originally a New Yorker, was the absolute pioneer in live video art as early as the nineteen-seventies. 
Frouke and Lisa are creating this showcase in collaboration with VjAcademy co-founder Daan Nolen (Sense Studios) and researchers of the EYE Archive. Mazzo veteran 
and Frouke ten Velden (
In this VJ installation, Robin van Creij makes these Bits and Pieces shine once again. They no longer need further context, a story or an explanation as they become a part of a decorative piece of furniture. The installation is an irregular sculpture of bits and pieces of material, onto which the film fragments are projected. This interactive ‘chandelier’ generates and reflects projections of the lost and found footage. The behaviour of people nearby is picked up by sensors and translated into the display of certain fragments and an array of special effects to transform their appearance.
Inside The Box a sculpture is imprisoned, aching for freedom, longing to break its boundaries. A confrontation is inevitable, as these boundaries don’t intend to let anything pass just like that. Unwielding gatekeepers, these physical limitations are intent on keeping their treasure inside, and are willing to go all-out in the upcoming struggle.
The Box is a cube situated in one of the corners of the exhibition space. Projections reveal both the nature of the The Box, and what’s inside. The fight between inside and outside is visualised in an array of optical illusions and effects. Once the sculpture inside succeeds in breaking out, it rips apart its boundaries and manifest itself all over the wall in an intense audiovisual cry of triumph.
In her project, Nienke Mink wants to reinvent the way we watch wildlife documentaries. After a journey to South Africa, she found that traditional documentaries lacked something essential as compared to real nature: the unexpected. It’s linear narrative based structure has become rigid and predictable. Using VJ improvisation techniques, Nienke invites us to a more realistic, unscripted experience.
For this she teamed up up with DJ/composer/producer YNDIAN, creating a live audiovisual performance. She mixed the wildlife footage with matching EYE archive video samples. Abstract computer graphics challenge the organic nature of the imagery during this performance. The same contrast is found in the electronic music by YNDIAN, which incorporates the sounds of traditional African music.
Between Nothing and Nothing is all about perspective. Can you be or mean something, anything of substance in the perspective of the vastness of time and space? To find out, Henk Nijman wants to immerse the audience in a hallucinating visualisation of the birth and death of the cosmos. The piece is a journey through time in abstract computer generated images entwined with parts of EYE’s Bits & Pieces collection.
Biological visual music explores the Synesthesia phenomenon through the music of techno producer ‘Biological’ and the translation of his music into moving images.
Three visual approaches together define the style of ‘Biological’: Microorganisms, Geometry and Technology. Organic and geometric compositions will dance on the screen in constant transmutation. The content is created with an amalgam of different audiovisual techniques and sources: motion graphics, EYE archive film (‘Daphnia’ and ‘Malaria’), and compositions made in a visual programming environment.
Shakespeare once said, “All the world is a stage.” We couldn’t agree more! Recently, our friends at Vision Impossible created a full-length projection show that incorporated not just the stage, but also involved the audience members’ smartphones and even their dinner tables. VJ Berry van Dijk told us all about what it took to make that happen.
For those who don’t know you, Berry; what is Vision Impossible and what is your part in it?
We’re a 3D video content company specializing in event visuals and stage designs. Some of the things we did in the past include club Mazzo and Sensation. More recently, we’ve worked events like Vrienden van Amstel and Masters of Hardcore. I am one of three co-owners; my partners are Martijn Adema and Ruben Langedijk. As such, I’m responsible for art direction, creative direction, and computer graphics like 3D modelling and compositing. We always come up with pretty crazy stuff, and I love making the impossible possible—even when working with a limited budget. It’s all about using the right techniques!
Would you consider this show ‘crazy’ as well? How did you come up with it?
This was a project we did for an international footwear retailer. Once a year, they have a staff week that includes an award dinner for their entire team. It’s a real feel good event, with lots of winners in different categories: best salesperson, best team, et cetera. Every year, the CEO challenges us to come up with a spectacular show. This year, they had decided to host both the dinner and the award show in the same space. That’s how producer Erik Arens 
Met René te Riele and I created a truly over-the-top opening act that had people oohing and aahing. And of course, everyone there was hoping to receive an award. We used projections to turn the dinner tables into “Wheel of Fortune”-like quiz stages, and people could use a custom-made app on their phones to answer multiple choice questions. Meanwhile, the management was up on stage in front of a full-on prize display projection, whipping the room into a frenzy. We’d also used their image in the table animations, turning the entire room into a very lively augmented reality space. Top it off with some branding and good food, and the whole room came together as one.
What were the technical ramifications of the project?
The technique we used is called “projection mapping”. It means creating an optical illusion through meticulously calculating the shape and size of the table and other objects involved. In order to do that, we had 40 projectors suspended from ceiling trusses (metal frameworks used in stage design). And that wasn’t even including the projectors we needed for the stage! We’d never used that many projectors at the same time before. The projectors were connected to several media servers; basically, heavy-duty computers. Each table was color-coded so we could tell them apart, control them separately, and ensure proper timing. And then, of course, every table was itself split up into 12 different segments. All in all, we couldn’t exactly sit back and relax... Projects like these hinge on technology, and getting it just right is a tall order. But I love it when the audience has absolutely no idea of what’s going on behind the scenes, and people can just drink in the magic of the moment.
Thanks for giving us a taste of what it’s like at Vision Impossible!
Please tell me you’ll edit out the bad puns, though!
This production involved the following parties:
Peter, originally a New Yorker, was the absolute pioneer in live video art as early as the nineteen-seventies. He received wide acclaim as a performer and artist because of his work at many major film festivals. With 'Maxavision' he became a landmark of the early heydays of house music, e.g. at Chromapark, Berlin, Mayday, and legendary Love Parades. In Amsterdam, where he lived a large part of his live, he was one of the artists that made Mazzo such a legendary place.
Peter was also an intense observer of society and politics, and a livelong untamed critic of the 1%. However fierce, he stayed optimistic, challenging artists to use their medium to express meaningful ideas, not to just entertain. In his work and private live, nature was extremely dear to him.
Over the last six years, Peter has graced our own VjAcademy as a guest lecturer a few times, teaching our students about the origins and history of video art, the principles of visual rithm, and much more. It is thus that we had the privilage to share unforgettable conversations (yes, debate he could!), and carry with us a lasting call to make our work matter.
Peter, thank you for bringing moving colors to our world.
See also:
* A rare