Performance Name

Category: Unknown · Tags: — · Posts: 26

#1 — prakodr · 2022-12-21

I’ve been trying to come up with a performance name. My screen name here is basically meaningless and certainly has no relation to video art. I’m curious if your screen name is the same as your performance name? Is there a story behind it?

So the best I’ve come up with so far is Moire Ideal - meaning wavy video lines is my goal. I’m

thinking it will be printed as 60s psychedelic poster art. What do you think? Will it look good on a poster with other names?

#3 — reverselandfill · 2022-12-21

For your inspiration seach:

technical video documentation

tube TV parts

IC names

optical / video art terms

obscure video brands

examples:

LM6172 and the Ferrites Kathodenstrahlen

SECAM

PLX2000

Our own names have been / are:

de Oplichters (a dutch pun which means the scam artists & also “they who light up a space”)

RGB fraktion

Reverselandfill

#4 — Boneoh · 2022-12-21

This is an interesting topic. It isn’t easy to pick a good name.

One little piece of advice about performance names, nicknames, etc. is be careful, sometimes they stick forever. A friend of my daughter had a baby boy, somehow he got the nickname ‘Gordo’ and it stuck. Not good. Another kid got stuck with Stinky. Kid Rock isn’t a kid any more!

I got the nickname Boneoh a long time ago in a crowded bar after everyone had way too many beers. It doesn’t mean a thing, but it stuck.

The other day I had to pick a name to start a business. It’s a small part-time consulting business and will be through word of mouth only, no website or advertising. I picked Rational Advisors LLC because I couldn’t think of anything better. It wasn’t taken here in Idaho, but it turns out there is a big Rational Advisors LLC in NY. I wish I had put more time and care into picking a name, though the chances of anyone mistaking my business with a mega billion $ business are slim to none.

#5 — creatorlars · 2022-12-21

I have named a few bands, projects and lots of modules, and it’s always a challenge. I think the most important thing is disambiguation and having something specific and easy to say. “LZX” is just a 3-letter sequence, for example, like “ABCs” or “DIY”, and intended to absorb it’s own meaning over time, which it has. I think some of my favorite module names have been ones like “Staircase” and “Doorway”, where there’s a simplicity and commonness to them, but within their context as video synthesizer module names have specific meaning, and make it easy to have a conversation.

I agree with @7pip that it’s ultimately something you won’t be immediately certain about at conception. Over time you hope to fill the name with your own identity and context in peoples’ minds.

Just sharing thoughts, because I love having a topic like this to discuss in this space.

#6 — Boneoh · 2022-12-21

In a similar vein, coming up with a good name for a song seems to be hard for me. My latest is called ‘No Name 1’

#7 — jwsmithwick1 · 2022-12-21

Usually for a song, I’ll start off by naming with the date of inception (YYYYMMDD), and typically a name emerges afterwards.

#8 — raster-fari · 2022-12-21

I love naming and renaming things, it is an opportunity to be playful and creative. It can stick, but it might not. Usually when you don’t like it, it will stick.

Other people will give it more meaning than you do, especially over time. It will mean different things to different people as well, which is cool.

I’m in the zone of three word titles for video pieces/songs at the moment - Seconds of Arc, Fractals of Paradise, Orders of Magnitude.

Last year it was one word, in caps, THINGS, EMANCIPATE.

I enjoyed coming up with Raster-fari as my profile name here.

#9 — raster-fari · 2022-12-21

SEECAM would be great yeah. I often think of band names for the fun of it / spontaneously.

I was thinking PAL for a pet name as well, explaining to the vet that it is short for Phase Alternate Line.

Defunct tech always a good place to go for names : )

#10 — VanTa · 2022-12-21

I like to create systems for naming stuff.

For example a series of art pieces could get the name of rivers in a geographical region. Then I’ll take the word Rivers and translate it into the oldest language of that region and name the series so, or even a new pseudonym just for that exhibition.

#11 — prakodr · 2022-12-21

I always thought Ray and the Dolby Tones would be a great name alas its meaning is lost today.

Hmm is Flyback taken?

#12 — sean · 2022-12-21

All the video art people using names that relate to video tech — except for a few folks that I am more familiar with — I tend to get them all confused. FWIW.

Even though it honestly makes me very uncomfortable (for various reasons), I’ve just started using my given name.

#13 — Agawell · 2022-12-22

for song titles/band names etc - unless something immediately pops out I often go to the bookshelf and grab a selection of books and look through them - short story titles, chapter names etc even dictionaries - just flip through them until you find a random word or phrase I like possibly use word association with that… or change a letter/word to get something different

#14 — thenoiseoftime · 2022-12-22

I like catchy pronouncble names that are not only meant for nerds/insiders.

Or at least make it a combination of a video related word together with something else. Like:

Time Enhancer

Life Colourizer

Feedback Memories

Then if you have a few ideas you need to go pregnant with them. Its a method to take decisions. You decide for Time enhancer and you look how it feels for the next three days, then you take anothrr one and you observe your feelings about it for another three days. You will notice then what feelt right…

#15 — Vdot · 2022-12-22

reverselandfill wrote:

LM6172 and the Ferrites

Best group buy name evar

#16 — dryodryo · 2022-12-22

A friend gave me the nickname “Dr. Yo” circa 1988, and I’ve used it ever since as a “band” name and online handle. Due to the restrictions that most systems place on username length and permitted characters, I’m forced to use “dryodryo”.

I don’t do live performance, but if I did, I would probably use that moniker. To me, it represents playfulness, positivity, paradox.

In a “serious” context, e.g. entering work into festivals, I use my real name, Aaron F. Ross, with the middle initial, for disambiguation.

#18 — Agawell · 2022-12-23

or you could use doctoryo or doctor_yo

I always read your name as dryo dryo not doctoryo doctoryo

#19 — Robbertunist · 2022-12-23

Thanks @prakodr for creating this thread

It’s great to see & read so many interesting responses!

I’ve been performing live this year as Optical Collusion. I wanted something that hinted at collaboration and something that clearly suggested the visual domain. I walked about brainstorming for a couple of days and once I stumbled across, I had a “that’s the one, now for the next step!”

Hopefully this thread and the various responses will fuel your creative fires

#20 — rempesm · 2022-12-23

Boneoh wrote:

somehow he got the nickname ‘Gordo’ and it stuck. Not good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HGL3TQLCY&t=24

#22 — dryodryo · 2022-12-23

Yeah, but I like the mystery of a username that doesn’t necessarily make obvious sense

#23 — Agawell · 2022-12-24

true - and why should it…

but then neither does doctor yo - unless there’s a reason meaning it…

#24 — RBMK_TV · 2023-01-03

I recently had to think about this as I had my first gig doing live visuals at the end of last month. I’ve been playing live music for the last few years under the name RBMK - which is a type of nuclear reactor but, as has been suggested previously, I liked the idea that to most it would be a meaningless and seemingly unconnected collection of letters that would derive their own association with my music over time. I hadn’t thought about what name I’d perform under until I was asked for the purposes of a poster. I have a practice as an artist so using my own name was an option that I considered, but the name RBMK_TV was mentioned and I thought that was great so went with that!

#25 — prakodr · 2023-01-05

Its interesting that several people like the abstract letters and numbers based names. One of my first ideas was RGBAT (AT being my initials) but I thought it was too vague and generic but maybe that is a strength?

#26 — Rik_bS · 2023-01-05

I’m thinking of using RGBS - definitely a common theme here

#27 — JonasBers · 2023-01-09

Some of the best advice I ever took was to use my actual name. The advice came from an older experimental music curator. He said that through the years, he’d seen lots of people change the names of their projects and then confused people and lost fans. Since then, I’ve been involved in countless projects and media accounts, all under my actual name. A big issue with naming yourself after a noun is that you then need to become more popular than the noun in order for someone to successfully google you. Google search results for my name are pages and pages of projects I’ve done, articles I’ve been mentioned in, and all of my social media accounts.

#28 — Dreamtaser · 2023-09-28

My screen name is dope but I’m not performing under it because it’s more of a track or album title. As far as your performers name I’d say use your first name but change the y to an I then change the last name. IDK something like Andi Caster aka RasterCaster

whatever just have fun with it. Just stay away from obscure 17th century French terms unless you hate your audience or don’t care. Which are both legit

#29 — dryodryo · 2023-10-06

I’m beginning to wonder if I should use a pseudonym… the weirdness, aggression, and psychedelia of my video work may be scaring off job and dating prospects. But then, if people can’t handle me at my most extreme level of creative deconstruction, maybe they can’t handle me at my most sublime level of enlightenment.