Oli Sorenson (aka VJ Anyone) was born in LA but grew up in Montreal, where he first started VJing at Tiga’s cool, underground club, Sona.

He had previously studied fine art and was enchanted by club culture; it was 1997 and one moving image segued, seamlessly, into another. Relocating to London in 1999, and voted No.3 in DJ Magazine’s Top 20 VJs poll in 2006, Oli’s now been making and melding outstanding rhythmic visuals for more than a decade. Upon landing in London, Oli found there were very few clubs embracing the audio-visual phenomenon. So, adopting a punk-esque/DIY approach, he set out shaping his own event, The AV Social. A much-needed night for networking and catching up with cutting edge shows, The AV Social has since garnered international respect. Using the alias VJ Anyone, Oli creates sexy, visceral ‘visuals for the masses’ – visuals that sparkle with hypnotic, leading lights, disco balls, moving bodies, and pulsating, shape-shifting patterns of colour, form and texture. His highly sought-after output is welcomed right around the world and in a wide range of contexts. He has, for example, enjoyed ‘AV love affairs’ with a variety of top DJs, and these have led him to create signature imagery for music video promos as well as live performances, as he did with Meat Katie’s latest album, Vibrator. Oli has also released DVDs on MixMash, developed a longstanding partnership with DJ Motorboy, headlined festivals, contributed to books, been a VJ spokesperson for Nokia, and undertaken remix projects for companies like Manga, EA Games, Intel, and Bacardi. Continually seeking to nurture excellence within the scene, Oli has even founded his own AV label called NE1CO. According to Oli, AV art forms are now universally appreciated and democratically accessible to anyone through technology, hence his moniker. He performs live using laptops, an Edirol V4 mixer, and the DVJ-1000, but stresses that it’s still mind-bending original ideas that are the real ingredients for success in this field. “VJs must obviously have a good ear for music, but now, as AV technology becomes more accessible, it’s going the other way too: so that DJs must consider the visual elements of their sets.” – Oli Sorenson www.anyone.org.uk www.myspace.com/anyonevj Words: LL Video: DT