At most concerts, music sets the mood and the atmosphere, and video is there to enhance, not define. The same goes for dance music: DJs have a growing cadre of VJs to call on, but the VJ is there to accompany, not upstage, the set, whether the assignment calls for a straight spool of pre-recorded visuals, or mixing and collaging imagery in real time – “scratching” the video, as it were.

So it should be interesting to see and hear what Miami visual artist Laurence Gartel does with his first Massive Music Festival. Gartel’s inaugural festival coincides with Winter Music Conference week in South Florida, and it’s probably not a stretch to imagine him placing what you see on equal footing, at least, with what you hear.

More than 50 digital video art installations will be on line inside the Area 57 studios in Miami (two blocks north of Churchill’s Pub) Tuesday through Sunday. Over those six days, Massive will present more than 130 DJs. Whether the art supersedes the music, or whether they’re equals, may be up to each visitor to decide.

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