Europe
- United Visual Artists (UVA) — London, 2003
- Founded by Matt Clark and others. Their first client was Massive Attack (2003 World Tour onward, multiple collaborations). Less "peak-moment intensity" and more long-form installations — a rational, architectural voice in light.
- Nonotak Studio — Paris, 2011
- Noemi Schipfer (French-Japanese, b. 1988) and Takami Nakamoto (Japanese, b. 1988, formerly an architect). Formed around a public-housing lobby mural commission. Immersive light-and-sound installations at Tate Modern, Sónar, MUTEK. Nakamoto's architecture background reads clearly in the spatial logic.
- Joanie Lemercier / AntiVJ — France, 2008
- Co-founded AntiVJ in 2008 with Yannick Jacquet, Romain Tardy, and Olivier Ratsi. Minimal geometric projection pieces that shaped early-2010s mapping culture. Now increasingly focused on environmental work.
- Quayola (Davide Quayola) — London (b. Rome, 1982)
- Moved to London at 19, graduated University of London in 2005. Re-reads classical painting, sculpture, and architecture through CNC robotics and code. 2013 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica (with Memo Akten, for "Forms").
- Robert Henke / Monolake — Berlin (b. 1969)
- Started Monolake as a duo with Gerhard Behles in 1995 (solo from 1999). Co-developer of Ableton Live. His technical depth is inseparable from the resolution of his pieces. An icon of Berlin club culture.
- Alva Noto / Carsten Nicolai — East Germany, b. 1965
- In 1996, co-founded the label that became Raster-Noton with Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider. Glitch, sine waves, precise minimalism. Long-running AV collaborator with Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Japan
- Rhizomatiks / Daito Manabe — Tokyo, 2006
- Born 1976; Tokyo University of Science (mathematics) and IAMAS. Founded Rhizomatiks in 2006; co-led Rhizomatiks Research with Motoi Ishibashi. Live production for Perfume, Björk's "Reincarnation", Squarepusher, the Tokyo 2020 pitch at the Rio 2016 closing ceremony. The practical face of Japanese AV.
- Ryoji Ikeda — Paris-based, from Japan
- Began producing AV at Spiral Gallery in Tokyo in the early 1990s; joined Dumb Type in 1993. Releases such as "+/-" (1996), "dataplex" (2005), and "test pattern" (2008) refined sine waves and data-driven visuals into a single signature. 2014 Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN brought him into particle-physics residencies.
- Ryoichi Kurokawa — Osaka-born (1978), Berlin-based
- Works sculpt time through tightly synchronized sound and image. 2010 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for "rheo: 5 horizons" — a rare award for a Japanese AV artist and a turning point for his international profile.
- WOW inc. — Sendai / Tokyo / London, 1997
- A design studio since 1997, working across CG, UI/UX, installation, and architecture as a unified "visual design" practice. One of the few Japanese outfits operating at studio scale across advertising, museum, and spatial work.
- Naohiro Ukawa / DOMMUNE — Tokyo, 2010
- Born 1968. A resident VJ in Nishi-Azabu's Atomage (MANIAC LOVE family) from the early 90s, Ukawa opened DOMMUNE, Japan's first USTREAM-based live studio, on March 1, 2010. DJ, VJ, and talk streamed together — a format that pre-figured post-COVID online culture by a decade.
North America
- Refik Anadol — LA (b. Turkey, 1985)
- UCLA Media Arts MFA. Founded Refik Anadol Studio in LA in 2014. Large-scale data-visualization and machine-learning installations for Microsoft, Google AMI, NASA/JPL. One of the defining names of 2020s AI-era AV.
- Martin Messier — Montreal
- Best known for "Sewing Machine Orchestra" — twelve vintage Singer sewing machines controlled through Max/MSP and Ableton Live, producing sound and light together. Ars Electronica recognition; runs the production company "14 lieux".
How to actually see their work
The fastest path is the official site and Vimeo pages of each artist. UVA (uva.co.uk), Nonotak (nonotak.com), Ryoji Ikeda (ryojiikeda.com), Refik Anadol Studio (refikanadol.com), Rhizomatiks (rhizomatiks.com) all publish high-quality documentation themselves. Starring their Vimeo pages gives you a slow-burn feed for years.
In person, the "VJ festivals" article lists where and when most of these artists present new work each year. Seeing the work live with the names already in your head changes the experience entirely.