My name is Marcus Leja, and I perform live video under the stage name, { VJ Portal }. I'm a Calgary-based visual media developer, live video performer, and practitioner of the “visual jockeying (VJ)” media art. Active in the Canadian electronic music scene in Halifax and Calgary since 1996, I'm extensively experienced as a goa trance and industrial dance DJ (Halifax, Calgary 1998 – 2002, moniker: DJ Doctor Zero), electronic musician (2002-2004, moniker: Portal) and VJ (2003-current). I was an original founder of successful Halifax-based electronic music event promotion company, AOM Productions (1998-2000), which hosted events featuring legendary North American trance DJs S.O.S., Paladin, and Hugh Sharpe. My primary musical influences include Astral Projection, The Infinity Project, Miranda, Hallucinogen, UX, MFG, Ed Rush & Optical, Faith No More, Alice in Chains, Tool, Front 242, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, and Nine Inch Nails. I'm a tremendous fan of the still print art of Dave McKean, the photorealism images of Christopher Shy (Ronin), the writing of Neil Gaiman, dark science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, the output of PC game studios, Rockstar Games and Bethesda Softworks, and the world design of the pen-and-paper role-playing games, Mage: the Ascension (White Wolf Game Studio), and Shadowrun (FASA / Catalyst Game Labs).

I'm a Producer Member of EMMEDIA Gallery and Production Society. My studio, BurntVat Media, is a registered cultural industry organization in the Province of Alberta.

While VJing as an art form has traditionally been linked to electronic music and dance culture, the live, dynamic visual media presentation format (i.e. video, animation and/or sequences of still images) can be impactful among a wide variety of environments, including fashion shows, beauty product demos, fitness demonstrations, and corporate trade events. Please feel free to contact me with any project ideas you may have in mind that involve a realtime (live) video component.

For further information on the VJ art:

1) VJCentral.com [hyperlink to http://beta.vjcentral.com]

2) Wikipedia entry: “VJ (video performance artist)” [hyperlink: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJ_(video_performance_artist)]

To view live performance clips of { VJ Portal }, visit this YouTube link.

From the canon lexicon of Mage: the Ascension:

"Portal": A permanent Gate. Portals are usually guarded by powerful spirits that require a task to be performed or a puzzle to be solved before they will allow safe passage.