The Realm of Digital Glitches

8/8/2019 The Realm of Digital Glitches

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What is specific about digital image and how can digital aesthetics be

described through a reference to glitch? Give examples.

"I think it is a privilege of our generation to witness the amazing

evolutions of a new style: the electronic art. The same thing only

happened twice in the western culture's history: 150 years ago with the

birth of photography and 100 years ago with the one of cinema.

In these phenomena the physical body progressively melts, as well as

common materials of art fated to live a time beyond humanity.Most important, in my opinion, are the new possible ways of crossing

time and space.

Honestly, I'd regret not to be living in the era I'm living." (Fagone, 2009)

Vittorio Fagone is a recognized art critical and historian, who dedicates

his studies to the commitment between visual arts and digital media. Heendorses the novelty generated by the usage of digital technologies in

aesthetic and reveals a critical analysis of digital image as bearer of new

patterns for human perception and new approaches to art.

A digital image is generated by a series of electric impulses, translated by

the computer in a binary sequence of 0 and 1 and finally rasterized on the

screen. The result of this process is a net of pixel, or picture element,

illuminated dots on a display; all those elements prompt the digital

images (Harwood, 2008).

Impulse, numeric sequence, dot of light have nothing to do with the

materiality of paper, film, canvas, pigments of color that constitute the

analogue image. Analogue, in fact entails the embodiment in physical

support. Electronic images are instead "disembodied surfaces" (Flusser,

2002) which carry on all the values of the traditional images and include


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all the features of the new media.

Manipulability, reproducibility, accessibility, portability are intrinsic

characteristic of digital images. Nowadays, we perceive them as

conventional and proper, they traced the framework of earlier analysis of

the subject.

Peter Wiebel describes digital images as synthesis of the realism of

photography and the peculiarity of painting, a new liberated form of art

that collaborates with research and technology. Besides, the author

declares the potential of digital image to "give the individual unlimited

possibilities to construct a new visual culture, a new democratic

renaissance". (Weibel, 1999).

The usage of heterogeneous forms that converge in a unique piece, is

natural in computing, this is due to the inner composition of its data: all

kinds of output are referenced to strings of binary code. As asserts critic

and curator Benjamin Weil (2002) "the realm of filter-ing, editing, and

reconstructing, so as to create new meaning" is proper of digital arts and

involves artists from different backgrounds in the 'reprocessing of

cultural fragments'.

The author presents "Wave Twisters: The Movie (VTM)" created by Syd

Garon and Eric Henry in 2001. The experimental film is a "sci-fi/kung fu

epic" that takes shape from a reflexion of the audio framework composedfor their video by DjQbert. The audio mix process consists in the research

of analogies between different sounds to create harmony. Garon and

Henry created the image sequence by using "a wide variety of techniques

(from tra-ditional cell animation to 3D live-action to photo-

collage)"(Weil, 2002) processed in the same way as QBert did with

audio. The result is a perception of homogeneity and equilibrium between

disparate and mismatched materials. The absence of continuity between


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components here is replaced by the manifestation of the intrinsic

proximity given by the code from which they are generated (Munster,

2001).

'Perception' is described by neuroscience as the interaction between body

and mind resulting from external stimuli.

Human eyes don't scan the reality: it is the central part of the retina, the

fovea, with its dense number of light sensitive ganglions that transmits

impulses to the brain. The fovea covers just one degree of our visual

spectrum: therefore the brain operates a reconstruction of the reality

(Hawes, 2009).

Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio (2004) affirms that human brain is not a

tabula rasa. In fact each image generated by neuronal activity constructs

the "movie in the brain", and is affected by the previous mind

elaborations that constitute the individual emotional pattern.

Philosophers Andy Clark & David J. Chalmers (2000) examine the

external reality as extensions of minds, through a "two-way" interaction:

part of the cognitive experience is created by the control of a tool.

"Humans rely some functions to objects creating a couples system to

reduce memory load"(Clark and Chalmers, 2000), those devices are used

as 'prosthesis' of our minds.

Digital images are the result of a computing operation. The medium that

operates in this case is not merely a tool, but an apparatus that

incorporates the complex structure of technologies that 'stratify' the

interaction with human (Fuller 2005).

Mathew Fuller, a critic and activist in the Internet art collective I/O/D,

sees symbiosis between machine and arts and describes an apparatus as

"bearer of forces and drives": an active part in the creation of meaning


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(Fuller, 2005).

According to research of Margaret A. Boden and Ernest A. Edmonds

(2009), there are two different approaches to technological instruments:

the first consists in considering the set of its rules as a whole, while the

other is the analysis of every steps of instructions that compose the

functional algorithm.

The rules based method does not imply the consciousness of the way in

which the instructions are decoded. Instead, by examining every step of

the algorithm, the control is more detailed. Anyhow, in both cases, the

feedback is generated by the computer and cannot be immediately

predicted: the two approaches leave to the machine a certain degree of

freedom (Boden and Edmonds, 2009).

If the machine doesn't perform as we expected we become aware of how

the digital operates: this breakdown in technical jargon is called 'glitch'.

Glitches can be defined as sudden and brief hardware malfunctions, often

due to an overloaded processor (Goriunova and Shulghin, 2008).

While experimenting the possibilities of an apparatus, we can run into

glitches: freackly trembling or weird shapes in animations, overwhelmed

software opening hundred windows, distort noises in sampled music.

These kinds of breakdowns have an intrinsic charm: they are

unpredictable manifestations of how the software works, that leave us

astonished and captured by the 'aesthetic of dysfunctional' (Goriunovaand Shulghin, 2008).

Glitches evoke the Pirandello's epiphanies: a startling event in which the

essence of reality is revealed (O'Rawe, 2005). In the case of glitches we

gain consciousness of the inner workings of the medium. At this point

there is the possibility to awaken the public, in order to divert its usual

patterns of perception: "The only thing art actually does is break the

patterns of perception.


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Art should break open the categories and system we use in order to break

trough life along as straight a line as possible"(Sollfrank, in Tribe and

Jana, 2006).

In the early 1990's we were witnessing a turning point which is the

perfect ground to reveal the 'b-side' of technologies: the internet opens its

boundaries to the mass audience. In former times, the use of the protocol

for information interchange was restricted to army, academics or

government. Contemporary, new technologies were becoming relatively

more affordable for a wider public: the 'global village' portended by

McLuhan in 1962 started to take shape.

In this period, computers became a gateway to an international

community of artists: the deployment of "technologies for critical and

experimental purposes" is the peculiarity of 'Internet Art' (Tribe and Jana

2006).

Dirk Paesmans, exponent of the collective Jodi.org declares "We explore

the computer from the inside, and mirror this on the net. When a viewer

looks at our work, we are inside his computer and we honored to in

somebody's computer"(Paesmans in Tribe and Jana 2006).

The statement clarifies their first web site 'wwwwwwwww.jodi.org': a

visualization of codes and continuous links to pages that "are obviously

of a computer origin" (Goriunova and Shulghin, 2008).Another example of their aesthetic is 'http://g33con.com/': a web page in

witch they mix pieces of software interfaces, 'glitchy' sparkling

animations, commercial logos and pieces of hardware.

With the deconstruction of the visual language of the web, the artists

address the audience to the inner mechanism of the web. They exploit the

'epiphany-effect' of glitches to show to their public the role of the Internet

as art medium besides a communication protocol (Tribe and Jana, 2006).


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The Internet artist tends to explore the mechanics of the apparatus to

create an aesthetics that moves usual patterns of perception. This

tendency is pointed out in "Web Stalker". Created in 1997 by the

collective I/O/D, the application is a browser that reveals the Internet

functionality by showing 'graphically' the structure of web sites, instead

of the linear HTML processing provided by commercial browsers. The

result is an enchanting navigable diagram of links, which structure

reminds spider webs (Stallbrass, 2003). Web Stalker reveals to users the

power of the code to build different structures to give access to new ways

of being concerned with information.

Today "the Net's no longer hermetic and obscure, but it's still lightning-

fast and has few barriers to entry"(Debatty, in Sterling, 2006), the

paradigm is changed: the Internet has developed a strong commercial side

that reflects taste and expectation of a 'world wide audience'.

A millennium core-shaker for Internet users can be the "Fake project" for

example the artwork 'Nike Ground' (2003- 2004), createdby the Italian

collective '0100101110101101.org'.

The Italian collective is operative since the earlier period of the Internet

art: their works were a 'remix' of art materials to express new meanings.

They carry on the poetics of deconstruction by creating, between 1997

and 1999, the online identity and artworks of "Darko Maverik".During the celebrations dedicated to the fictive artist at Venice Biennale,

'0100101110101101.org' declared the escapade.

Trough the fictional figure of Darko Maverik the collective pull out the

anarchic side of the Internet and the untrustworthiness of its data (Greene,

2004).

Nike Ground, is a "net-assisted conceptual prank" (Sterling, 2006) in

which '0100101110101101.org', with the collaboration of Vienna's


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'Public Netbase', published a fake website to announce the privatization

of Vienna Karlsplatz, renamed 'Nikeplatz'. In the other phase of the

project, they physically placed the brand's logo and gadgets in the public

square. The artists involved the audience in the public-private diatribe by

using both the installation and the website to make their fake as real as

possible (Sterling, 2006).

In addition to the commercial aspects, the Internet, in the last few years,

consented the prodigious diffusion of social networks thanks to its easy

customizability. Their growth is continuous and exponential. "Elements

of sociability have become like machines, have become part of machines

[...] New forms of alliance and transmutation between the social and what

has been abstracted- and this abstraction establishes the possibility of

mutant compositions to cross from one category to the other and for

hybrid forms to proliferate"(Fuller, 2005). In this statement the art critic,

without quoting directly the Internet and the social networks, make us

aware that the medium has become an engine of social contexts and

attitudes.

The privacy granted and filtrated by the Internet allows each user to

create its own 'Darko Maverik'.

Stefania Bonatelli, Italian photographer and video artist, is cleverly

informed about contemporary structures and strategies for the creationand distribution of artworks. She is going thoroughly the potentiality of

social networks with her multiplatform project "Alina Rh".

The origin of the character dates back to the beginning of the millennium

with a series of 'satellite videos'. In the following years, the project

proceeds with photo shootings that are constructing Alina's style.

On 20th of August 2009, Alina, showed herself on Facebook.

This expedient allows the artist to exhibit her creation to a wide audience.


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She presents her character with a hermetic and ambiguous style that

evokes a morbid but exquisite outline.

Each photo, link, reflection posted by 'Alina' receives continuous

feedbacks that supply the growth of the character. Here she is perceived

as an artist, even if she has never been declared like this.

As artist 'Alina' has already sold some of her photos to become a CD

cover.

This figure has also a 'glitchy' aspect. The artist likes to increase the

doubtfulness of the character origins. In fact, Bonatelli interacts with

'Alina''s profile by posting photos that clearly reveal her presence behind

the project. The aim is confusing who guessed the hidden game. Those

people in turn, fantasize the relation that links 'Alina' with the artist.

The purpose of the artist is to use all these fragments for the future steps

of her artwork: she is analyzing the sociological answer to Alina's online

activity, to harness it in her production strategy. 'Alina Rh' is a project

that breaks the edges between artist and audience.

As Walter Benjamin foreseen, digital images can be a mean for

emancipation of art from the ritual and a way to open it to a broader

audience and participation (Benjamin, 1979).

In the present climate we also start noticing the consequences of the

massive spread of technology: the market is becoming always more

pretentious in terms of quality.Artist and cinematographer Terry Flaxton detected a better fruition and a

consequent deeper engagement of images with high definition quality. He

embraced the high resolution as a paradigm for his installations (Flaxton,

2009).

This demand is extended from the artwork to everyday life "We now

have, not two eyes, but as many as we can afford. We enjoy using

Computers to process the pictures and leave them around on our hard


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drives or pop them up on the web for mum or aunty to have a look at"

(Harwood, 2008). The majority of humanity is used to manage with

digital images and children seem to have the binary code inside their

DNA.

There is also a dark side in this unceasing purchase of better technologies

that results in waste, pollution and exploitation of labor (Harwood, 2009).

The search for equilibrium between innovation and environmental

awareness is advisable for preserving the "global village" that we are

currently enjoying.


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