Glitch art

Glitch art is the aestheticization of digital or analog errors, such as artifacts and other "bugs", by either corrupting digital code/data or by physically manipulating electronic devices (for example by circuit bending).

History of the term

A databent image

In a technical sense a glitch is the unexpected result of a malfunction. It was first recorded in English in 1962 during the American space program by John Glenn when describing problems they were having, Glenn explained, "Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electric current."[1]

Early examples of glitches used in media art include Digital TV Dinner (1978) created by Jamie Fenton and Raul Zaritsky, with glitch audio done by Dick Ainsworth. This video was made by manipulating the Bally video game console and recording the results on videotape.[2] In her introduction to her Glitch Studies Manifesto, Rosa Menkman mentions A Colour Box (1935) by Len Lye, MagnetTV (1965) by Nam June Paik and Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK Plasma Screen Burn (2007) by Cory Arcangel as examples of mechanical and digital noise in visual art;[3] precedents of glitch.

Glitch is used to describe these kinds of bugs as they occur in software, video games, images, videos, audio, and other forms of data. The term glitch came to be associated with music in the mid 90s to describe a genre of experimental/noise/electronica (see glitch music). Shortly after, as VJs and other visual artist began to embrace the glitch as an aesthetic of the digital age, glitch art came to refer to a whole assembly of visual arts.

In January 2002, Motherboard, a tech-art collective, held a glitch symposium in Oslo, Norway, to "bring together international artists, academics and other Glitch practitioners for a short space of time to share their work and ideas with the public and with each other."[4]

Animated example of what a glitched video can look like by Michael Betancourt.

On September 29 thru October 3, 2010, Chicago played host to the first GLI.TC/H, a five-day conference in Chicago organized by Nick Briz, Evan Meaney, Rosa Menkman and Jon Satrom that included workshops, lectures, performances, installations and screenings.[5] In November 2011, the second GLI.TC/H event traveled from Chicago to Amsterdam and lastly to Birmingham, UK.[6] It included workshops, screenings, lectures, performance, panel discussions and a gallery show over the course of seven days at the three cities.[7]

Further reading

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Glitch art.

References

  1. ↑ Moradi, Iman. (2004) Glitch Aesthetic http://www.oculasm.org/glitch/download/Glitch_dissertation_print_with_pics.pdf
  2. ↑ Betancourt, Michael. (2015) The Invention of Glitch Video: Digital TV Dinner (1978) (preview) http://www.michaelbetancourt.com/pdf/Betancourt_TheInventionofGlitchVideo.pdf
  3. ↑ Menkman, Rosa (2011), "Glitch Studies Manifesto", in Lovink, Geert; Somers-Miles, Rachel, Video Vortex Reader II: Moving Images Beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, pp. 336–347, ISBN 978-90-78146-12-4
  4. ↑ Motherboard. (2002) http://www.liveart.org/motherboard/
  5. ↑ Rhizome. (2010) http://rhizome.org/editorial/2010/oct/13/code-eroded-at-glitch/#c63266
  6. ↑ the Creators Project. (2011) http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/chicagos-glitch-fest-disrupts-the-traditional-gallery-space
  7. ↑ Cool Hunting (2011) http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/glitch.php

External links

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