The intentional action of glitch.
A glitch can be created through an intentional action that then omits differently with an unpredictable irregularity from the original. Ā This artwork is constructed with various materials that intertwine with the actions required to illustrate the aesthetics of glitch. Ā Using embroidery thread, unstretched canvas, a rock and a microchip, this series looks upon the different aspects of decisions making that goes through the process of performing an irregularity in a particular system whether digital or analogue. This particular āprocessā was further researched by looking closely at the social environments of the internet, in particular hackers and the practice of hacking, along with the interruptions of lost internet connections that are created purposely through poor internet transmission. Through many experiments of different materials and going back to digital techniques of glitch such as ādata bendingā, I decided to go further with embroidery and the materials that work with it. Further experiments were produced around embroidery which led myself to find that both digital data bending and sewing are quite similar in regards to these materials being temporary and easily manipulated to create a distorted image. Ā I found when I was sewing, the back of it was more 'distortedā then the front. I contemplated for a while whether to put this in my final work, but finally decided to leave the front of what I had embroidered as it is.
The image on the left are red, green and blue embroidery threads that are used to purposely create an aesthetic Ā glitch, portraying the image of distortion through the sewn zig-zaged lines. These particular colours are responsible for sensing, representation and display of images in electronic devices. I played with the aesthetic shape of a 'glitchā as Ā a rigid shape and how it can be interpretative in a digital image.
The image in the middle uses Ā found, leftover embroidery threads that have been ironed onto the unstretched canvas. The pile of unused embroidery threads reminded me of the colours depicted in computer cables and wires, and the physical glitch that is created over time through movement and low maintenance of these materials. By placing the threads on the unstretched canvas, it created a distorted image that is tangled, uneven, colour disorientated and vague.
The image on the right, I used the chrome page āUnable to connect to the internetā with the image of the dinosaur by appropriating techniques of drawing and sewing with black embroidery thread. The dinosaur image on the chrome page can be seen as āif you do not have internet, you are living in the stone age.ā Playing around with text by replacing the word 'connectā with 'needlework,ā I created the typography 'Unable to needlework to the Internet.ā Ā Drawing the font of the chrome page and the image of the dinosaur, I then embroidered it all. I was inspired to play with words using embroidery by artist Melissa Barron and her works with weaving and manipulated texts.
The small sculptural piece displayed underneath the embroidered works is of a microchip placed on a found, pale pink rock. I was originally trying to develop some sort of 'new technological glitchā with the microchip, experiment way to make the small device work. With experiments with materials around me, I stumbled upon rocks that Iāve collected over some time and found that objectively, both the microchip and the rock displayed interesting qualities when they are placed together. The rock subjectively displays older qualities of past histories, human alike, whilst the microchip presents new technological advancements in human histories. Thinking of ways to place the sculptural piece as part of the series, I found an extension chord and placed it up against the wall to create a stance. I put the extension chord as the stance to create a deeper context of what materials are placed in this series. The extension chord gives an impact of the relationship displayed in the sculpture, almost portraying an artefact that is found by the yellowish, brown colour of the chord.
Throughout this series I explored materials that are non digital and somewhat temporary, as seen through the embroidery and also the microchip, whilst researching ways that these particular materials can create a glitch aesthetically through actions and motions made by the human hand. There are natural glitches that occur around our environment, but digital glitches would not be as it is presented today without interrupted data and algorithms that play a part in technological devices. There is a common quote that states ācomputers do not make mistake, humans doā, which creates an interesting factor to who we are as human beings scientifically.Through the use of found objects, colours, shapes and texts presented in my artwork, it portrays the initial, deliberate action required to create a glitched image, or any particular object or device to stop performing its initial programmed requirements.
Barron, M. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2016, from http://melissabarron.net/
Boyle, C. (2015). The Rhetorical Question Concerning Glitch. Computers and Composition, 35, 12-29. Retrieved September 15, 2016, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461515000079?via=ihub
Steyerl, H. (2010, April). A Thing Like You and Me. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.e-flux.com/journal/a-thing-like-you-and-me/
Roalstraete, D. (2009, March). The Way of the Shovel: On the Archeological Imaginary in Art. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-way-of-the-shovel-on-the-archeological-imaginary-in-art/
Ā
Thomas Bayrle | e-flux. (2014, March 11). Retrieved September 12, 2016, from https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/thomas-bayrle-4/
How to Ā«openĀ» microchip and whatās inside? (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2016, from http://zeptobars.com/en/read/how-to-open-microchip-asic-what-inside
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