(Glitch) Art Genealogies essay by Rosa Menkman

Gridfont by A Bill Miller Image and interlaced Helvetica font by Rosa Menkman

Last March the (ᴳ̐litch) Art Genealogies exhibition took place at LEAP Gallery in Berlin. The exhibition statement said; "[...] The exhibition focuses on the different threads that interconnect generations of the different communities of visual (glitch) artists and their working methods, conceptual themes and problematics.

(glitch) Genealogies fragments Glitch history into multiple (historical) categories, such as ’NES-Aesthetics’, ‘Enigmatic realities’, ‘GUI, Politics and Prose’, ‘psychedelia and the new psychedelia’ and ‘discontinuous systematicities’"
Rosa Menkman, who curated the show together with Daniel Franke and John McKiernan went deeper, analyzing and writing about (Glitch) Art Genealogies. She launched the essay yesterday as a downloadable file  In this post you can see some fragments from the different categories and some references from artists who are part of the essay. See more;

NOTE All the information and references below are courtesy Rosa Menkman from (Glitch) Art Genealogies essay. The complete essay can be downloaded here.

(Glitch) Art Genealogies essay by Rosa Menkman

«Over the last 10 years, glitch, a perceived break from a flow in a technological system, has become a more and more popular subject matter in the (new) media arts. Today, Glitch Art is indeed so popular that theorists often feel the need to categorize and historicize the genre. Dada, Futurism and de Stijl are just a couple of historical Avant-Garde movements that have been used to delineate ‘the history’ of Glitch Art. But this teleological principle defies and confines glitch’ procedural and fragmented nature.

The exhibition (ᴳ̐litch) Art Genealogies does not focus on glitch art from a historically singular point of view, nor does it attempt to give an all encompassing historical or causal overview. Instead, (ᴳ̐litch) Art Genealogies recognizes the complexities and processes of glitch arts’ many affiliated, interconnected and (geo-)fragmented discourses: it tries to shine a light on why particular glitches develop social-political momentum in a specific point in time and how this momentum changes over time. 

(ᴳ̐litch) Art Genealogies is an effort to show just five of the many threaded glitch discourses that play a role in the curators subjective understanding of glitch art at this present. In these threads, generations of different communities of (visual) glitch artists and their working methods, conceptual themes and politics are (inter)connected and/or juxtaposed.» [...]

Psychedelia and New Psychedelia

[...] Psychedelic arts’ original aesthetics such as hallucinatory patterns, recursion, fractals and bright colors are illustrative to glitch, not necessarily because glitch artists have similar convictions or esthetic vision as 1960s psychedelic artists, but rather because of glitch arts’ algorithmic nature which was often referenced in 1960s psychedelic art. However, some glitch works seem to draw direct lines of inspiration or even knowledge (in the case of Anton Marini through collaboration) from these early times of counterculture. What does it mean to re-fabricate a genre 50 years after its coming about? And what is this ‘new’ in new psychedelia? 

gridSol_altar2 by A Bill Miller

Sect 7 N-E, 2013 by Anton Marini vs Rutt Etra

AURAE, 2012 by Sabrina Ratte 

GUI Politics and Prose

The collection Graphic User Interface (GUI) Politics and Prose shows glitch works that expand and explore the meaning and materiality of the GUI. Traditionally, the GUI functions to enhance the efficiency and ease of use of a computer program - in short: to enlarge 'usability'. But in these videos the GUI is exploited to enact a battle at the boarders of system and entropy, standardization and corruption, expression and code, and meaning and non-meaning, thwarting the viewers’ expectations and conventions of the ‘usability’ of a GUI.

JODIs early work My%Desktop (2002-2010) for instance, is best understood as a rejection of what can be referred to as GUI based ‘determinism’. At first sight, this series shows a collection of OS_systems going haywire, ruined and void of meaning. But the GUIs formal fragmentation or what seems to be a remarkably well choreographed spasming, forces the spectator to consider the work more closely. It seems like there is actually something more than just GUI-chaos on display. After reflecting upon the work for a while, it becomes clear that JODI is actually performing the GUI. The conventions I am conditioned to approach a GUI with, are left behind and instead the GUI has been deconstructed into a performance tool and maybe even something close to a writerly software. [...]

OS Desktop from the My%Desktop series, 2002-2010 by JODI

Plugin Beachball Success, 2012 by Jon Satrom

Post_it_desktop_Feedback, 2012 MiYö Van Stenis

NES circuitbending esthetic

Circuitbending is the customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as children's toys, to create new musical or visual instruments generating output beyond their original capabilities. It involves a certain threshold of knowledge and expertise - ie. a basic understanding of electronics and its tools. [...]

The concept that a glitch can be designed or distributed through a standardized glitch software, seems at first maybe a-typical, but has in fact become a more and more common tendency and even important tradition in recent glitch art. More and more ‘new’ glitch art is being modeled after original glitches within older media, perpetuating a shift from destabilizing breaks within technology or information-based processes towards the generic and associative display of more and less ‘retro’ effects. [...]

The Punch-Out! Variations, 2007 by noteNdo

glitchNES, 2009 by no_carrier

Enigmatic Realities

A video card barfs misunderstood RAM, all clipping modes are off, navigation causes environments to warp into all kinds of impossible angles while traces of passed imagery seem to get stuck in the sky and color modes have chosen to celebrate the 60s psychedelia once again. In these six game engine based ‘realities’, the rules of the frameworks that the player normally uses to make sense and navigate their videogames with, are intentionally ruined. [...]

The fact that the game environments still ‘function’, while programmed to ‘glitch’, makes them critically challenging. The gaming platform is in fact redefined to not follow its genre, form or technique and force the user to reflect upon her conventional frames of reference for the particular platform. Finally it becomes clear that software is more than just a preprogrammed tool: it is a materialization of social modalities, that can endlessly be re-modified into different interpretive or social conclusions. [...] 

RANDOM SEED, 2013 by Rick Silva

Psych and Seek 2013 by Kevin Carey

Authorship // Openness

Primarily active during the 70s as both activist and video artist based in and around Chicago, Phil Morton (1945 - 2003) wrote "Distribution Religion", a manifesto based on a conviction best understood as what today is known as ‘copy it left’ (but which Morton dubbed COPY RIGHT). Distribution Religion included the first DIT ‘open sourced’ schematics for an image processor, made by Dan Sandin. Mortons legacy also includes the film and video department of the the School of the Arts Institute Chicago, which Morton instigated and which is believed to be one of the earliest institutionalized film and video departments in the world. 

Mortons convictions still resonate in current video art practices of (SAIC/Chicago based) artists such as jonCates, who initiated the Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive in 2007, and Nick Briz whose Apple Computers (2013) is a [re]mix of Phil Morton's 1976 video tape 'General Motors'. In these (dirty) new media manifestos, Briz and Cates perform their take on issues of ‘Hystories’, planned obsolescence, upgrade culture, technological self-reliance, control and copying.

General Motors, 1970 by Phil morton

!"⟲#3! ⟒Ɍ3"""⟳Ɽ̂ ồ (AKA: Broken Records: Hystories i Of Noise && Dirty New Media), 2011 by  jonCates

Apple Computers, 2013 byNick Briz

Rosa Menkman, July 2013

The exhibition and essay include works by : Kim Asendorf, Nick Briz, jonCates, Kevin Carey, Anton Marini filter inspired by Bill Etra, Emilio Gomariz, Jodi, Nick Kegeyan, Alex Myers, Phil Morton, A Bill Miller, Brenna Murphy, no_carrier, noteNdo, Julian Oliver, Bryan Peterson, Sabrina Ratté, jon.satrom, Rick Silva, Yoshi Sodeoka and miYö Van Stenis.

Visual documentation about the show at LEAP Gallery; pictures here and videos [1] & [2]

Arte made a nice short documentary about check it out here, in german though.

PURE FLOW by Katy Connor

"PURE FLOW is a mobile artwork by Katy Connor that reveals new perceptions of technological systems, transforming the iPhone and iPad into a Live probe revealing the noise between GPS satellites, 3G networks and Wifi hotspots as a tangible presence in the environment.

PURE FLOW visualises these signals as a sliver of fluctuating white noise, responding directly to the movement and immediate environment of the device. The user can directly manipulate the outcomes, by touching the visual and sonic patterns triggered by fluctuations in the data, sampling this immersive and enveloping field." See more;

"PURE FLOW visualises the instability and fragility of Live signals, passing through cloud cover, being absorbed by bodies, reflecting off concrete and refracting through glass. The APP subverts the use-value of GPS as a surveying and navigational tool; revealing these invisible data streams and highlighting their ubiquity, as sophisticated military technologies become key components in daily life."

Download it here.

Jonathan Cecil

Portrait of Rafah digital print. 46″ x 46″

Jonathan Cecil created between 2008 and 2011 interesting three-dimensional floating cityscapes generated from satellite and aerial imaging data featuring a particular and beautiful aesthetic. 

"Easy access to aerial imagery and geospatial information is changing how we view and interact with our urban environments. I use these resources to investigate geologic and urban structures, particularly in areas of political interest. This series of work uses satellite and aerial imaging data to explore and to critique the illusionary boundary of macro and micro scales through defamiliarization. Images of urban areas are the input for a computational process that produces a high resolution 3D mesh which is rendered with ray tracing software to produce a final image." - Jonathan Cecil. See more;

Chicago Fly
http://jonathancecil.com/chicago-fly/

Los Angeles Spin

http://jonathancecil.com/los-angeles-spin/

Basrah Zoom

http://jonathancecil.com/basrah-zoom/

LAb [au]

m0za1que and Particle synthesis, two projects by LAb [au]

"m0za1que is a permanent artwork for ‘La Maison Mécatronique’ in Annecy-Le-Vieux, France. The main wall of the entrance hall 3.4m x 6m is divided in 26x15 squares. Each of the 390 tiles is motorised by a linear actuator with a range of 10cm. The individual control of the motion creates different three-dimensional reliefs of geometric patterns evolving following the logics of cellular automata.

During day these programmed motifs draw black shadows whereas in the evening they draw coloured shadows: The illumination by three light-projectors in primary colours of red, green, and blue leads to a global white illumination of the wall but the tiles’ shadows appear in the secondary colours of light. These coloured surfaces appear and disappear according to the tiles’ movement.The artwork relates motion with colour through the phenomena of light; while it’s mechanic and electronic system is exemplary for the very function of the building." See more;

m0za1que, 2012

Video here.

"The resulting mosaic can be compared to the electro-magnetic functioning of a memory slot in computation logics. The-so called 'place holder', having here the size of the matrix of tiles, can be filled with binary data and where this magnetic action leads in the installation also to physical motion. Information emerges not only out of the binary state but out of the relative position of the tile in the matrix. What in terms of computer logics is referred to as sequential data becomes here spatial data.


When no data activates a tile, the rigorous absolutely white surface is nothing but emptiness: zero is flat and white or pure light. When tiles are activated shadows outline their sharp-edged square shape, one is dark or no light. This transposition of the operating modes of the installation to the binary logic of computer memory is the origin of the project name 'm0za1que'. In this manner the installation gives the inherent computation logics a proper esthetic both on the level of its physical realisation and on its kinetic behavior." - LAb [au]

Particle synthesis, 2011

Video here.

"The project ‘particle synthesis’ started from the idea of combining 3D particle engines with granular sound synthesis, a research mainly motivated by the possible convergence of visual, sonic and spatial parameters processed in real time within electronic space. Both technologies are considering a shape, a form or a sound as the result of many combined elementary particles which would be individually neither visible nor audible. In computer graphics the tiny graphic elements are named ‘particles’ whereas in granular synthesis many names exist for the sonic ones such as ‘sonel’, ‘sonic quanta’... The very broad notion of particle as it can be applied to sonic and visual elements has been retained for the project name as ‘synthesis’ in reference to the way sound is processed. 

The hexagonal shape of the installation translates these sonic and spatial specificities: six networked computers, each rendering 60 degrees of the 3d scene, are boxed in a transparent Plexiglas case also including a speaker. These boxes have the shape of a stage monitor and are placed next to each other on the ground to constitute the hexagonal ring. The speakers and screens are oriented towards the center of the installation offering the visitor inside the ring an immersive and ‘spatialised’ experience whereas the ‘external’ view rather gives a complete vision, an overview, of the setting. This principle is also present in the design of the hardware, from outside the spectator see through the transparent box the ‘stripped’ electronics whereas from the inside only the screen image remains visible. In this manner the specific shape and design of the installation initializes the viewer to the project specific spatial, sonic and technological setting and invites him to enter the installation. Once the spectator has taken the engagement to enter the installation he takes part of the visual and sonic space and as such the spectators’ ‘act’ shifts the statue of the installation from an object (external perception) to a space (internal perception)." - LAb [au]    

 

6500 : 1 by Willem Besselink

6500 : 1 by Willem Besselink is an interesting analytics based installation at Stichting IK. Willem collected a lot of sorts of data about himself, translating the daily routine into numbers and data, including wieght, heart rate, the amount of food eaten, drunk fluids, amount of pee.. Then 19 different data ranges, gathered for 19 days eventually formed the input of the installation 6500 : 1. The installation is being exhibited at Stichting IK (The Netherlands) till next December 30, 2012. See more;

Multiple made for the exhibition, 18 x 18 x 12 cm, for sale at Stichting IK

Action Painting by Jeremy Rotsztain

Action Painting, 2008-2011 by Jeremy Rotsztain_

"Action Painting is a series of still and animated digital paintings composed using cinematic gestures from Hollywood action flicks. The series uses moving visual elements from popular action films — explosions (from Armageddon and Independence Day), fistfights (from Fight Club and Rocky), car chases (from Bullit and Bourne Identity), and gun shots (from Rambo and Terminator 2) — as compositional material to create works in the style of abstract expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock.

Action Painting brings together the adrenalin-filled culture of action cinema and the formalist canon of modernist painting. It is a line of inquiry into spontaneity and self-expression that contrasts user-generated web 2.0 culture against the work of the genius craftsman — and action as a form of expression versus pure spectacle." - Jeremy Rotsztain. See more;

"As action occurs in the original film, abstract forms move across a high-definition screen like paint flung onto a canvas, creating an animated composition. Action Painting is an example of an aesthetic digital image-making process where the material used in the production of the image provides additional layers of meaning. All of the source material was collected from Internet top 10 lists — top 10 explosions, movie fights, car chases, gun fights." - Jeremy Rotsztain.

Really interesting to see where is the painting coming from, see the process in the next video.

SAILOR by Norman Leto

Sailor is a film project made by Norman Leto in 2010. This is a great opportunity to watch the whole movie online, which is a 100 minute love story between a neurotic, high-school physics tutor and his girlfriend, Nel. The movie consists about the scientific approach from every day situations. It also shows really interesting parts such as his egocentricity and illustrated lectures on various sociological issues.
In the film you will find "Lifeshape" a sequence from Sailor which was published separately here while ago. The movie is based on the book titled the same "Sailor", written also by Norman Leto.  See the whole movie into the post!;

Sailor was created independently by the author, without any external production company. The budget was below $10.000. This movie will be only for a limited time on Youtube.

Norman Leto is currently working on a new project/movie called "Photon", which will have an international distribution on Bluray and DVD. More info about here.

Robert Strati

These are new technical drawings from Robert Strati who is presenting this work in two different exhibitions, one called "Signs, Ciphers, Script" at awcz galleries in Zurich, Switzerland until next October 27 and the other one called "Prints and Objects" at oficio, Boston until next December 1.

"Robert Strati's prints are made using Adobe Illustrator and printed digitally. They are explorations of diagrammatic representations. Arranged in different patterns, these simple points, lines and planes represent a vast array of differing information, such as musical notation, architectural schematics and celestial mappings, all of which are made from the same fundamental elements." - I took this info from a previous post where there is more work from Strati, see here. See more;

Click images to enlarge_

Process Watch by Katja Novitskova

Process Watch is an A0 digital print which shows an abstract collage based on the statics and data from the same day it was created. It was made by Katja Novitskova few months ago at Hotel Palenque, a curatorial project of Elise Lammer. Hotel Palenque is about inviting an artist to do a one-day show that proposes two conditions: making an A0 print, and deleting the files used to make it.

"Process Watch is a digital collage inframed in a outdoor poster display with two key-locks. Collage was made a few hours before the opening out of several types of real-time data from the day of the exhibition: weather reports from various cities around the world, currency exchange rates, stock exchange statistics, commodity prices, satellite footage, Moon phase and location, etc. The data gathered in the form of screenshots from the internet was then assembled in Photoshop. Fundamentally unique occurence of particular weather and economic conditions of the day were further intensified by freehand digital tool use. The print is locked in a frame and will exist as a singular piece - a document to the reality of the moment and a product of the conditions that led to it." - Katja Novitskova. See more;

Process Watch, 2012 - Digital print, display frame, 851mm x 1200 mm


Scroll right or see a larger image here.