GLITCH ART: A MANIFESTO AGAINST PERFECTIONIST DOGMA

Glitch art is the creation of art through digital or analog errors and artifacts by corrupting the data or manipulating it in such a way that a glitch is created. The tern "glitch" was originally coined in 1962 by astronaut John Glenn when he was describing problems they were having with equipment. Glitch art is very prevalent in pop culture, while at the same time very underground. 

Glitch art has roots in the mid 1930's with the work "A color box" by Len Lye. Lye described his inspiration as "motion as art". He elaborated,

"If there is such a thing as composing music, there could be such a thing as composing motion.  After all there are melodic figures, why can't there be figures of motion?" Lye had an affinity for the Maori, Aboriginal, Pacific Island and African cultures, and drew much of his inspiration from them.

Lyes film work was composed mainly by drawing directly on film, or corrupting the film with emulsions and paint. He created a number films in this manner, up to his death. These works are considered glitch work because they corrupt and undermine the basic structure of the film.  

In 1965, the artist Nam June Paik created MAGNETV. Paik is considered the founder of video art. Most of Paiks work is considered Neo-Dada or FLUXUS, and was created by using televisions, magnets, synthesizers and music for his creations. Another notable work by Paik was TV Bra for Living Sculpture, where he had a women wear Televisions as coverings for her breasts. These Televisions were broadcasting glitched footage. 

Later in the 70's through the 80's Andy Warhol had created a number of digital works, some of which were glitch works. Warhol created his works on an Amiga 1000. 

Through the 80's and 90's the glitch art movement saw a Renaissance. Glitch art, music and fashion was very popular as technology captivated the world. Movies such as Hackers glorified the hacking/rave/electro culture where glitch artists thrived. Glitch was popularized by Saturday morning cartoon characters such as Max Headroom, and even MTV started using glitch like graphics and bumps on its everyday transmissions.

Glitch, as an electronic music genre came in to fruition in the 80's and 90's with the dawn of industrial and the use of noise artifacts as instruments. Glitch music came from composing broke technology to create sound collages. 

 The technology of using broken tech to create noise artifacts stretches back to the late 60's with the Moody Blues using destroyed vinyl records in their music. OMD used invasive computer and noise snippets in their album Architecture of Morality. Noteable acts that had an impact on the glitch movement in the 80's and 90's include Aphex Twin, Nine Inch Nails, and Skinny Puppy. Each of these acts incorporated glitch components in their music as well as videos. Aphex Twin uses progressively corrupted files to create feedback and other noise artifacts. Nine Inch Nails uses images and static to create their sound, as well as distorted guitar and drum machine devices. Since the 90's the music genre glitch as grown and expanded to include many artists. 

Glitch was created as an engaging statement against the "upgrade culture" that had become pervasive around the world. The Glitch Studies Manifesto by Rosa Menkman goes in to detail how the art is a philosophical rail against the unattainable perfection craved by society. Glitch art, when done correctly, corrupts the source data to its core. While the manifestations of this corruption may only be visible on the surface, it is inherent. This idea of corrupting the data violates the principals of "functioning society" by not only exposing flaws, but also the under-working of the data. The hacking culture is very much in to this thinking as well, which is why glitch art and hacking are closely related. Glitch art undermines a pieces basic structure, and must be looked at critically in order to see these dimensional aspects. A glitch piece must be engaged.

Modern glitch art and music has been growing as a genre, yet it still remains very much underground. From 2010-2012 there was a G//LI/TCH Con, which was a meeting of artists, academics, and scientists came together to share art and ideas. The first Con was held in the US, the second visited a number of locations both internationally and in the US, and the final Con in 2012 visited international and US locations. These days, Glitch Art is relegated to the dark corners of Reddit and groups in Facebook. Yet, the art can be seen everywhere. The commercialization of the ideals of the glitch has lead to it being done and used in more innovative ways. Though, to see it in its principal form, engaging an audience with all of its flaws and frameworks showing, is a great thing. Glitch artists hack images and create whole other ideas by applying four basic techniques:

-Incorrect editing: A file is edited using software not intended for that type of data
-Re-Interpretation: A file is converted from one medium to another
-Sonification: Non-Audio data is introduced to audio data
-Found Errors: Bugs are taken as opportunities and exploited

With the growth of technology and software, there are even glitch emulators, where you can just input whatever you want and create glitch art. Because of this, and the philosophy behind glitch art, there is an ongoing debate as to what constitutes a glitch. Is a forced glitch a "real" glitch, or is it something else? The philosophy dictates that glitches are corruption of data to its core. Is this corruption found only or forced as well? What does this mean for the art? The implications and opportunities within this debate are enormous.

Glitch Art by Benton Rooks

In conclusion, glitch art is created by corrupting data to its core. Glitch is the digital revolt against the aesthetic perfection craved in a culture consumed by upgrading and clean, perfect data. There is no such thing. Deep down in the framework of its core, the data is corruptible. These modern day image hackers are engaging imagery and music in such a way that inherently changes it, and engages the viewer. Glitch art is the avante garde anarchistic noise that hides behind the perfect pixels of every image, waiting to be seen. 

Sources: 

Glitch Studies Manifesto, Rosa Menkman 2010
HZ Journal
Glitch Artists Collective Facebook
Tumblr Glitch Art 
TRETA