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Thesis Info

LABS ID
00678
Thesis Title
Glitch Art: Noise as a creative act. Challenging the myth of a perfect technology
Author
Alexandra Speiser
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Master of Arts
Year
2017
Number of Pages
163
University
Donau-Universität Krems
Thesis Supervisor
Christiane Paul
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Language(s) of Thesis
German
Department / Discipline
Fakultät für Bildung, Kunst und Architektur, Zentrum für Bildwissenschaften/ Media Art Histories
Languages Familiar to Author
German, English, Italian
URL where full thesis can be found
permalink.obvsg.at/duk/YC00343742
Keywords
glitch, glitch art, media art, generative art, algorithmic art, noise, error, glitch aesthetic
Abstract: 200-500 words
Glitch Art recognizes and embraces the flaw, the disturbance, the technological glitch, the imperfect. This art form celebrates the full spectrum of disfunction: from electronic disruption in signal transmissions to defects in the digital compression process. The thesis relates the appearance of “flawed” aesthetic to the history of art and the rising popularity of Glitch to historic events. It analyses these disruptive occurrences, these blinks of an eyelid, when disturbances interrupt the logical flow of system processes and reveal the incontrollable gaps between them. These precarious moments manifesting themselves via error codes and static noise are celebrated as art and analyzed from a philosophical, media theoretical and historical perspective. It is the objective of this thesis to explore the development of an aesthetic of such disruption, to analyze its main creative steps in this artistic field, and to link them to the progress of technology within history of art. This paper is a time capsule, the reflection of a current artistic expression observed at today’s status quo. The underlying theme aims to identify the ideas, methodology, concepts, and theories driving Glitch Artists to create a Glitch Aesthetic, to study the philosophical influences elevating this genre to substantive significance, and to assess whether Glitch can represent a medium for a broader art audience. Only those artists and pieces were chosen within the wide-ranging diversity of this genre whose methodology and/or theoretic principles best illustrate the development of this genre.