Self-directed research essay

"It is the vanishing point of now-here is the same time a no-where."
Amidst a variety of constantly floating icebergs of interests and main observations I will try to highlight the recent themes of on-going work and frameworks for future works I have started. I will reflect on certain themes and on-going research/ studies on privacy and depicting the growing ambiguity towards the rules and regulations in the public domain. Through the tangibility of the digital image and the re-evaluation of the “poor images”, I will reflect upon the broad field of glitch theories.

"The pulse of RealTime orients the life of every citizen.
Eating, resting, going to work, getting married—every act is tied to Real Time.
And every act leaves a trace of data—a footprint in the snow of noise.
The New Machine monitors these data traces to ensure that all is well."

Urban planting

Urban planting” is a social intervention in a public space or an action –that aims to provoke a reaction.

I took a plant—a common interior feature and placed it out of its context at the Rotterdam Centraal metro station. I intentionally positioned it in the middle of the sidewalk where it frequently became an object of illumination by numerous fluorescent lights and CCTV cameras. I found myself and my nondescript form of intervention in the spotlight: overexposed, monitored and investigated. Thereby neither the absurdity of the object by itself, nor the audience’s bare reaction were central; instead, it was the authority’s (in particular the security’s) response that became the main event/action.

The intervention was provoked by an analysis of the rhythm of space and time and how the "rhythm", in this sense "the enclosed system" can be triggered, changed and even glitched. On the other hand, the project reflects upon the Foucauldian notion that we are constantly exposed to surveillance. Under the watchful eye of a number of CCTV cameras, we have become the ultimate object of observation, monitoring, targeting and recording. My attempt to interfere with a system while questioning the aspect of enclosure and the public–private spaces divide can be linked to the “Faceless” project where interdisciplinary media artists Manu Luksch and Mukul Patel investigate surveillance, privacy and regulations of public space. "Faceless" is described as a CCTV sci-fi fairy-tale narrative or visual essay which serves as a continuous journey of figures moving into public space. The video consists of diverse CCTV footage, where the faces of the protagonists are replaced by large dots and an abstract voiceover is superimposed. The “Faceless” project is a poetic, philosophical and artistic interpretation of the idea of mass surveillance. It explores the blurred boundaries between public–private, The Machine–the machine's operator and time–RealTime interconnections. We see the notion of RealTime which orients the life of every citizen and "The Machine" as the ultimate tool which operates at an invisible, unethical level—tracing, dating and archiving the data in RealTime—the current time of being.

Disrupted practices

"Disrupted practices" is a representation of an on going visual search.

The website documents a series of experiments with analog and digital signal in the form of hardware and software intervention. It aims to keep track of recent changes and explore the field of visual distortion, glitch, signal – found or appropriated. By studying the noise of the transmitting or receiving digital or analog signal in the form of the physical intersection of a CRT TV, I transformed the osculate medium to an oscilloscope—a simple audio-visual instrument. There the abstract, reduced of the signal is broken down to the essential element: Light. The VGA customized adaptor serves the same purpose of experimenting and exploring the channels of the digital signal. It is a customized adaptor and vice versa a controller. It controls/ deforms the transmitted and received colors (RGB) of the digital signal from the VGA adaptor. The video is 2'15 long and represents a documentation of the actual mediation. An artistic reference and inspiration could be seen in “Luminant Point Arrays” by the photographer Stephan Tillmans. The work is a series of photographs of old tube televisions taken at the very exact moment when they are switched off and the image breaks down into abstraction. The TV used mainly as a prime communication channel now exhales, in a way a metaphor for the transition to digital broadcasting.  The TV provided artists with an opportunity to experiment in new and alienating ways. From Nan June Paik the medium has become an essential link to the video art of the '60s to Carsten Nicolai’s Telefunken (2000) the audio tracks are translated into abstract images then transformed into an interactive percussion performance via the Jazz Band of Braun Tube of Ei Wada (2006).

Underneath this scope of interests is the fragility of the digital image – or break in the underlining source code. I had an overview of a variety of glitch theories where the malfunction/ the error conveys a certain notion of failure of the technology. (exploring the boundaries of either software or hardware errors)
Upon close reflection on the essay, I found an inner connection between glitch theory and its claim of new aesthetics and the “poor images” described by the filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl. She draws an abstract, rather metaphorical and philosophical notion of the dematerialization of the digital image in a broader context. Poor image is defined as the bastard of the original image or the compressed, reduced, reproduced and remixed image. The poor images are seen as digital trash that fails to satisfy the promises of "Quality"/ the notion of the so-called audioVisual capitalism. This means establishing a monopoly among the class of images: high-resolution, immersive and seductive by their nature; on the other hand, the glitch images imply the fetish of the failure of the technology or visibility. The poor images are variables—varying from artistic, experimental to pornographic, extreme or amateur. (low or high class)  Moreover, they are victims of infinite recombinations, remixes and appropriations. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Recombination" by Joe de Mul serves as theoretical reference for this purpose. Inevitably, the exhibition value has been lost but there is partly a revival of the "cult"—the aura of the transient copy. Poor images however, inherit different value or exchange value. They entail accessibility or high speed and wide range of distribution, re-usability and share-ability which enables participation and modification. Thus, the circulation of the poor images functions as an industry where the users are engaged with the creation, the production and the distribution of the content. Therefore, the border between the producer, the audience and the author is dissolved. "Users became the editor, critics, translators and (co)-authors of poor images."

Attempt to formulate methodology - sill in process
My methodology often stems from a visual approach or a predefined “pictorial” outcome of the chosen subject of research. Often the process-based method leads me to create or shift into another direction or ultimately becomes the actual work. “Text source of thoughts” or research-based method entails influential texts I would go back and forth referring to or disproving. I believe research is an inevitable part of the process that reflects on understanding the subject matter. However, this method could be blocking and liberating at the same time. The text informs the work and structuralizes it in a coherent way. “Space real-virtual intersections” – this is the place where I have to define to what extend I will incorporate the internet, the virtuality (as a source of thoughts) into my practice. Contextualize images using already existing source – combine, recombine, compare, match, mismatch and can they lead to different interpretations? Can my work take more complex form of online-offline back to online (which does not necessary mean “net art” practices)? I will stay offline and work with time-based media / images to create an experience where the perception of the viewer is central.

"Faceless project" voice over. Manu Luksch and Mukul Patel " pdf
In defense of the poor Image e-flux. Hito Steyerl
"The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Recombination”. Jos de Mul
"Online Video Aesthetics or the Art of Watching Databases" Networks Without a Cause. Geert Lovink (to write an annotation)