Glitch Art: Noise as a Creative Act: Challenging the Myth of a Perfect Technology

Abstract

Glitch Art is a plea for the flawed, for the technological lapse, for the imperfect. This art form celebrates the variety of the error: from electronic disruption and incomplete signal transmissions to digital compression defects. In this thesis the appearance of an error aesthetic in art history in general and the rising popularity of Glitch Art in particular is related to historically relevant events. Those moments are analyzed in which malfunctions disturb the logic of systems and uncontrollable gaps become visible. The unstable moments which manifest themselves through errors and noises and which are celebrated in the form of art are illuminated from a philosophical, media theoretical and historical perspective. The goal of this thesis was to explore the development of an error aesthetic, to analyze the main steps in this artistic field, and to link them to the progress of technology. This paper is a time capsule, the reflection of a current statement of artistic practice as seen from today’s status quo. The underlying theme was to find out which ideas, concepts, methods and theories drive Glitch Artists to define a Glitch Aesthetic, to study which philosophical influences lift this genre up to a higher significance, and to finally find the answer to the question whether Glitch can be a medium for a broader audience. From the diversity of artists and pieces within this genre thosemake visible the development of this genre