After reading the articles Digital Dualism and the Glitch Feminism Manifesto as well as Queer/Error: Gay Media Systems and Processes of Abjection, I found it interesting that we can compare computers/technology with other aspects of life. I also feel that these articles show how glitch can be based on opinion. Nothing can be considered a perfect system to everyone. There will always be someone who disagrees, and a lot of the time, those people would call what they deem as disagreeable as a “glitch”, because in most minds, a glitch is something negative. With the case of combining Queer and Error, this type of thinking is probably within many homophobic minds. They may believe queerness to be an error in the system (or body in this case), and that it is something meant to be fixed. But many others see it as something beautiful and to be accepted. And I believe that since our society is taught to believe glitch is something wrong, those open minded people are more than likely to not define Queerness as a glitch. But if we think about it, glitch goes against the societal norms, and shows the breaks in the “normal” system people once agreed upon. It also brings to light unpopular opinions. So can we define queerness as a glitch and not think of it as negative, but as something natural and beautiful in the system? Can the idea of glitch have a different meaning for someone when compared to Queerness, depending on the opinion of that person?
Glitch Feminism
In Digital Dualism and the Glitch Feminism Manifesto, Legacy Russell writes, “The glitch is the happy accident.” This is similar to what has been said about glitch in many of the other readings because it notes the subversive aspect of purposeful or accepted error, as well as the idea of something new being born out of an accident. However, for Russell, this idea is profoundly sexual. She goes on to assert that, because glitch is an error in a system, glitch feminism within a patriarchy is simultaneously subversive and positive in its use of, “error.”
Feminist/Queer Glitch
Both the feminist and queer glitch manifestos dealt with the idea that we are breaking away from the societal norm and creating something for ourselves. The feminist manifesto talks about how rather than viewing glitch as an error, it is a way to escape and a new platform for people to fight for equality. The manifesto discusses how digital is perfect for that in relation to porn and sex. Just like how foreplay in sex makes us ready to seize what we want, teasing us, a glitch in the digital, ie. The spinning beach ball of doom, the hourglass, buffers, etc, has the same effect. The normal continuous world is not what excites us. It is the little buffers and glitches that stop us from getting what we want, that invigorates us. Similarly, the queer manifesto asserts that we should go against society in order to believe in what we believe is right. We should not be accepting what we are told to believe or do what we are told to do, but rather act on our own beliefs. We should be willing to break the rules and standards of society. The article discusses about how the government went through extreme lengths in order to contain normality within the society under their rules such as raiding gay clubs. This just comes to show that we are living in a society that is strictly managed by what we consider social norms and that we should also be breaking away from these norms in order to truly express ourselves. We should be the glitches in society that aren’t errors, but beautiful creations.
Glitching is the happy incident
Through the readings, I understand how unique people present themselves by Glitch Art. To be perverted, is to be in error. Representing in the error is the way for homosexual people to show up themselves to the society. They use their body with art in order to express their deepest fantasies and desire. Glitch becomes a way for them to self-expresson, and they no longer hide their sexual orientation. Instead of showing up the uniqueness of homosexual bodies directly, the artists utilizes them with glitch art. The mistakes they applied on the picture make them become more special and beautiful. Whether gay, lesbian, or porn stars, who are labeled particularly by the society, suffer different level of pressure from themselves, their family, or the society. The glitch splits the difference, and makes the difference become accepted. Creating error on the picture of the physical body of such special people, the viewers are able to see their deep mind through the art work, which is holding the love and bliss of being different.
Queer and Feminist Glitch
These two articles tackle two of the most hotbed social problems facing the United States today. Gender and sexual equality. Rather than the normal arguments for or against, these articles take an approach toward an alternative idea. How can glitch and glitch art be applied to these two communities? To feminists, glitch is an opportunity to say “fuck the systems” and move away from the choking patriarchy that has dominated society for generations. It is a way to move feminism into the digital age; a new frontier to fight the fight for equality on. Glitch is an opportunity to see the world outside the normal binary, black and white view of a digitized society and rather see the possibility of fluidity in gender and hopefully accept something different not as inherently wrong but rather as planned and uniquely beautiful. Queer error, on the other hand is a rather abject story on the gay community in relation to media and glitch. As the government feared for control they looked to marginalize an already marginalized community to wield power and keep “the old ways” in play. By raiding the clubs known to be frequented by queer people the government are mongering fear and taking advantage. In addition, by failing to recognize and portray the issues involved with an HIV/AIDS positive test, the main stream gay media – attempting to stay relevant and survive – severely neglected the needs of those needing help. Just not looking at something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. By sweeping it under the rug they were able to save their own asses, while dooming countless others over lack of awareness and treatment.
The Glitch Manifesto
This reading on glitch by Legacy Russell made me think about glitch in a different way. It was interesting when she was talking about glitch with sex and porn. In today’s we as a culture have high demands for immediacy. Our society functions in a way that attempts to be the most sufficient. When our familiarity with our systems are disrupted it causes tension for example a buffering video will make us writhe with the desire for a video to play already. This is even more the case in terms of pornography. Someone watches porn because they are excited and seeking a release. When a video buffers this glitch is teasing your desires bringing out a reaction in the viewer. The glitch has the ability to hide what we desire to see. This reading was in line with what we have been learning in class that glitches exist to disrupt the system. Overall this article had an interesting perspective when talking about glitch.
Queer Glitch and Feminsm
The glitch feminism manifesto states” The glitch is the catalyst, not the error. The glitch is the happy accident. When the computer freezes mid-conversation, when the video buffers and refuses to progress, these moments are a new mode of foreplay, something that needs to be acknowledged not as a fetish, but as a new possibly for foreplay within sexual routine. We want what we cannot have; whatever the material we are aiming to access, the glitch makes us wait and whimper for it.” I found this quote to be rather fascinating, the idea of buffering due to unstable connections or an error in the network being part of the experience is something I never considered, but I do understand the concept. Sometimes the anticipation for something to load arouses or excites us since we know what desire is loading. Its a form of foreplay between the digital and the user.
Also the idea that glitch feminism is a way of breaking away from the patriarchy is something I’m interested in. I believe that it is of vital importance that we break away from this mold of what we expect women to be like. The system needs to be changed it needs to be glitched, and as the glitch manifesto said, it is important to break away from the standards and norms that are implemented from society. These social constructs are just a way of separating people and pitting people against each other. We need to glitch and change the system in order to be able to create a great change in the world where everyone is truly equal, and treated justly.
As for the queer error article, I found it rather sad that there raiding gay clubs. It seems that the government truly has a problem with those that try to abstract from what they want us to do. The government is constantly trying to control our lives and invade our privacy, and I think this is wrong. We should be allowed to break boundaries and create change. The only way to change society is to glitch it, and go against what the patriarchal people in power want us to believe. Also idealogies being sold to us, we are constantly targeted ads its as if they want us to live a lifestyle they have set for us. But I am completely against this. I wanna break the boundaries and redefine film and high art and high fashion. I wanna create something that abstracts from the norm and critiques the disgusting world we live in, I wish to give people of colour and those in the lgbtq community a chance to be properly represented. I am mexican and grew up in a bad neghbourhood, lot of gangs and what not, I could of easily accepted my life in the hood and do what is expected from mexicans. However I decided to glitch what was expected from me and go to uni and create a change, make films, documentaries, high art and high fashion. I wanted to glitch away from east la and the gangs and the violence. I just want to create beautiful things for the world to enjoy.
Revealing Errors
I found this chapter to be rather interesting since it looks into how errors occur due to technology constantly changing or technology not being the same across nations. It was interesting how keyboards differ and cause errors while typing. I can completely agree with that, even with the mention of sms errors and leading to text talk. I’m constantly mistyping words on my computer or on my phone due to typing to fast or the keyboard not sensing my inputs in the correct order. This often leads to words that make it seem as if a dyslexic wrote them. Also the idea of google and other websites changing and editing the content and written words without author’s consent is rather intriguing. I had no idea this occured but changing things like ass to butt is kinda weird in my opinion. Its as if they are trying to control the way we use language. I also believe that with the rise of emojis and texting it has created something similar to newspeak as mentioned in the novel 1984. Things like memes and shortening words or using images to represent words or actions is having a rather interesting change on the use of our language. Text and internet slang and emojis seem to be universal, and that is rather fascinating.
A Glitch About Nothing
A Glitch About Nothing
Abstract:
The name of our art installation is “ A Glitch about Nothing.” The project will involve the glitching and distortion of the series, “Seinfeld.” The content that will be glitched will be a variety of images, video, and sound as well. The reason for this is to be able to capture the very essence of the show, while manipulating to become something slightly different. The purpose of gitch is not only to distort or create a certain aesthetic, although glitch is a great way of doing creating an aesthetic, glitch gives us a insight on the boundaries and limitations of software or hardware. As technology pushes forward, so does the idea of glitch. Seinfeld is often described as a show about nothing. At the time that seinfeld came out, the comedy sitcom genre was defined in a different manner. However Seinfeld appeared and broke away from the mold of the family sitcom that had been heavily present in television since its very beginning. “ Dispute the operating templates of creative practice. Fight genres, interfaces and expectations!” However although it broke away from the elements of the family sitcom, it still managed to maintain some of them. In a sense Seinfeld glitched the idea of the sitcom. Seinfeld is described as a show about nothing. So it is going to be rather interesting to glitch something out of “nothing”. Our project will depict and glitch this beloved series. It will immerse the viewer through the use of visual and audio.
Process & Method
The very first part of our project will involve presenting the cast of the series. The characters the series that we will be presenting are Jerry Seinfeld, Elaine Benes, George Constanza, Cosmo Kramer and Newman, the most beloved enemy in the series, and his role is actually quiet fascinating. Seinfeld consists of 9 seasons and 180 episodes. This allows and opens up the possibility of doing countless edits, due to the high amount of content we can have. We will gather iconic clips and glitch them up and form a compilation or clip show like thing. We can glitch theme songs for each character. We try to apply a theme for each character, according to their roles in the show, and they movement and voices.
Besides editing in after effects we could also use premiere. However I suggested the use of vhs and Bobby expanded on it by glitching the end result. A glitch will be glitched. Expanding on Bobby’s idea, after we complete our glitched videos, we can transfer them onto a vhs. Once it is in a vhs tape, the fun begins. If time allows we can further manipulate and corrupt the film of the tape and manually edit. We can then use CRT’s in our installation if we decide to present it in this format, if not we can use a projector and ideally get 5 walls, if that’s possible.
Violet has a wonderful aesthetic and we can apply the way she uses colour and glitches it in a almost post impressionist way. Violet’s technique brings out the pixels, the fine bits, it could be compared to the works of pointillism artists.
As we progress technologically, we seem to lost contact with each other. Technology although pushing the boundaries of what is possible tomorrow, it also acts as a wall that divides people. I wish to remind people of a time where we weren’t all glued to our phones, and where not everything could be solved with an app. We live in a world, where “there is an app for that” is a advertising tag line. The use of technology in seinfeld is also very interesting, although technology is portrayed and displayed throughout the show, it never is used as a solution, on the contrary it seems to cause even more problems. Which end up resulting in a many comedic scenarios. The show ultimately manages to give the viewer an in depth look at this other world.
As for the roles of our group, each of us will apply our own aesthetic to different mediums. Seeing how violet’s image edits had a very unique look to them, she will be applying this to the different portraits of the cast members. Violet will also be doing some of the sound and audio edits of our instillation. Seeing how Bobby and Miguel are more familiar with the content of the series, they are working on gathering the video content as well editing it. Due to their being nine seasons, and around 20 episodes per season, it is a lot of content to go through. It is much easier for someone who is familiar with the content to be able to choose what scenes best represent the cast members and their character. The video content will go attached with the portraits of each character and will be used in order to present the audience with an idea of how the series and characters interact in their world. Seeing how there is a lack of an important plot line, and it’s the character interactions that make the show so great. .
To begin, the plot points and characters are well very mundane, on their own the scenarios present aren’t anything out of the ordinary. There is nothing about the plot that makes the show what it is. Instead the series focuses on the delivery and the reaction to the scenarios to create a comedic effect. Also its introduction of various characters over the years is rather fascinating, they managed to create a whole universe, an immersive world, that seems possible to coexist with our very own. The continuity in the series is consistent, with a lot of jokes calling back to previous episodes without acknowledging them, it’s up to the viewer to understand. The show truly is about nothing, although there was 9 seasons, and several plot lines develop over it, there is no definite “goal” or reason for the story. However the reason for this that, the show covered so many topics, it is rather difficult to pinpoint which of the topics or ideas explored define it. The show ultimately breaks away from every other show, in the sense that there is no deeper meaning to it, there is no symbolism, or idealism. The cast is shown to go through hard times and fun times, but in the end, everything is well, the cast moves on forward, whether the plot or problem is solved or not.
This is another example of how the series breaks away from the mold of the standard sitcom. There is no reason for the viewer to stayed glued to their seats, there is nothing to gain out of simply binge watching the show, not that it isn’t worthy of binge watching. But if one looks at the content for what it truly is, it’s rather surprising and interesting how they manage to capture an audience using the format they do. The viewer isn’t binging for a romantic plot line, or any other long story arc. However, the comedy and the writing are what makes it a joy to watch. For this very reason, glitching Seinfeld will be a very interesting thing to do. Seeing how there is no story to be told in the content itself. Once we glitch it, its meaning and purpose becomes defined by our intentions, if we happen to have any.
We will be responsible for glitching each character in Seinfeld, and do it bases on each character’s characteristic. Since Violet am not that familiar with this TV as Robert and Miguel, she will first watch some of the episodes they recommend, and then pick her favorite one to work on. Each of us will be responsible on multiple clips. Since this show is “a show about nothing.” All the characters are normal people in the daily life. We can find their characteristics even in ourselves. Therefore, we will try to glitch each character with a style to distinguish each of him.
Most of the scenes in Seinfeld is composed of conversation, so there are many shot/reverse shot in each episode. We have an idea that glitch each character’s background with a similar glitch effect, so each character has a recognizable glitch background, and this will have an impressive effect in the shot/reverse conversation scene.
Since this is a comedy sitcom, there are a lot of non-diegetic audience laughing sound. We are also interested to glitch those laughing voices when we are glitching the episode or clip. We can try to lower or higher the pitch of those sound, or add band effect to distort it. Also, glitching the lines of the characters is interesting too. Highing or lowing voiceline of each will make them become recognizable. For the installation, we should try to find a widescreen to play our glitched episode of Seinfeld. With a paper model of each model and poster of the title as decoration. At the end of the day is it going to be a rather fascinating work of art that can properly represent Seinfeld to the unknown viewer.
This is my midterm
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