Video Essay Response
I found Nick Briz' video essays somewhat interesting. It is cool how he encourages people to use computer programs in ways they are not meant to be used just to see what happens. I am still a bit lost as to what other programs you can use besides the text app we used in class to create glitch art though. I was also surprised to see that there is such a big scene behind this form of art. It is not something I have ever heard of or seen before. The aesthetic is not something I am really drawn to but the ideas behind it I do think are fascinating. The aesthetic does not even seem to be the main point of glitch art. It seems to be more about the process. Using software in ways it's not meant to be used. An image that is made to look like glitch art maybe through the use of a filters or photoshop is not technically glitch art because it was not created in the way glitch art is meant to be made.
You're spot on in your realization that the arguments Briz is making are not about a aesthetic, a final product, or a style of art making, rather he is referring to a process—a lens through which we might become more critical and active as consumers and producers of digital media. He makes such an important distinction, as you note, that making an image LOOK like a glitched image—to co-opt the glitch aesthetic—is completely missing the point. The practice is rather interventionist and disruptive in nature in order to challenge the parameters, logic, and private interests of established systems. As our culture becomes more and more reliant on the flow of digital information, and our lines of communication and modes of expression become products of fixed private platforms (think: Adobe, Apple, Facebook, on and on), it is all the more imperative that we find ways to engage with and question these systems as consumers and producers. As Briz says, Apple pitched the iPad as a product that would create total creative/expressive freedom, unless you are interested in engaging with the system itself. I get a sense that there is some dissent in your response to these videos, and I encourage you to express it! These arguments are controversial and require fierce debate! Your written response would benefit from a bit more of a stance.
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