Whether you call it databending or datamoshing, both methods when considered programmatically represent the same methodology.Īnother newer example of what is now dubbed glitch art is the algorithmic process known as pixel sorting - which has nothing to do with chance or accident and everything to do with standard image processing. In the end I quite like the effect I was able to achieve.ĭatamoshing is yet another term which is really no different than databending - the deliberate corruption of the data that defines an image or a video. I created Classic Chevy Auto Glitch by feeding a photograph into Audacity and running several audio filters on the file.

An example of this can be seen in one of my own artworks. Audacity algorithms created to produce a desired effect when processing an audio file - their intended target - will produce quite another effect when applied to an image file. There is nothing new or novel about this - digital artists have long made use of random number functions as a proxy for creativity in the creation of digital art.Īnother popular databending technique is to use software like Audacity, a program created for editing audio files, to manipulate an image file's data. Alternatively, I could write a program that randomly changes the bits and bytes in a file. An example of such a change is simply using a binary file editor (hex editor) to manually edit the file's data values.

By formalized, I refer to the introduction of deliberate techniques like databending, datamoshing, and other forms of algorithmic manipulation like pixel sorting.ĭatabending, for example, is about editing the information contained within the digital file that is used to define an image or photograph. In particular electronic artists, aka new media artists, aka digital artists have now formalized the creation of glitch art. So too has the definition of what constitutes glitch art. So Night Glitch clearly qualifies as an example of glitch art.Īs time has passed, the techniques used to create glitch art have expanded. Turning to Wikipedia, glitch art is defined as: the practice of using digital or analog errors for aesthetic purposes by either corrupting digital data or physically manipulating electronic devices. Look up the definition of the word glitch and you will see that it means a defect or malfunction or error or problem in a machine or a system or a plan. The concept of glitch allowed me to capitalize on my corrupted file. I don't know how or when it happened but data in the file for an abstract photograph I had taken became corrupted and the image above was the surprise that greeted me when I opened that file in a photo viewer.

Pixel sorter glitch effect photoshop