Document:Q10886

Digital data does not contain its own interpretation; it is a nebulous thing, granted a frame of reference only by the external programs that interpret it. Glitchometry abandons the protective layer these programs give, to manipulate data directly. It is both a freeing and frustrating experience.
In Glitchometry, each image begins as one or a few squares or circles. They are sonified -- imported into an audio editor. Sound effects are added to individual color channels, transforming the image. Because the tools are misused, there is no immediate way to monitor the effect. The image manipulator has a sense of what each effect does (Flanger creating bands across the image, certain Reverbs creating a Moire effect), but no precise control over the result. Many factors irrelevant to sound manipulation come into effect when visuals are the output: size of the file, density of color information. It is a wrestling with the computer, taking place over many iterations on the same image.