Re: Shapes + Noise (cont'd)
← Shapes
Eventually, the work began to include animation and video. Vibrating, frenetic organic forms were made from simple animations affected with various “glitch” apps (most notably, Hyperspektiv). While the apps’ effects usually mimicked the aesthetic of degraded video media (VHS, digital compression, etc.), my animations were stripped of any recognizable forms, leaving only the artifacts of compression and digital effects, the subject becoming degradation itself. Here, my look at noise became about its creation, and how ideas change as they are repeatedly consumed and regurgitated.
My inquiry into consumption became about the politics of noise:
What constitutes media content being noise?
Is “escapist” content a bad thing?
Does it matter that it’s digital?
To me, noise is an artifact of efforts toward a different end. Ads are intended to sell things, but become noise when they fail in achieving their purpose. Noise could be content intended for an audience’s escape, or that doesn’t challenge existing perspectives or introduce new ones. It is easily digestible and can be either satisfying or maddening, depending on one’s exposure and if it is content of the user’s choosing. In other words, the definition of noise depends on taste (a realization sobering in its simplicity).
Escapist content, however, does not depend on taste, but is instead hinged on a person’s motivation for consumption. Escape is only detrimental to the extent that it prevents or replaces meaningful engagement (with the self, others, the world…).
That content consumed is digital only matters insofar as that content is accessible. Internet access in the home is often determined by socioeconomic status, as was television before it. The difference is the relative speed at which information now travels and changes, and that we each have a voice in the larger discourse, provided we have access to tools for creating and viewing digital media.
This body of work began as a reaction to the consumption of noise. Over time, it was as much about the creation of noise, the artifacts of compression and remixing, and the distilling/distorting of ideas spread digitally.
