nature.parentNode

I was heavily influenced by Takeshi Murata and Jeremy Blake’s work when creating nature.parentNode. It is a digital work that uses the technique of datamoshing to combine video and images in a destructive aesthetic. Photographs of ice and snow are superimposed on a woman who slowly emerges into view. The images accompany a recitation of Robert Frost’s poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The piece provokes a feeling of solemnity through the combination of audio and video.

The technique of datamoshing was a way for me to meld the two images together. In this case, the second video of the figure  becomes a part of nature. As the figure moves and bend to speak, the nature follows as one.

Jeremy Blake’s work contained a narrative that could be followed. His work also had a nostalgia that came through with his technique and subject matter. The recitation of the poem by Robert Frost combined with the audio track added a narrative to this piece. It gives the video a timeline in which the audience can follow. Viewers are led through this short story to leave them with a feeling of something warm, familiar, and slightly disturbing.

The Art of Datamoshing

Datamoshing is a technique that manipulates the frames in a compressed video. Compressed video is made up of several kinds of frames.

Key frames, or I-frames, are frames that usually occur in the beginning of a new scene. These frames contain mostly new information, or information that cannot be compressed. Then we have the in between frames, also referred to as p-frames. These frames contain information that has changed from the previous frame and are used to construct the next frame.

“I P and B frames” by Petteri Aimonen

The technique of datamoshing involves removing key frames and manipulating transition frames to achieve a unique glitch aesthetic.

This post is an effort to guide through and simplify the process of datamoshing using free tools.

A Look At Jeremy Blake & Takeshi Murata

Jeremy Blake and Takeshi Murata are both artists that use computers to create digital works. The computers being a metamedium, a medium in which contains “already existing and non-yet-invented media.” They create works that have a very unique aesthetic by utilizing and exploiting specific digital techniques.

Jeremy Blake’s work incites a surreal nostalgia. Looking at the work reminds me of a sequence of memories, each stitched together in a narrative. His style was created when culture underwent a continuity turn. This was a time when “both the temporal visual form of graphic cinema and the spatial form of architecture started to explore the new universe of continuous change and transformation”. Architects started to create works in which spaces weren’t necessarily divided and filmmakers understood film as a continuously changing visual form. Winchester Redux has no cuts or flash transitions between scenes. Instead, images are slowly fading in and out of view. This creates a very dream-like aesthetic.

Takeshi Murata uses a technique that is now called datamoshing. This technique takes advantage of how videos are compressed and exploits this to manipulate and break the video in a way that a computer might if something went wrong. Pink Dot is a work with a variable form, a form in which all constants are instead variable. The variables are being tweaked and changed as a function of time. This creates a unique aesthetic that can be appreciated and observed indefinitely.

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Manovich, Lev. “Understanding Hybrid Media.” in: Lev Manovich Official Website. 2007.

Nested Red – Sinthushan S. 2014

Exploring the theme of identity and creating Nested Red was a form of self reflection for me. I had to evaluate my sense of self to create a work that encompassed a part of my identity.

It is a digital work presented in a light box with a red window that can be manipulated to hide the portrait, revealing a wire frame of a face. The red window takes advantage of the light to successfully create a seamless hidden message as seen above.

The use of the red reveal technique represents a duality in identity. The wire frame suggests a base or fundamental form but also suggests something inhuman. The viewer simultaneously views both perspectives of identity as one, but continues to constantly shift between perspectives.

© 2014 Sin2

My intention when creating this work was to take advantage of the looping nature of the Gif. I borrowed elements from Sci-Fi films and created a being of questionable origin. Coupled with a familiar, warm and inviting setting, I wanted to ease the viewer and have them build a relationship with the unknown entity. After each iteration, fear and anxiety slowly turns to wonder and curiosity as the viewer gets to know their new friend.