The word glitch was first recorded in English during the American space programme in 1962, when John Glenn used the term to describe a recurring technical problem; 'literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical current' (Glenn, 2000). In contemporary visual culture the glitch is not merely a technical malfunction, but some kind of unstable image, one that moves or changes, morphs or crosses screens, shifts in and out of different contexts, turns into data, turns into audio, and back again.
In a seminal essay In Defence of the Poor Image (2009) the filmmaker and theorist Hito Steyerl writes:
'Poor images . . . testify to the violent dislocation, transferrals, and displacement of images—their acceleration and circulation within the vicious cycles of audiovisual capitalism. Poor images are dragged around the globe as commodities or their effigies, as gifts or as bounty. They spread pleasure or death threats, conspiracy theories or bootlegs, resistance or stultification. Poor images show the rare, the obvious, and the unbelievable—that is, if we can still manage to decipher it'.
This course proposes that glitching and unstable images should be taken seriously, and as Steyerl suggests, may be 'decoded' to reveal aspects of the political unconscious of our societies. Students will read work by Guy Debord on the Spectacle, by Hito Steyerl on the contemporary condition of the image, and by Laura Kurgan on satellite imagery and other forms of military image making.
Students will explore the world of glitching and unstable images and their place in contemporary visual culture. They will will contribute to the course by gathering relevant examples, identifying tools and sharing knowledge for the production of video essays.
Assessment will take the form of a written essay and a short video essay, which will be posted on this course website
Glenn, J., 2000, in American Heritage Dictionary 4th Ed
Steyerl, H., 2009, In Defence of the Poor Image, in e-flux journal #10. November 2009.