Reading Reflection, Week 2

The interplay between order and chaos in art is certainly a must when it comes to modern day art, especially art that is created digitally. I would argue that the usage of randomness and order definitely depends on the context of the art piece itself, which could determine whether the artist should obey every drawing/sketching principle or go full dice mode and rely on randomness of outcomes.

For my own work this week, I am already in the process of creating an ordered set of rectangles and employing an effect of “data moshing.” Data Moshing is a technique in which the footage is manipulated to look ‘trippy’ or ‘glitchy,’ usually by manual compression (see reference)

The idea of data mosh is usually very random as it takes random pixel ranges from the screen and offsets them, creating a gltchy effect that confuses the brain for a split second then it gets processed by it. The idea of my work is for the user to have a sense of what the art piece was before the moshing begins, then over time, the image would distort and gets moshed into a glitchy image shaped by the randomness of how pixels are shifting. Then, I am to add interactivity by resetting the effect. I would like to think about this art piece as how mental problems affect coherence of our brains, and the user interactivity advocates for mental health awareness and to try to combat and fight those mental problems and not let them consume our “order and coherence” over time.

I think for the purpose of my art piece, this balance between order and chaos is seamless, as shifting the balance to any of the binary directions would result in a different message or would not convey my thoughts accurately.

 

-Mustafa Bakir

Assignment 1, Self Portait

Concept

My concept originated from a visa picture I took when I was applying for my J-term.

Struggles

I made this sketch when I enrolled in the class before attending a single session, so it was pretty hard for me to be familiarized with p5 despite me having prior coding experience, so making elements like the body and hair was very tough.

Reflection and future improvements

I need to be more familiar with p5, especially with making more complex shapes like hair and body. For the next assignment I will watch tutorials and spend exponentially more time on practicing and playing around with the sketch.