University of Lethbridge MFA graduate Marta Blicharz finds the art in errors.
The aesthetic of glitches are the subject of her MFA exhibit, “ Designing the Corrosive Moment,” opening Thursday, April 26 in the Dr. Penny Foster Building (324-5 St. South). The 40 some pieces are the result of two years of research and work.
“I’m pretty much examining  digital glitch aesthetic,”  Blicharz said, painting a wall white for her exhibit.
She noted glitches are a different way to look at photographs.

“Photographs reflect reality. A glitch shows a breakdown of that realism, so I take that aesthetic and change it,” she said adding a glitch can alter the realism depicted in a picture.
“It is also in the context of the end of the world,” she continued.

“When that reality is disrupted, it changes the meaning of the photograph.”

 She found this type of chaos to be very interesting, which is connected to the end of the world theme in some of her works.

“They represent that kind of chaos, and because it is 2012 and people are still interested in the Mayan‘s prediction of the end of the world, it is very interesting. Because glitches are a disruptive force in the end of the world,” she said emphasizing glitches disrupt the image of perfection that photographs can capture.

“Originally glitches occur because of instabilities in the system (technical and software issues),  and they pile up on each other so you can’t predict them,” she continued.
 The exhibit is part of her MFA master’s program.
She spent the first year researching to decide what she wanted to focus on in her second year, and much to her surprise, discovered an entire niche culture dedicated to glitch based art.
“There’s a conference in Chicago Gli.tc/h that is organized every year. I’ve been there, I presented at it,” she continued adding glitch art can be found in everything from music to fashion design.

She became interested in glitch art while studying for her BFA in photography at the University of Calgary.
“My photographs weren’t very satisfactory in my first year. They were very glitchy. So I asked myself ‘how do I replicate these glitches’ and I started to study them,” she continued.
 
Her exhibit examines three different types of glitches — natural glitches which include things like computer and technical errors and the breakdown of VCR tapes, assimilated glitches which occur when she puts a digital photograph into a different program and then adjusting the code to see the effect and stimulated glitches, which occur when she combines several different glitches.

 The result is a variety of different photos including street scenes of cities like Toronto and Amsterdam, animals and family members, an interactive exhibit and a multi-media  presentation.

 

 While there are no before and after photographs, she noted the titles of each work  give hints as to what the orignal was.

 The exhibit opens on Thursday, April 26 from 1-4 p.m., with the opening reception happening on Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m..
 The exhibit runs until April 30.

In other art news this week, catch the University of Lethbridge 2012 Student Studio open house.  It began April 23 but runs until 6 p.m. today (Tuesday, April 24). The reception begins at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free and everybody is invited to attend the event which opens up all of the student studios in the art department.