Digital Deconstructionism

The project aims to demonstrate how corrupted digital imagery can be used to communicate the Derridian theory of deconstructionism.

Jacques Derrida proposed the concept of deconstructionism in his book ‘De la Grammatologie’. In this book Derrida proposed a new form of critical analysis, focused not on the themes and imagery of its subject matter but rather on the language and preconceived notions that inspire their creation. This theory states that every concept has an opposing hypothesis. These oppositions are the consequence of cultural understandings and ideological assumptions. Accepted notions attribute intellectual superiority to one half of these pairings. The secondary concept is regarded as a corruption of the purity of its partner. Deconstructionism targets these counter-balances by illustrating how the devalued, negative notion inhabits the essence of the valued, positive one. The purpose is not to destroy these categories but to dismantle them, adjust their structure and alter their functionality. Deconstructionism questions how the external representation of a concept can become part of its internal essence - How the surface can get under the skin.

Databending is the process of deliberately corrupting digital images. This ‘imperfect’ aesthetic bares many of the hallmarks of deconstructionism. Any digital file is a construct of two opposing factors; the ‘truth’ of the viewable image and the ‘falsehood’ of the hidden digital code. By manipulating the data-stream, the reconfigured code becomes an integral part of the resultant glitched image.

The Möbius loop, is a continuous loop containing a half-twist. The twist in the loop transforms a two sided strip into a surface with a single side. In deconstructionist terms, the Möbius loop represents the reconfiguration of the opposing ideas of ‘front’ and ‘back’. The twisted loop is a re-occurring theme in mathematics and physics. The mathematical symbol for infinity (∞) is named lemniscate, meaning “ribbon”. Typesetters originally used he figure 8 on its side to represent this symbol. For this reason, I have used ‘8’ as the structural basis of this project.

The creative outcome derived from this research is an installation consisting of a loop of images representing 64 (8²) pairs of opposing concepts. These pairings are each represented by a digital image in three configurations; original image, code & corruption. The positive and negative attributes of each pairing is signaled by the white (truth) or black (falsehood) area surrounding each image. These paired images move in a figure 8 configuration. On their journey they each appear to pass through a central screen featuring a third concept. This central screen represents the tipping-point of each pairing, a point in the loop inhabited by the deconstructionist reinterpretation of these opposing notions. The resultant imagery is a construct of two digital images, combing the codes of two files using a variety of databending techniques, To underline its deconstructionist nature, the area surrounding the image appears grey – a counter-point to the traditional black and white nature of opposition.

The scale of the project is derived from 8³ – 512 seconds. The installation features 448 hand corrupted digital images. The accompanying audio is the result of corrupting the code of each digital image into sound using sonification. The featured bitmap font was designed and built based on a 7 x 5 grid