Destructurations

The following paragraphs consider artistic approaches that produce and/or transform digital images by taking advantage of – and sometimes by provoking – errors or malfunctions of the computer system. The associated works find their impetus at the moment when a destructuration, spontaneous or induced, pulls the technological system out of its “normal” behavior, forcing it to act “off-program.” These destructuring strategies can target elements external to the image – such as compression codecs – as well as its internal structure, and also the symbolic and material layers that underlie the sensible level. The analysis of the works will conclude with paragraphs that seek to identify overall features of these approaches of destructuration, while the introduction that follows aims to situate these digital works within the tradition of destructuring, craft-based and analog artistic approaches.