Hasta La Ideas

A Chicago convention explores artistic failures of the digital world

The upshot to digital failure, GLI.TC/H is a conference on noise and new media that sees artists from around the world gathering for a weekend packed with lectures, workshops, discussions, screenings and more. The second iteration, happening this weekend in Chicago, will explore topics like how to crack, break, hack, pirate and otherwise alter digital media. After Chicago, the celebration will move on to Amsterdam and then Birmingham, UK.

Accompanying the physical conference is an extensive Internet component accessible though their website. We had a bit of fun playing around with GLI.TC/H online, which includes a wiki page with primers on databending, an explanation of the project, a history of glitch art, and some glitch theory. The main page, while hilariously difficult to navigate, does link out to an exhibition, a schedule of events, an impressive flickr page and T.RASHB.IN, a bank of community-sourced images, some of which were used for this post.

A program called extrafile allows users to play with image file formats, and has been made available for download. To promote the event, supporters have produced a series of video “bumpers,” which showcase the glitch ethos in action. We recommend you all head over to the site soon to explore the material before GLI.TC/H disappears for another year. Cool Hunting has been tracking glitch art for a few years now, and it’s nice to see the community organizing an event of this scale.