WorldCrash.img

(2019) automated interactive installation; practical part of the master's thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana, SI

artist: Nejc Trampuž
mentorship: Peter Rauch, Peter Koštrun (Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana, SI)
programming: Srđan Prodanović

The project is the practical part of the master's thesis titled Error as a Transformative Method (Academy of Fine Arts and Design, 2019). I question and invert the perception of error; instead of seeing it as an unwanted deviation, I treat it as a tool that can be used to discover new territories and achieve entirely unexpected outcomes.

I take error (a deviation from the path toward a set goal) as the central element of a method (a procedure for achieving a specific objective). By provoking an error within a functioning system, I ensure a result and manage the paradox that arises when attempting to methodize error. I focus on the technological error, the glitch, which occurs when a digital image file becomes corrupted; in such cases, the code (the text) that encodes the image is damaged. If one deliberately intervenes in the code—gradually replacing part of one file's code with that of another—it becomes possible to observe how, through error and glitch, an animated transformation occurs from one image to another.

The interactive installation (with thanks to programmer Srđan Prodanović for his assistance in execution) is based on this principle and explores the influence of technology on society, as well as how our society—subordinate to a consumerist system driven by constant growth—affects our environment and nature, and, consequently, ourselves. The installation continuously captures footage from unsecured online cameras, encompassing a wide range of artificial and natural landscapes, industrial sites, cities, roads, hidden corners, bars, animals, religious structures, and more—though, ironically, humans appear only rarely. The images transition between one another in the animated manner described earlier. Sound is also present, responding to the visuals, and a number of extensions are envisioned, awaiting implementation.