Data Bending

In today's class we focused on data bending. Usually employed in 'Glitch Art', data bending allows for the manipulation of the information within a media file. Just like how an effects pedal can manipulate the sound created through an amplifier when an electric guitar is played, there are a number of ways we can manipulate the way an image looks.

The above images were manipulated by changing and editing the text information of the image in a computer app called Text Edit.

Original Image

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Example of .txt file

‹[V”Ùÿ!p ∑
'uÓ h˛gÚ¨Yˇ„ˇ∫k´Ò7¸å7øDˇ—kYVvM æUN2©Œ˙ ÿ<cú‰˙÷˜ÜÙ ÕQ[KB#@ Mp JDøfi>§Ù ©<V$_x˛ Ï? ø„◊Qˇ∞Öø˛ÄıÕJ
rQg≥åƒK BU!ø˘ï|E‚+_ Èüä¯lò•å ¥›,Åö6# 3fif˛&ËÉÂ^sè8¬Ì †≠ˇÅø˛Ñ‘·˜ ˚«˘T‘ìì:0xh—•¶ÆZ∂˜gg∂Ê;O Ÿ˘ß x‰ÅOmà ?ï} À”Øóº1ˇ#Fìˇ_±:˙å˝ÛıÆ™ Û˘Ã Æ•› 2 s“∞|cßi¯WQµ∆K¿¿ | ËçSøˇè)›5µœ ¯ï2Ñ©·Å ˝iŸ$b§‘?‰+{ˇ_ ˇ° àu°Ó ˘≥W = ToΩVÌ∫äH
ª .ÿ ÆÀ¬2µûΩm.“v∞
≈r G˙Ò]~üˇ „˝·¸È7©] YÒ≠§ZèáñPT¥L ‡Û^7¨È
4,Pr 8=Α5Ô˘ á˚ø÷∏πø„fl˛ i√{ ∑°„◊ 4S20 ÇA ®¶ ⁄µ5ˇ˘ K¯VP˚∆≠≈&4Óâ# òcûkTp ∞ÎYVflÎ÷µ ›≠iÏLÖ˛¥g Üȯ–z˛5©7 3”=+¢/á≠<M‚˚].¸Nm•äGs õ sıÆlˇ≠¸+–˛ …Dè˛ºf˛iYVìå EE]ò «Å5]=Âñ¡¢’ÏñFEñÃÊ\ ª¢Î«}ªÄÆa É–É_@¡ˇ#^£ˇ^ø˚U´≈º_ˇ#Ôàøίˇ*äU ¨ôRâö FiIÁfiöΩ ;”ÆÉ; Œ Í&8p

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By changing and replacing a variety of numbers with something of a different numerical value, I was able to produce the three images above that was originally an image of president-elect Donald Trump. I completely changed the image to the point where you can't even make out who the original picture was taken of. I wanted to make a link to the lies that Donald Trump expressed in his election campaign to the images I produced. When viewing the images you feel as if you're missing a vital piece of information in order to sense of them, just like how many people felt about Donald Trump in his election campaign - when viewing the way he conducted his campaign, I felt as if he wasn't giving us all the information and he had to rely on lies, 'fake news' and rhetoric. It distorted the way I thought about American politics, just like how these images actually distort the way we see Trump. 

Manipulated Image

Original Image

Another example of Databending (or Datamoshing in this case) was achieved by turning the original image into a sound file and using the computer software Audacity to apply sound effects to the sound file. We then convert the manipulated sound file back into an image file and the results can be seen in the manipulated image. The effect used here was 'echo' and we can see how the colour of the image has been changed radically. Although I have not manipulated the image as much as the ones show before, it's interesting to see how something a little more subtle can make an existing image more interesting to look at.