DataMoshing

It’s called datamoshing, as experimented by paperrad, explored by Takeshi Murata, and theorised by Sven König. (Yeah, teraflop and Pronoiac, it’s basically about key- and delta-frames.
Via: MetaFilter

Two is a trend: Kanye West’s video for Welcome to Heartbreak uses the same video compression technique used in Chairlift’s Evident Utensil. The videos were done by two different directors at around the same time, which probably means that neither originated it. Does anyone know what the Patient Zero is for this technique? This Radiohead video for Videotape comes close but doesn’t use the compression artifacts to cleverly cut between scenes…which is the real artful moment here. (thx, andrew & demetrice)

Update: Here are a few candidates: Takeshi Murata, paperrad, and Mark Brown. (thx, matthew, simon & justin)

Update: Aha, the technique is called datamoshing. (thx, daniel)

Update: There’s a bit of datamoshing in this 2005 David O’Reilly clip and even more in a 2005 video made by Kris Moyes (Moyes briefly uses the same technique in this 2008 video for Beck). In 2004, Owi Mahn & Laura Baginski madea video called Pastell Kompressor in which they manipulated the compression keyframes in some timelapse videos. Sven König’s two projects, aPpRoPiRaTe!and Download Finished! originate around the same time (2004/2005). The technique itself seems pretty simple…just ignore the compression keyframes during playback. (thx, philip & sven)
Via: Kottke.org

For more examples check out : http://jdcommtech2.blogspot.com/

All and all, I find datamoshing a new way to create art out of a regular video or an image.  On the other hand, it is starting to be used along the lines for entertainment purposes.  I know of an artist that has been using datamoshing for about 4 months now, and it is truely a creative and unique way to move forward in the digital arts.  Complex and Dynamic, yes, but a large step forward towards the art of tomorrow.

Advertisement