An Auspicious Amulet of Radiant Decay.

This Amulet embodies the spark of transformative life-force, accessible only through disruption, mishap and misadventure. An ode to the continuing history of expressive error-generation and creative interference in digital glitch, video and media art. The majority of what you see in this artwork, shouldn’t be happening, shouldn’t even be possible, and yet, it is. Each bearer of an Amulet will carry this same otherworldy power with them.

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Tech & Concept:

These amulets were created from digital feedback and off-label, black-magic interaction with display errors and system glitches in After Effects. The coloured enamel of the Amulet is pure digital video feedback. The metal body of the Amulet marks the bounds of the After Effects composition. Everything outside of the metal area shouldn’t exist, is not under my control, and is being generated through purposeful interaction with display glitches, across multiple layers, up and down the processing chain.

In the same way early glitch and video artists were (mis-)using commonplace and analogue tools of their time, I was curious to see if I could provoke a contemporary, and artistically unfashionable, digital video tool, into behaving with similar self-determined unpredictability. Making it a living collaborator in the artistic process; one to be coaxed and harmonised with, rather than controlled. Thinking about a future where todays overlooked everyday ‘workhorse’ tools are retro relics, with their own aesthetic appeal and potential for creative insight. A technical and philosophical challenge, which uncovered these Amulets.