High-Tech Trash: Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic Failure

253 Pages·2019·42.209 MB·English

by  Carolyn L. Kane

COMMUNICATION
K
A
N
E
High-Tech Trash analyzes creative strategies in glitch, noise, and error HHH
to chart the development of an aesthetic paradigm rooted in failure. III
Carolyn L. Kane explores how technologically influenced creative prac- GGG
tices, primarily from the second half of the twentieth and first quarter HHH
of the twenty-first centuries, critically offset a broader culture of perva- ---
sive risk and discontent. In so doing, she questions how we continue TTT
onward, striving to do better and acquire more, despite inevitable dis- EEE
appointment. High-Tech Trash speaks to a paradox in contemporary CCC
society in which failure is disavowed yet necessary for technological HHH
innovation.
TTT
RRR
“Leonard Cohen sang ‘There’s a crack in everything…that’s how the light
AAA
gets in.’ Here, Carolyn Kane teaches us how to see that light, one crack
at a time.” FRED TURNER, author of The Democratic Surround: Mul- SSS
HHH
timedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psyche-
delic Sixties
G
L
“Kane profiles art practices and media discourses that exploit and cel-
I
T
ebrate, rather than filter or suppress, all kinds of errors and noises. A
C
welcome intervention in a number of discursive fields.” PETER KRAPP, H
author of Noise Channels: Glitch and Error in Digital Culture ,
N
O
“An original work of scholarship that addresses some of the most perva- I
S
sive phenomena and foundational questions in the contemporary media E
environment.” ROBERT HARIMAN, coauthor of The Public Image: ,
a
Photography and Civic Spectatorship n
d

A
CAROLYN L. KANE is Associate Professor of Commu- E
S
nication at Ryerson University and author of Chromatic
T
Algorithms: Synthetic Color, Computer Art, and Aesthetics H
E
after Code.
T
I
C

F
A
RHETORIC & PUBLIC CULTURE: HISTORY, THEORY, CRITIQUE, 1 I GLITCH, NOISE, and
L
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS U
WWW.UCPRESS.EDU R AESTHETIC FAILURE
E
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos,
University of California Press’ Open Access publishing program
for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
CAROLYN L. KANE
Author photo: Michelle Sweatt.
Cover design: Glynnis Koike. Cover illustration: Rosa
Menkman, “Tiff Compression Glitch. A color test card for
de-calibration.” From A Vernacular of File Formats (2010).
Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program
from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and
reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases
the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles
published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the
same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and
marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org

High-Tech Trash
RHETORIC AND PUBLIC CULTURE: HISTORY, THEORY, CRITIQUE
Series Editors: Dilip Gaonkar and Samuel McCormick
1. High-Tech Trash: Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic Failure, by Carolyn L. Kane
2. Being-Moved: Rhetoric as the Art of Listening, by Daniel M. Gross
High-Tech Trash
Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic Failure
Carolyn L. Kane
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2019 by Carolyn L. Kane
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons [CC-BY-NC-ND]
license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/
licenses.
Suggested citation: Kane, C. L. High-Tech Trash: Glitch, Noise, and Aesthetic
Failure. Oakland: University of California Press, 2019. DOI: https://doi.
org/10.1525/luminos.83
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kane, Carolyn L., author.
Title: High-tech trash : glitch, noise, and aesthetic failure / Carolyn L.
Kane.
Other titles: Rhetoric and public culture (Oakland, Calif.) ; 1.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019030106 (print) | LCCN 2019030107 (ebook) | ISBN
9780520340145 (paperback) | ISBN 9780520974494 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Glitch art. | Art and technology—20th century. | Art and
technology—21st century. | Failure (Psychology) in art. | Aesthetics,
Modern—20th century. | Aesthetics, Modern—21st century.
Classification: LCC N7433.8 .K36 2019 (print) | LCC N7433.8 (ebook) | DDC
700.1/05—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019030106
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019030107
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For life, love, and trash on the Lower East Side

Life is what is capable of error.
—michel foucault