On the Language of Internet Memes

• Glitch as Journey
• These photographs were taken with a digital camera mounted below a bicycle’s handle bar as it was ridden through the streets of Tucson, AZ on the early morning of 10.27.2012:
       
• The photographs were chosen for their abstract qualities, which render an otherwise concrete [both metaphorically and literally speaking] environment into a liquid, glitchy representation.
• In many senses the very act of using a bicycle to commute within an urban area specifically designed for motorized transportation could be considered errant behavior since it is likely to compel the commuter to look for alternate, roundabout routes that favor safety over productivity.
• Much like glitches these alternate routes also allow the commuter to explore and understand the urban space in unintended manners.
• The images were glitched by randomly inserting the phrase [GLITCH_AS_JOURNEY] into their alphanumeric values:
  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

  

  Click to download a PDF with the intervened alphanumeric values.

• An animated GIF was created to serve as centerpiece:
  

  Centerpiece for the Glitch as Journey portrait

• A PDF file containing the intervened alphanumeric values of the images above was then converted into image files.
• The alphanumeric values for these images were themselves intervened by substituting specific characters with the word [Journey]:
  
• The resulting images were then mixed in with the original files in order to create an animated GIF that served as the background:
  

  Background for the Glitch as Journey portrait

Suggested follow up questions

• What relationships to space are created depending on the form of transversing it?
• Can urban space be glitched?
• What would an urban space specifically designed for biking look like?
• How can this relate to the notion of the glitch?