Aestheticization, Glitch and Art Activism

Yvonne Lake

In his essay On Art Activism1, Groys attempts to justify the role of the artist as activist and in so doing
defines the process of aestheticization in art and design as a tool to this end. This paper discusses
aestheticization as defined by Groys and relates this to glitch art, in order to consider the art forms
role in aestheticization, and to thus explore its potential for art activism.

Art Activism
Groys defines aestheticization as having two opposing functions in art and design; in design, for the
purpose of making the object more agreeable to use, and in modern and contemporary art to
defunctionalize a tool. Moreover, Groys suggests that such defunctionalization is a more effective
means of death to the tool than iconoclasm, as by displaying the dead object there is no opportunity
for intrigue or nostalgia to develop and thus no stirring of desire for resurrection. Groys here
exemplifies artistic (rather than design) aestheticization in a political context through the exhibition
of the dead body of Lenin by Stalin, as the despots attempt to defunctionalize Leninism and thus
prevent its resurgence.
In an art context, Groys suggests that to aestheticize the present means to turn it into the dead past.
Unlike design aestheticization, he states, art aestheticization accepts the status quo rather than
attempting to improve it, but only on the premise that the present is a dysfunctional reality that is
already doomed to failure and depicted as though in retrospect, prefiguring its own overturn.

Boris Groys, On Art Activism, e-flux Journal, 56 (2014) < http://www.e-flux.com/journal/on-art-activism/>

[accessed 20 October 2015].

Despite initially delineating the opposing functions of aestheticization in art and design, Groys goes
on to consider how the prevalence of design aestheticization in the present consumer culture, as well
as the way in which art activism politicizes art and uses it as political design, means that contemporary
art activism is the heir of both contradictory tracts:
The fact that contemporary art activism is caught in this contradiction is a good thing. First of all, any
self-contradictory practices are true in a deeper sense of the word. And secondly, in our contemporary
world, only art indicates the possibility of revolution as a radical change beyond the horizon of our
present desires and expectations.
Groyss statement here appears to be in accordance with Feyerabends concept of paradigm change
which can only be achieved through anarchistic, artistic intervention within the established order2.
In addition, Groys continues that the notion of progress within society by overthrowing an
established order relates to a flawed concept of upward mobility, which is reliant on simply replacing
the inequalities present in the current order with other inequalities found in the differences of human
capital, as defined by Foucault as a neoliberal concept of natural and inherent creative gifts of the
individual, employed in order to realize the capitalist utopia3. Groys concludes that only modern art,
in its rejection of the notions of both human capital and progress, can bring about a state of total
aestheticization and thus an annihilation of the status quo as already dead, enhancing art activism
and enabling successful revolutionary political action.

Paul Feyerabend, Against Method (London: Verso, 1993).

Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collge de France 19781979 (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008).
3

Glitch Art

Parallels can be drawn between Groys theory of aestheticization and the processes used in glitch art.
In her Glitch Studies Manifesto, Menkman states The dominant, continuing search for a noiseless
channel has been and always will be no more than a regrettable, ill-fated dogma.4 According to
Menkman, glitch art rejects the constant process of design aestheticization present in consumerist,
upgrade culture as pointless, due to the inherent imprints of imperfection to be found in any new
medium. However, rather than seeking to destroy the status quo which might involve outright
rejection of the use of digital media glitch art seeks to highlight the imperfections that occur through
digital mediation, using these as a creative tool for expression. This process can be seen as comparable
to Groyss definition of art aestheticization, in that established media formats currently in use are
defunctionalized and exhibited as corrupted, already doomed to fail and viewed as though in
retrospect. In fact, Glitch art is an example of Groyss notion of the contradictory enmeshing of art
and design aestheticization, in that Glitch art is the art aestheticization of design aestheticization.
Inherent is a critique of consumerist culture and progress in accordance with Groys.

Glitch Art Activism

In an increasingly augmented reality, critique of digital media is in itself a critique of culture as a whole.
Glitch artist Nick Brizs A New Ecology for the Citizen of a Digital Age5 presents a mashup of clips from
online digital media, whilst inserting himself as the central subject. Merging and emerging from the
disintegrating clips, Briz remains in control of the media which envelops him as he alternately swipes

Rosa Menkman, Glitch Studies Manifesto(2009)

<https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1332959/%20Rosa%20Menkman%20%20Glitch%20Studies%20Manifesto.pdf> [accessed 20 October 2015].
5
Nick Briz, A New Ecology for the Citizen of a Digital Age (2010) < https://vimeo.com/7617527> [accessed 20
October 2015].

Nick Briz, A New Ecology for the Citizen of a Digital Age, 2010

away or incorporates these into his own onscreen presence, and in doing so suggests a method to
navigate through the onslaught of digital media and its consumerist messages through
aestheticization.
For my current project I chose as a starting point footage of the Zwarte Piet celebrations in the
Netherlands, but was finding this subject matter difficult to approach due to being neither Dutch nor
black. I have thus decided to make this impenetrability of cultural issues as an outsider in itself the
subject of the piece. At a time when one can increasingly access intimate documentation of
phenomena from around the globe on sites such as YouTube, rather than bringing different worlds
closer together it is often the case that dialogue develops to polarise differing cultural practices and
political views online. Alienation can also occur as one realises ones own status as an outsider; able
to comment yet at the same time insignificant in the debate. In a similar vein to Brizs piece, I aim to

present a navigation through online subcultural practices through datamoshing clips which are
connected only through algorithms used in the Google Images reverse search function. In doing so,
the content of the material is aestheticized in a manner that involves least possible human judgement,
using computer logic to connect disparate clips and thus avoiding either support or rejection of the
status quo as is so prevalent in online interactions, but instead using juxtapositions to create
connections between incongruent worlds. In this, I intend to explore aestheticization - of both the
content of these clips and the media used - as a tool for art activism in accordance with Groys.

Google images reverse search

Conclusion
Glitch art is inherently critical of the digital realm whilst at the same time accepting this status quo.
Furthermore, glitch art incorporates the contradictory elements of both design and art
aestheticization through its critique of digital media, and thus an increasingly augmented reality. In
light of this, glitch would appear to be a fitting tool for art activism in accordance with Groyss theories.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to give a fully detailed analysis of the possibilities for glitch art
activism in accordance with Groys, or indeed my own proposed methods for employing these.
However, this paper has highlighted the potential for employing the art aestheticization of design
aestheticization inherent in glitch, which I aim to use as a starting point to investigate further the
potential of this form as a tool for art activism.

Bibliography:

Briz, Nick, A New Ecology for the Citizen of a Digital Age (2010) < https://vimeo.com/7617527> [accessed 20
October 2015].
Feyerabend, Paul, Against Method (London: Verso, 1993)
Foucault, Michel, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collge de France 19781979 (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008)
Groys, Boris, On Art Activism, e-flux Journal, 56 (2014) < http://www.e-flux.com/journal/on-art-activism/>
[accessed 20 October 2015]
Menkman, Rosa, Glitch Studies Manifesto(2009)
<https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1332959/%20Rosa%20Menkman%20%20Glitch%20Studies%20Manifesto.pdf> [accessed 20 October 2015]