Dejan Grba, Philippe Kocher
Study 7/0: Error-Generated Animation
Study 7/0 visualizes the positioning errors of a static GPS receiver. It was motivated by the idea of cognitive mapping as a configuration of individual, non-linear, and discontinuous spatiotemporal experiences, and their outcomes.
We use technical flaws and/or imperfections as generators of conceptual source material for further creative processing and expression, unlike glitch art, which typically uses errors as the aestheticised frontline layer. With Study
7/0, we explore the effective approaches to emergence in generative art, where a simple initial setup of a complex system can produce surprising phenomena.
We secured a GPS receiver to a desk, powered it up, and let it run a
draw track function for 7 days, 7 hours, 16 minutes, and 11 seconds. While the ideal GPS plot for an immovable object is a single point, this setup recorded 8438 positions on a 34.7km long path covering an area of 2.1km2. The path
is a consequence of the limited precision of a GPS receiver operating inside a building under changing weather, combined with the inaccuracy of GPS infrastructure.
Taking all the recorded time-stamps and 3D positions, we animated
the horizontal locales (long./lat.). In the first animation we isolated the current 2.25% (780m) section of the path, revealing the error-generated dynamics. In the second one, we followed the current 2.25% of the building to draw
a complete route. Each animation is about 5 minutes long and displays all the values from the dataset.
Dejan Grba is a media artist, author, and educator. He has exhibited, curated, and lectured at various venues,
including ADM/NTU Singapore, ISEA, SIVA Shanghai, Syracuse University, ZKM, IFA, GfZK Leipzig, Montevideo Amsterdam, MiP Vienna, and MoCA Belgrade. He is a visiting associate professor at the School of Art Design and Media, NTU in
Singapore. He is a founding chair of the New Media Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, and a professor within the Digital Art PhD programme at the University of the Arts in Belgrade.
Philippe Kocher is
a musician, composer, and researcher. He has studied piano, electroacoustic music, music theory, composition, and musicology in Zurich, Basel, London, and Bern. His artistic and scientific work encompasses instrumental and electroacoustic
music, sound installation, algorithmic composition, and computer-generated music. He is a research associate at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology in Zurich and a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts.
//dejangrba.org/dejan-grba/en