Glitch is considered as a sudden, usually temporary malfunction, a transient fault that corrects itself and is therefore difficult to troubleshoot. It’s an error which, for a few moments, interrupts our daily routine and shakes us out of our passiveness. It distracts us and manages to switch our focus, our current thinking process. It snaps us out of the routine, forces us to stop and think for a moment.

In this context, we could say that glitches open space for reflection and change. And that’s very important because improvements can only take place in the absence of the perceived perfection. As an example, we can take a look at everyday images we encounter in the ‘perfect’ world. Almost anyone can take neat and sharp photos thanks to increasingly available and easy to use technology. Our Instagram profiles are full of picture perfect moments. Sharpness is considered as an aesthetic quality. For some producing sharpness in images becomes so vital it acts as a substitute for creating interesting photographs. But I can’t remember the last time I really looked at these static documents of reality, stopped and considered – why are they here? What do they want from me, as a spectator? Are they challenging my current state of mind?

These moments of introspection more often occur with the blurry, the overexposed, the underexposed and the crooked. When something is off, something is out of the ordinary. Something candid, yet very raw opens a new perspective. Accidents, not perfection catch our attention. We forget that the concept of sharpness is just means, not an end. I’m not trying to say something is wrong if we use sharpness as a barometer of quality, but we shouldn’t always ignore the feeling, a mood we can communicate with the fuzzy and the unbalanced. Don’t just banish the defects. Give them a chance to turn into an experience.

A lot of progress happens as a result of human error and consequential ingenuity. It’s funny how we remember our reality as a set of things that made perfect sense. They are considered as a consequence of a logical flow, as if things happen in a straight line that leads to a specific goal. All the while we ignore the glitches and zigzags, which happen in between and completely redirect our life. There’s beauty in error. Accidental glitches make beautiful things happen. The whole picture is not perfect without them.

 

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Text: Vanja Žižić