Introduction to Glitch Art
Benjamin Sammon
This talk will explore key ideas behind glitch art, including the creative potential of pushing technological limits and intentionally embracing errors. It will feature a range of examples and demonstrations, covering techniques such as glitching images with text and audio editing software, exploiting retro game programming and building a simple analogue video glitch circuit. Designed as an introduction, the session aims to make these tools and methods accessible, so participants can leave inspired and ready to start creating glitch art on their own.
About Benjamin Sammon
Benjamin Sammon is an audio-visual artist working with and merging cutting edge technology and obsolete media. With a background in producing both music and visual art, in my practice I like to push limitations of technology as well as exploring the interplay between digital precision and analogue unpredictability. Benjamin uses tools including Max MSP, TidalCycles, SGDK, p5.js, Hydra and Unity to create generative, audio-reactive systems, while simultaneously embracing analogue video equipment and circuit-bent hardware to inject texture, error, and an atemporality into his work.
A central theme in his practice is the fusion of old and new, collapsing temporal boundaries to create works that feel out of time. My visuals often embrace abstraction through glitch, inducing nostalgia for a time you never knew. He is particularly drawn to the raw, expressive potential of malfunction and interference, using them not as flaws but as artistic tools.
His recent work involves programming a glitch-art audio visualiser for the Sega Megadrive, incorporating hacked controllers with a MIDI input to allow real-time interaction and improvisation. This project continues his interest in repurposing retro technology to explore speculative futures.
