Fontback
Kyle McDonald
Artist
View code
This manner of unfolding is discontinuous, denying knowledge of the relationship between infinite and image The rhythm of this unfolding is staccato: the infinite resists unfolding, and the image yields no information about the infinite. Described by the atomists of ninth-century Iraq, this manner of unfolding occurs in artworks that dazzle the perceiver and prevent knowledge of how they arose.
Font-dependent feedback loop. Click to toggle color. The internal representation of the screen is printed to the screen. A fractal pattern emerges from the font chosen for printing. Originally written for the Handyboard using Interactive C. I used the knob to peek() at different locations in memory, finding rapidly changing odd characters in some memory regions. I'm guessing it's either printing:
This applet implements the first possibility. Right now it runs off brightness information rather than the hex representation directly.
Displaying the display, using the units that handle the movement from data to screen, Fontback looks within the structure of digital expression, as it runs, and finds a dense moiré-like space where information granulates into image. Opaque and unreadable (if beautiful), it precludes a deeper move on the viewer's part.
“The twinkling, crystalline structure thwarts attempts to understand its rational structure and instead invites a more affective relationship to the space.” (p. 193)
“Atomism emphasizes the level of information, while refusing any claim on how it is related to (unfolded from) the level of the infinite. It demands faith.” (p. 197)
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