The Glitch

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One definition of a glitch is a short-lived fault in a system operating otherwise as it should. Glitches in digital systems have been used by artists for at least a decade to produce work with a characteristic aesthetic, that invite reflection on the computer systems that play an ever bigger part in our lives. Matthew Sweet talks to the artists and theorist of glitches Rosa Menkman and Antonio Roberts about the glitch as a meeting point between technology and aesthetics. Alongside them is the novelist Tom McCarthy, whose new novel The Making of Incarnation features the work of the psychologist and industrial engineer Lilian Gilbreth (1878-1972). She developed a series of time-and-motion studies which aimed to improve the organisation of factory production lines, and ultimately arrive at the one most efficient way of doing everything. And completing the line up is the philosopher Hugo Drochon, who's investigated conspiracy theories and the role glitches play for people who follow them. The Making of Incarnation by Tom McCarthy is published in September 2021. Antonio Roberts' website is https://www.hellocatfood.com/ Rosa Menkman's is http://rosa-menkman.blogspot.com/ Producer: Luke Mulhall Image: I Disappear, 2015 Credit: Antonio Roberts You can find Tom McCarthy in a Free Thinking conversation about the "experimentalism" of Alain Robbe Grillet https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xr4m and he talks about a previous novel Satin Island in this episode with Anne McElvoy https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054t24q You might also be interested in a discussion about skeuomorphs with Will Self in the playlist exploring Visual Art on the Free Thinking programme website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002skk