Analog Ghosts 25 - 27
An exploration into analog glitch art and some thoughts about inspiration
I took a couple of weeks off of Instagram recently, and it was great. It’s the platform I’ve struggled the most to quit for one reason or another. But why? What is this grip it has on me? Do I really enjoy the content or is it just a scrolling addiction? I would often justify my scrolling by telling myself that it’s a source of inspiration, now I’m not so sure.
Once I returned to Instagram the problems I had noticed seemed a lot worse. The majority of what I see today is either AI generated or it’s an algorithmic sponsored/recommended post feeding me less originality and more of the same shit over and over again – creating an echo chamber of sorts, a digital reality that appeases but never challenges me. Isn’t that the whole point of art and new ideas in general? To challenge your viewpoint and help you evolve as a human being? Not keep you trapped in a familiar bubble?
As for the people I actually follow – they are in there somewhere, an occasional post, a sign of life buried amongst the advertising and the platform telling me who I should actually be following (because everyone else is following them).
Like many, I joined SubStack to return to long format posts and more challenging unfiltered content written by human beings. This is the internet I remember enjoying before everything became monetised which is always the death rattle for any form of artistic rebellion.
The more social media you consume the more your output sounds and feels like AI. Model collapse also happens to you. You can't avoid being unconsciously influenced by all the slop you put into your brain and then your brain has no choice but to infuse your imagination with that poison. Stop scrolling and start creating. For your own sake and ours.
- Alberto Romero
Sometimes the inspiration you need isn’t out in the world waiting to be discovered, it’s in you, and it’s been there all along. It’s the thing that made you want to pursue an idea in first place. Sometimes we lose sight of that, especially in a world where keeping you distracted has become an industry.
Here are this weeks Analog Ghosts… AG–27 might be my favourite image so far.
As always, you can click the images to see a better quality (colour accurate and less compressed) version, or see the evolving online exhibition at www.scottbrown.co.nz
Imagine Facebook or Instagram started out like how they feed in their current format, what value would they be trying to sell you on?
"Join our platform and input your thoughts and art. In return we output to you ads and take your thoughts and art to send low quality ads to other users."
Wow gee thanks. "But I get to keep in touch with my friends and family, right Facebook?" "No, you get regular posts by that one friend of a friend you made in college and your second cousin to remind you they're there, but otherwise we pretty much relegate you to six connections and the rest is ads."
"Well at least we get art on Instagram, right?" "Again, we relegate you to the last artist you followed, about once every six to eight posts, but no, you're here for the ads and our use of your artistic output."
"That doesn't seem like a very interesting or useful service." "Yeah well it was 15 years ago and now it's a LARGE userbase, so fucking pull your slot machine handle and see if you go viral or some shit. What are you gonna do, run your own website? Google stopped returning those results years ago."