Sketchbook

The irony of the “rise of the rest,” Mr. Zakaria notes, is that it is largely a result of American ideas and actions: “For 60 years, American politicians and diplomats have traveled around the world pushing countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. We have urged peoples in distant lands to take up the challenge of competing in the global economy, freeing up their currencies, and developing new industries. We counseled them to be unafraid of change and learn the secrets of our success. And it worked: the natives have gotten good at capitalism.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/books/06kaku.html

View the current Trough Cruft

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not, thus conveying a “sentiment of an invisible omniscience.” In his own words, Bentham described the Panopticon as “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.”

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This cruft algorithm downloads a recent celebrity photo, as well as the image headline. The source image is cropped and converted to sepia tone while the headline text is then added to complete this celebrity portrait.

View the current Idols Cruft

Visitors to the Empire State Building are required to have their photo taken. This security photo is cleverly disguised as a tourist friendly service with a beautiful night view of the Empire State in the background. You and your party then have the ability to purchase this photo as you leave the building. (When I tried to opt out of the photo, I was specifically told I could not for security reasons.) This cruft process downloads one of these photos and creates a composite image with an American Flag.

Section 8a. of the Flag Code states: "The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property."

View the current Distress Cruft

This cruft process downloads an image from the Arabic website “Asharq Alawsat” (http://www.asharq-e.com/). From one hundred official Crayola Crayon™ colors, one is selected and a composite image is created.

View the current Crayon Cruft

Q: But what about your use of images of the President, from the Department of Defense, or military websites? You even juxtapose some of these images with ones taken from Internet porn sites. Do you have some message you are trying to communicate with these images?

SPAHR: No. These images are familiar. We see them all the time in the media, and all over the Internet. The images of the Bush administration is just a reflection of what’s in the news. President Bush is mentioned so often these days. His entire administration is being talked about. Besides everyone I know wants publicity. It must be fun to be the “Decider.”

Q: Do you plan to start making real art again? You know, the traditional art you used to make, sculpture and drawings?

SPAHR: I stopped making sculpture a long time ago. I don’t believe in it anymore. I was doing commercial work, as a web producer during the Dot Com bubble, thats when I learned the technical skills I needed to write the Cruft algorithms and scripts. Shortly after 9/11, I began to experiment with automated scripts that produce Cruft images. The Dot Com bubble burst and 9/11 happened, all within about a year of one another. Out of those events I began making Cruft.

Complete Interview

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