Work / BigBro

Created by fully automated scripts using source images from the Internet.

bigbro cruft

This cruft process is no longer active.
View the archive from Sept. 30, 2005.


BigBro Cruft

Made specifically for the CRUFT exhibit at Manifest Gallery. A camera located in Manifest's main gallery records the behavior of all visitors. A second camera monitors people in New York City walking the streets of Times Square. Still images from both live video feeds are used to create a new composite image. An area of heightened focus is determined and a red linear circle is drawn on the image to emphasis potential security risks. This new image was then uploaded every minute to a secure server and can also be seen at www.robertspahr.com for any interested party or governmental authority to observe.

What is CRUFT?

cruft /kruhft/ [back-formation from {crufty}]
1. n. An unpleasant substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft; the TMRC Dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a broom only produces more.
2. n. The results of shoddy construction.
3. vt. [from `hand cruft', pun on `hand craft'] To write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by a compiler (see {hand-hacking}).
4. n. Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code.
5. [University of Wisconsin] n. Cruft is to hackers as gaggle is to geese; that is, at UW one properly says "a cruft of hackers".
The Jargon File, version 4.4.7   http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/cruft.html

Borrowing the computer hacker term "Cruft" I have applied it to my current series of images. I create these CRUFT images by writing 'recipes' (also known as an algorithm). An automated system follows the instructions, first harvesting selected source material from the Internet, and then processing that information into a CRUFT, generating images 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.