Datamoshing – ever feel like you’re being watched?

The De La Warr Pavilion Young Creatives are a collective of young people with an interest in many different areas of creative practice. They are supported by the Pavilion and feedback on and inform the programme of exhibitions and events.

On 1 December they lead their first event at De La Warr Pavilion, entitled Datamoshing, which was developed in response to the Playback touring exhibition of over 200 films made by young filmmakers across the country. The group drew upon central themes of youth identity, representation and visibility in the films currently on show in an interactive exhibition till 2 January.

Datamoshing is a term coined to describe the process whereby digital images and video are intentionally manipulated or ‘glitched’ to create a fragmented, distorted and obscured effect. The event, lead by the Young Creatives, featured a series of playful workshop stations interrogating the topic of facial recognition technology and identity. From a ‘dodge the camera’ make-up workshop inspired by the Dazzle ships of World War II to digital disruption using glitch art apps and analogue screenprinting techniques, the activities explored identity, privacy and surveillance in the offline and online world.

A participant in the event tells me he was “born into the world of social media” a ‘digital native’. His current project: taking 365 photographs using an app on his phone. His portrait remains as a fixed selfie but the backgrounds to his life change. Will he share it? He’s not sure yet. He wonders why more people his age aren’t questioning their assigned label ‘digital natives’. A label he feels is taken for granted by his peers who play out a life online, leaving footprints that no tide of digital noise will wash away.

Since the event, the De La Warr Pavilion Young Creatives group has doubled in size with new members joining the collective. The group is mobilising creative minds in the local community and beyond. What happens next is eagerly anticipated. Watch out for their next move.

Esther Springett is a filmmaker and artist and worked with the De La Warr Pavilion Creatives to support the development and running of the Datamoshing event.