Rachel Shin-LO-01

Polina Efremova is a Berlin-based photographer who has merged two digital eras into a single artform. Efremova runs digital video through an old PC which glitches, allowing her to screenshot the glitches and therefore providing a newly created artform that conjoins the digital ages decades apart. This project interested me because it embarks upon an artform that conjoins two juxtaposing ages in which old and new are merged together. I appreciate Efremova’s effort to utilize the “antiques” that are so easily discarded nowadays as it also represents the distorted and imperfect nature of our world today. While most photographers would turn to their macBooks with Adobe software to import, edit, and export their photos, Efremova uses a unique system to produce her artwork. This might have been more effective by collecting several old PCs, allowing her to produce several versions of this art style. However, it does produce a distorted reflection of society today. 

Efremova describes that she accidentally discovered her art style in 2013 when she “installed a new video player on a very old PC” (Pangburn, VICE). She claims to not remember why she decided to try running her Canon footage through her PC. Even as a photographer, Efremova often worked with film to produce her work, but after this happy and sudden discovery, Efremova has decided to go forth to produce videos in this distorted, glitching style.

Glitch: Merging Old and New