"American Pixels" Series Makes Art of Artifacts [Compression]

18 Jan 2010

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Jörg M. Colberg, an accomplished astrophysicist and photographer, created a series of images entitled “American Pixels” in which he applied a self-made compression algorithm to photographs, turning them into artworks of the digital age.

But Colberg’s works aren’t just commentaries on the state of images in an age of lossy file types. He designed his own compression algorithm that responds uniquely to the contents of each photograph.

For Colberg, the compression becomes part of the creative progress. He explains:

A computer that creates a jpeg does not know anything about the contents of the image: It does what it is told, in a uniform manner across the image.

My idea was to create a variant that followed in the footsteps of what jpegs do, but to have the final result depend on the original image…adaptive compression (acomp) is a new image algorithm where the focus is not on making its compression efficient but, rather, on making its result interesting…As computer technology has evolved to make artificial images look ever more real – so that the latest generation of shooter and war games will look as realistic as possible – acomp is intended to go the opposite way: Instead of creating an image artificially with the intent of making it look as photo-realistic as possible, it takes an image captured from life and transforms it into something that looks real and not real at the same time.

The American Pixel renders are intended for hanging on walls, allowing the viewer to study the different layers of pixelated detail by move closer and farther away from the work.

To see the whole set of these fascinating works, head over to Colberg’s collection. [Jörg M. Colberg via Kottke]

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Tags: acomp, adaptive compression, algorithm, American, artificial images, compression, compression algorithm, image, image algorithm, Jörg, M. Colberg

3 Responses to "American Pixels" Series Makes Art of Artifacts [Compression]

drbob2k7

January 27th, 2010 at 7:51 am

As far as I know a "year 6" would be a "6th grader" in America. That is if you start school around 5 years old in England.

Here's a pretty good breakdown of it all. Most Americans start school at 5. The first year in real school is called "Kindergarten" School usually opens in early september and closes in mid to late June. Of course, this isn't the same everywhere but in most places it is.

After Kindergarten you go on to 1st grade, then second, and so on and so forth. Grades K(kindergarten) through 6 are called elementary school. Sometimes it's K-5.

Grades 7-8 (sometimes 7-9) are called "Middle school" or "Junior High" This is the first time students go to different rooms for each subject. In Elementary they have one teacher all day.

******Okay here's the part that you want to know about. High school. It's almost always grades 9-12. American high schools (especially public ones) tend to be fairly large. Most are about 1500 kids. Some are 4500 kids.

Your first year in high school (9th grade) your called a "Freshman" or "Frosh". After that it's Sophmore (10th grade). Junior (11th grade). And finally Senior (12th grade).

The equivalent of "GSCE's" are "SAT's" That stands for "Scholastic Acheivement Test" These are taken in the last two years of high school. If you plan on going to college this is a must. SAT's are HUGE here. To alot of kids, their academic future rides on that test. Not sure what A-levels are but I'm guessing they're the equivalent of AP classes? AP stands for Advancent Placement.. They're basically advanced courses that you can take in high school (If you pass a test proving your capable of doing the work) to give you a Head start when you get to college.

Prom is simply a part of American culture. It's like Apple Pie. For most girls the only other time they get to get dressed up and ride around in a limo and do all the other stuff is their wedding. Plus, it's usually one of the last times you get to be with your classmate b4 you graduate so they like to go out with a "Bang!".

Now I have a question for you. How the heck does the British school system work?? (Yahoo ID: msninjanerd)