#compressionartifact

A Ghost in the Codec (2023)

This video is a failed rendering process, where a ghost becomes trapped in a sequence of misinterpreted frames and incomplete transparency data. The checkerboard pattern, holding space for empty spaces, overlays the subject instead of functioning as a background, creating a break in the compositing process.

The interpretational dance mimics a frame delay or a misalignment in temporal data. The vaporware mountains move laterally in chromatic aberration or RGB misalignment errors, a side effect of how digital files handle color channels during degradation.

codec translation (2023)

This is what it looks like when a file starts to haunt itself.

The image above documents an experiment in format decay and digital translation, an attempt to process and reprocess a video file across multiple conversions until the digital body starts to show signs of wear.

Each iteration distorts something:

The first file (MP4) maintains high resolution but carries embedded metadata from its conversion site.

The MPEG versions shift in size, reinterpreting color profiles and frame dimensions, making the image softer, blurrier, almost smudged by time.

The GIF, arguably the most archival format of them all, flattens motion into loops, trapping the ghost in a limbo.

The background, a default desktop wallpaper, remains untouched and acts as a hyperreal landscape against which the ghost repeats and degrades.