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Instruments Of Change: New Artist-Focused File Formats

Fed up with the same old image formats and their artistic limitations, Kim Asendorf created some new ones.

Image: Pixelnoizz

Without the tools to create, where would we be? Listening to the sound of one hand clapping, probably. In this column we’ll be looking at people who invent their own tools—be they musical, artistic, photographic—any sort of bespoke equipment from innovative builders of all disciplines and ages in a celebration of the fine art of invention. This week: ExtraFile, new file formats exclusively for artists

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The file format that’s been getting all the attention lately is the GIF. We’ve fawned over it, artists are fawning over it. This rudimentary animated file left over from the early web has become a star in its own right, and it doesn’t want for artistic credentials, either. It must surely be pleased with itself. But how about a file format that was created with the sole purpose of artistic exploitation? A file format that is also a work of art in itself?

Well that’s what net artist Kim Asendorf has created for his latest project, ExtraFile, which is “conceptional software art but with a practical usage.” Asendorf has been cropping up a lot lately, with his GIF Market and his glitch art, and as an artist working in the digital art world, he understands the importance of image file formats. So, with the dictum of “if you want something doing do it yourself,” he’s created a series of new file formats: .4bc, .bascii, .blinx, .cci, .mcf, .uspec, and .xff—each one with its own properties for all your databending and glitch art needs.

Benjamin Gaulon

These new formats are for the discerning glitcher who’s had enough of the mundane .jpg and .bmp limitations, having pushed them to their breaking point and beyond. With this new set of formats, the aim is to “wiggle the static system of image file formats” and give the artist complete control over their digital artwork. “Digital artists and collectors deserve exclusive formats. Personalized files, including costume headers or comments. Every bit could be placed like the artist wants it.”

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So, when you want to celebrate the aesthetic of corruption and malfunction, these formats aim to give you greater workability, while also providing exclusivity for the artists, so they’re not just using the same old formats as everyone else, giving them a unique platform to showcase their work. “The freedom not to have to pay attention to the file size or the loading and saving times provides the option to implement artistically byte orders, odd quality behaviors and visual designed formats… The process and the resulting bytes, regardless of content, become the artwork itself.”

Pixelnoizz

You can download the program—which can also open, preview, and save the most common image file formats like .jpg, .png and .tiff—for Mac OS X here. The project is open source, too and the source code is available on GitHub.

Jim Punk

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Jose Irion Neto

All images created using ExtraFile, courtesy of respective artists.