Glitching Form: Subverting Digital Systems That Capture the Physical World

Abstract

igital 3D modeling and scanning software is increasingly used to capture, represent, and reshape the physical world. Such uses range from museums’ 3D-scanned archives (e.g., Smithsonian Institution, n.d.) to clothing designers digitally capturing body measurements to custom-tailored attire (e.g., Peleg, 2018), to architectural fi rms creating laser-scanned models of spaces for renovation and building (e.g., Zeiba, 2019). Despite the myriad ways digital and physical materials interact, teachers (Potter & McDougall, 2017) and arts specialists tend to perpetuate a “myth of immateriality” (Paul, 2007, p. 251), failing to address how digital systems shape the material and political realities of creative production.