Glitch: The Aesthetics of the Broken Moment

This episode explores Glitch as the aesthetics of the broken moment—where error, interruption, and digital artifact become compositional material. Emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s, glitch reframed technological failure not as limitation, but as creative resource.

We trace its development through artists such as Oval and Alva Noto, whose work transformed clicks, skips, and corrupted data into precise sonic language. Drawing from microsound theory and minimalism, glitch operates at the threshold of perception—where tiny fragments of sound construct complex rhythmic and textural systems.

Technologically, the genre is inseparable from digital media: CDs, software errors, buffer glitches, and data manipulation techniques become instruments. Editing environments allow artists to isolate, repeat, and structure these micro-events, turning instability into controlled aesthetic.

This episode analyzes glitch as philosophy of imperfection—where fragmentation, discontinuity, and absence redefine musical form. Through history, technology, and aesthetics, we explore how broken moments reveal new possibilities of listening in the digital age.

【Related Column】Glitch: When noise turns into beauty

https://monumental-movement.jp/en/Column-Glitch/