OB_018_Matriz_ASCII
Status
Status:: Finished
1. Operation data
Internal number: OB_018
Operational regime: Translation Between Representation Systems
Source image: Photograph from life
Operational description:
Raster photograph → tonal quantization → character matrix → typographic display on screen → screenshot as a new raster image.
2. Tools and procedure
Tools / medium:
- Illustrator to reduce to 3 colors
- Illustrator to overlay the text and begin building the image using the keyboard
Script (2026-09 audit): Not applicable (operation performed in Illustrator, manual tool without code export).
Technical procedure:
Raster photograph → tonal quantization → character matrix → typographic display on screen → screenshot as a new raster image.
3. Variables
Controlled variables:
- photograph
- number of colors
- number of characters to simulate tones
Uncontrolled / accidental variables:
- the character always yields the same tone.
4. Visual sequence
Initial image
Step 01
Step 02
Step 03
Step 04
Step 05
Step 06
Step 07
Step 08
Step 09
Step 10
Step 11
Step 12
5. Visual selection
Crisis / threshold according to AI-assisted reading / ChatGPT
Step 12
Crisis / threshold according to my perception
Step 07
6. Crisis and formal-perceptual reading
Main crisis: general
The operation affects the visual grammar of the image: shape, contour, color, figure/ground relationship, legibility, recognition, and support:
the crisis is complete regarding the representation system or everything formal, the only thing that does not change is the support.
7. Final evaluation and artistic reference
Operation notes / what I learned:
CHATGPT cannot easily understand the image; I had to build the shape and contour in more detail so that GPT could say with 100% certainty that it was a ball. It is a shift from the raster language, which is a pixel image, to the ASCII format, which is based on the organization of characters. Then it returned to raster through the screenshot and so that GPT could understand it. GPT reads it via ASCII at the beginning. Change of language
Final_status:
Works:: SI
How it destroys the image:
Works_on:: Formal
Level and richness of crisis:
Crisis:: Medium
Decision:
Selection:: Combinable / Keep
Possible artistic reference
Referent:: Guillaume Apollinaire, JODI, Leon Harmon & Ken Knowlton, Vuk Ćosić, Chuck Close
Possible works: