Cory Arcangel took an MP3 of Iron Maiden’s song “The Number of the Beast” and compressed it 666 times. For more background on compression artifacts and artmaking, read Arcangel’s excellent essay “On Compression” [PDF]. I keep revisiting his ideas about “lossy vs lossless” and find them enormously useful. I also think one of the most infectious things about Arcangel’s art is its wit; I never seem to tire of the funny-smart one-two punch his work creates. Speaking of which, did you see the one with Springsteen and the glockenspeil?

“Without the guidance of institutions and armed only with the ability to crudely search for text, the Internet’s version of art history slightly differs from the academic version. For instance, on the Internet, actual artist videos are placed next to user generated karaoke remakes. The control systems that normally govern the systematization of art are dismantled by the search algorithms and whims of home users.” Hanne Mugass and Cory Arcangel’s massive online video archive entitled “Art Since 1960 (According to the Internet).”