A Contentless Dithering System
November 4 – December 21, 2024
Daniel Temkin: Dither Studies
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RYAN LEE Gallery is pleased to present Dither Studies: A Contentless Dithering System by Daniel Temkin, on view in RLWindow. This new installation is the public release of an interactive software that the artist developed as a tool to explore dithering, a process ordinarily used to simplify photographic images but here applied to empty fields of color. Viewers on the High Line will have the opportunity to play with the software via their smartphones and submit their own dither patterns to be displayed as part of the exhibition.
Dithering is the fundamental algorithm of photography, first developed to approximate images that were too complex for accurate rendering using the limited palettes of early computer screens. Its patterns are meant to hide in an image, not to distract. Dither Studies eliminates the representational image from this process, dithering empty fields of color, thus making the artifacts of this process the only content of the work. While its math is simple to understand, the resulting patterns often feel complex and irrational, with regular patterns at the top of an image quickly breaking down into the unintelligible.
Temkin’s software rethinks dithering in alternate computer histories, where pixels are triangular or hexagonal rather than square. It was originally developed by the artist as a studio tool, generating animated gifs or still patterns to be painted. It is here released to the public in an open-source format, meaning that anyone anywhere can see the code and use the tool freely.
The artist used machine learning techniques to adapt the dithering process to non-square pixels, specifically a genetic algorithm scored with a measure of image degradation called structural similarity index. This revealed how seemingly arbitrary ratios worked better than those selected by the original computer scientists behind dithering, informed by mathematicians’ favoring of order and “elegance” over the complexity of actual image rendering.
Related work is concurrently on display at Buffalo AKG Museum’s Electric Op exhibition through January 2025.
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Daniel Temkin
Atkinson Triptych in Yellow and Lavender, 2020
Acrylic (triptych)
18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 60.9 cm) each
Overall dimensions variable
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Daniel Temkin
Floyd-Steinberg, 42.3% Teal, 2023
Acrylic on panel
18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 60.9 cm)
Daniel Temkin makes photography, programming languages, net art, and paintings examining the clash between systemic logic and human irrationality. Temkin received his MFA from the International Center of Photography / Bard College. Group exhibitions include Open Codes at ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany; TRANSFER Download at Thoma Foundation, NM; xCoAx at Museu do Chiado, Portugal; Dumbo Arts Fest (where his work was projected on the Manhattan Bridge), NY; and Future Isms at Glass Box Gallery, WA. His work has been a critic’s pick for Art News, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. Temkin’s work is in the collections of the Buffalo AKG Museum, the Spalter Digital Collection, and other private collections.
