The glitch. That telltale sign of our continued material existence in the digital age. A glitch can remind us of the failure of our technologies or can haunt us with the ghosts in our machines. Often dismissed as errors or breakdowns of our tools, glitches are the focus of a new juried photography exhibition that seeks to call them to the forefront, to inquire about their place in art, and to argue for the exploration of a glitch aesthetic.  AVLGLITCH (or #AVLGLITCH) has been organized by a group of local artists interested in glitch art, which "describes a set of materialist approaches to creating art using digital media." The show seeks original images that have been manipulated in post-production processes to highlight "intentionally craft[ed] anomalies." The show's website states that "unexpected material exploration is encouraged, as are works made using 'glitch' processes and other practices that have been sourced with (mostly) non-photographic media, such as catalog clippings, literary texts, 3D Models, Film Stills, Paintings, and Vector graphics, stills from video or animated GIFs." According to the artist call and show description, 

Glitch art practices aren’t always glitchy in the sense that they rely on software or hardware error, but they do all operate on the material properties of digital media: byte orders, pixels, compression, algorithms, software bugs, memory caches, and so forth. The focus of this show is to encourage experimentation with your photos by remixing them or manipulating the original image through multiple creative post-photography processes. 

To submit a piece for consideration, upload your image to Instagram. Use the hashtag #AVLGLITCH, and tag and follow @avlglitch. Selected participants will be contacted by September 16th to pay a $25 print fee for their image, which will be exhibited at one of several spaces around town, including Revolve, the BLOCK off Biltmore, and the Asheville Area Arts Council. An opening reception will be held on October 1st at Revolve, a First Friday and exhibition evening will be held at the Asheville Darkroom on October 7th, and a closing reception is scheduled for October 29th at THE BLOCK off Biltmore.  Approximately 100 pieces will be chosen for the show, and judges will award prizes for Best in Show, 2nd, and 3rd place. Artists can submit up to 5 images for consideration. For more information and full contest details, check out the AVLGLITCH website, Facebook page, and Instagram.