N o o r N u y t e n +

Stefania PetroulavanPlestik

Gazing Bitflips

shredded, melted and pressed e-waste, 90 × 70 cm 

The earth is continuously bombarded with neutron particles, which are charged with static electricity due to cosmic radiation. When such a particle hits a computer chip, the bits – the ‘zeroes and ones’ – may get swapped, leading to error messages in electronic devices. As processors become more compact, they become more vulnerable to such so-called bitflips. For Gazing Bitflips, which looks like a star system, Nuyten collected bitflips on a smartphone: black pixels that turned white. In this way, she visualises an unpredictable, invisible force that has the potential to significantly disrupt the world.