SnapIt
Any compositional strategy adopted nowadays implies the (re-)elaboration of a “non-original” base-material, be it its relocation within unrelated contexts, its physical modification and so, inventively, forth; the constant over-exposure to images dictates a sort of perpetual collage to which is impossible to escape. The artistic adaptation of images – that were in turn informed by other images – has become currency and concepts such as originality (being the origin of) and creation (to create something from zero) are inevitably challenged and modified by the new cultural landscape. Thus, a simple stroll down the net turns out to be an immensely inspirational journey through images, impressions, connections, as ephemeral as they are suggestive. The main problem for creative practitioners most of the times is precisely being unable to effectively draw from this sensorial amalgam without being sucked into its disorientating maze.
Things might start to look brighter, for scatterbrained re-programmers looking for an immediate solution to their iconographical thirst, with the much-needed appearance of a forehanded and functional software.
SnapIt is a screen-capture software enabling the user to frame and grab any image transiting on a computer monitor, basically anything that your mouse can select will automatically be ‘yours’. Unlike the screen-capture devices that anticipated it, SnapIt’s field of action is not bound by applications, in other words you can literally capture any sort of interface appearing on your computer. You can even overlap two different levels belonging to separate domains, while in the past you usually had the possibility to act on predetermined applications (usually visual ones), now you can graphically expose any occurrences whatsoever. Besides art mixers and graphic dj, this software will be of convenient use to anybody needing to show his/her own perspective to someone who could not possibly share it. For instance, if I need to show my friend what exactly is going wrong with my email box (interface), I can SnapIt and send it to him whom will surely have a clearer idea of what I would otherwise have painfully tried to explain with words, perhaps with little results…
Once the image you selected is captured is also extremely easy to save it in whichever format you prefer by simply pasting it into the application you wish to have it in.
With such an easy and effective way to go about from now on it will be much easier to select the signs composing the ongoing cultural discourse wherein we are progressively offered to gain control of its evolutional process.
This article is protected at the request of the author under the Creative Commons Attribution non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England and Wales.