http://www.robertspahr.com/work/mandala/

This cruft algorithm extracts an image from the CNN home page once every eight hours. The image is then processed into a mandala, with the addition of the original source image and caption. CNN presents a constant stream of images of violence, potential terrorism, and the imminent hurricane or earthquake, as well as the daily dose of political polarization. As an artist I want to take these powerful source images and convert them into equally powerful images of peace. I hope you enjoy them, while also being reminded of the ransformation from which they were created.

What is CRUFT?
cruft /kruhft/ [back-formation from {crufty}] 1. n. An unpleasant substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft; the TMRC Dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a broom only produces more. 2. n. The results of shoddy construction. 3. vt. [from `hand cruft', pun on `hand craft'] To write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by a compiler (see {hand-hacking}). 4. n. Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code. 5. [University of Wisconsin] n. Cruft is to hackers as gaggle is to geese; that is, at UW one properly says "a cruft of hackers". The Jargon File, version 4.4.7
http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/cruft.html

I am interested in how the ideas and images presented to us by the media affect our world view. As
the ever present cable news cycle pushes a daily message of fear, filled with political polarization;
domestic and foreign terrorism; recent kidnapped white girls; celebrity scandals; and the imminent
threat of hurricane, earthquake or flood, I began to think about how these digital images and text
operated, one day influencing our daily discourse, the next day vanishing without a trace. Digital
leftovers reminded me of redundant computer programming. Code that was once useful, but later
forgotten and obsolete.
For my current work I have borrowed the computer hacker term 'Cruft', defined as an unpleasant
substance; excess; superfluous junk; and redundant or superseded computer code. To create this
work I call CRUFT, I write simple algorithms that an automated computer system follows. The
instructions outline what websites to target, and the system then downloads selected images and
text, which are then used as source material, and remixed to create new artwork on a schedule that
imitates the 24 hour cable news cycle.