Excelfie is an experiment where a spreadsheet is used in a new context. It is a simple idea, both conceptually (populate a spreadsheet with numbers that do not actually mean anything but actually perform a graphical representation) and technically:

1. take a selfie snapshot
2. read each pixel’s intensity value (how dark/light it is) from the selfie file
3. convert this value into a character (according to the set of characters that you want to use)
4. place these characters inside an excel file, each in the corresponding cell, using the image file structure (number of rows and columns) as reference.

Voilà, you have an excelfie!

My original wish was to use only numbers (and the empty cell) but most numbers do not represent the variations in the gray scale so well as other characters, so I am using a mix of numbers and signs such as #, % and +.

You are welcome to download the file. Despite the file extension, it can also be opened using Open Office and Libre Office. ;)

Derivation #1

The experiment has one derivation so far, which is a performance/installation where selfies are typed out using a typewriter. Excelfie – Derivation #1 has been featured at the Post-Digital Publishing Archive, performed at Zine Camp 2017 – WORM/UBIK Rotterdam November 11 & 12 and presented during Berlin Poetry Festival 2018, in the exhibition Types of Typewriting at Oqbo Gallery, curated by Annette Gilbert and Michael Glasmeier, between May 24 and June 23, 2018.

Video: image and sound captured by Michaela Lakova.