Blog Archive for Category: Uncategorized

#NEULAND
March 28 – June 28, 2015
Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren
with:
Aram Bartholl, JODI and Evan Roth

flickr set
 

In the past two months there has been again a lot of international press about DeadDrops. The DeadDrops project is running since November 2010, for four and a half years now. After the initial press buzz in 2010/11 the project kept spreading online with occasional press like after the Snowden releases etc. But just since the beginning of 2015 there was a lot of press all over again. It is really hard to tell how such a press wave is starting on a project which is already running for such a while but I assume after almost 5 years there is a new generation of Internet users and press people who haven’t heard about DeadDrops yet. Through some big blogs in the US it reached the south american news, spreaded there and also made it back to Europe.  I ve listed a selection of press links at the end of this post. Please also see the nice DeadDrops youtube playlist somebody made.
In Germany the recent reports about DeadDrops had a special twist. End of February the yellow press style news paper Kölner Express had a piece about a bomb making plan PDF which was supposedly found on a DeadDrop in Cologne. The local and national press picked up quickly the story and my phone kept ringing for two weeks. It is astonishing how in 2015 you still have to explain to people that it is of course not a problem to find such a PDF with illegal tutorials on the Internet. Or yes! there could be a virus on the USB drive, like there could be a virus in this blog post. But in an era of constant fear about terror the suspicious USB drive in wall was a perfect story for them. I was only waiting for the ISIS connection. But again this was a good opportunity to explain that there is no use in censoring or prohibiting encryption or anonymous communication technologies because there is illegal activities. Like back in the days the ruling class tried to banish the brand new dangerous technology ‘book printing’ which radicalized all the young people. Especially journalists should be aware how important independent, encrypted, private communication is. In fact DeadDrops is not a very efficient communication technology but a good symbol on independent, open digital communication. So while the NSA has trojans installed on all our hard drives or access to millions of sim card keys we worry about a 20 year old anarchist cook book PDF on a flash drive in a wall in cologne.  What a crazy world! :))
The actual great story about the Cologne DeadDrop is that this specific DeadDrop, which I made myself as part of a duo show with JODI at DAM Cologne in 2011, was still existing and working in 2015!! Until the police ripped it out and broke it to then hand it in at the at the LKA cyber security department to get it fixed. Of course the highlight is how the two police men are kneeling in front of the yellow banana (the gallery “certificate”) trying to understand what’s going on. In fact later the Kriminalpolizei called DAM gallery to have them explain what exactly this USB stick is about and what the DeadDrops project is etc. On the same day I made this popular tweet about the whole story.
Of course I am very happy about all the attention for DeadDrops. It is very interesting to witness how the perspective on such a project has changed over the past five years, especially since 2013. I am glad to see how this project is still going on and how it has inspired so many people over the years. Thanks to all the deaddroppers out there!! You are awesome!!
Aram Bartholl, March 2015


LINKS:

• http://www.express.de/koeln/eingemauert-in-einer-fassade-bomben-bauplan-auf-oeffentlichem-usb-stick-in-der-koelner-suedstadt,2856,29952848.html
• http://www.express.de/koeln/geheime-bomben-bauanleitung-stick-aus-der-suedstadt–ein-fall-fuer-die-cyber-profis-vom-lka-,2856,29972140.html
• http://www.express.de/koeln/in-wand-zementiert-lka-spezialisten-analysieren-bomben-stick-aus-der-suedstadt,2856,29962112.html?regio=2858

Full Interview at Sueddeutsche.de:

• http://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/eingemauerte-usb-sticks-diese-technologie-kann-man-nicht-zuschrauben-1.2373749

 

Guardian:

• http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2015/mar/08/dead-drops-what-to-do-if-you-see-a-usb-stick-sticking-out-of-a-wall

More press links:

German:

• http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/region/koeln/Daten-fuer-immer-verloren-article1575822.html
• http://www.ksta.de/koeln/polizeieinsatz-an-der-koelner-volksgartenstrasse-eingemauerter-usb-stick-ist-eine-kunstaktion,15187530,29962316.html
• http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/koeln/offenbar-bombenbau-anleitung-auf-usb-stick-entdeckt-aid-1.4900331
• http://www.swr3.de/info/nachrichten/Polizei-prueft-Bomben-USB-Stick/-/id=47428/did=3120472/vx8ipn/
• http://www.taz.de/!155350/
• http://motherboard.vice.com/de/read/wie-aus-einer-kunstaktion-ein-toter-briefkasten-fuer-bombenbauer-und-drogenkoeche-wurde-444
• http://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/article137783878/USB-Stick-mit-Bombenbauplan-in-Wand-ein

 
POPULAR TWEET

the moment when the #KRIMINALPOLIZEI calls your gallery to get explained your ART! #DEADDROPS http://t.co/eUEHxlCXP2 pic.twitter.com/2FmryheOtw
— Aram Bartholl (@arambartholl) 24. Februar 2015

https://twitter.com/arambartholl/status/570195342253277185

 

full flickr set -> https://www.flickr.com/photos/bartholl/sets/72157650965201646/
Wow!! What a great opening last night! Thx so much to Babycastles for having me!

Aram Bartholl: Point Of View
at Babycastles (FB), New York City
Feb 20. – April 10, 2015,
Preview Feb 19, 6:00 pm (RSVP)
Workshop on opening night:
Build your own POV head band for your phone!
Statment:
‘Point Of View’ questions the current paradigm shift of perspective. What is the role of the hand held screen framing our everyday life? How has gaming shaped the representation of our digital self?
Over the past 100 years the screen has moved constantly closer to our eyes. Most people today spend significantly more time looking at smart-phone screens than at computer screens or TVs (not to mention the cinema screen Games have been an important driving motor for the development of digital culture in the past four decades. The first person view popularized by early computer games like Doom and Duke Nukem has now entered the  real world with the growing popularity of head-mounted cameras. GoPro and Google Glass users generate a constant stream of pictures with their hands in view like a digital avatar. A whole range of digital glasses are poised to enter the market. The Oculus Rift promises the classic idea of cyberspace an immersive reality, while people in public extend their body with a selfie stick. Is the view leaving our body now? Will the picture frame finally disappear?
Let’s enjoy the last years of looking at each others screens in public transportation or over the shoulder in Let’s Play gaming videos. The point of view is changing.
Aram Bartholl 2015


See also the docu vid by Becky Stern, thx for that!!

See also: How to make a POV headband for your phone

You always wanted to shoot hands free Point Of View video but there is no Google Glass or a GoPro around? Here is how you can make a simple POV headband to shoot video from your forehead with your phone!  “Yes, I am actually filming you!”

1. Materials & tools: Sticky velcro, headband, scissors, needle and thread.

2. Stick the sturdy side of the velcro to your phone.

3. Any headband, winter or sports stlyle should be fine.

4. Stick the soft side of the velcro to the headband. For safety do a few stiches on the four corners.

5. Stick the phone to the headband.

6. Done! Make a lot of them! Shoot POV video together with your friends!
Aram Bartholl: Point Of View at Babycastles (FB), NYC
Feb 20. – April 10, 2015, Preview Feb 19, 6:00 pm (RSVP)
Workshop on opening night: Build your own POV head band for your phone!


Point Of Vision video shooting experiments with Atlantic Center of the Arts residents: Bonnie Ebner, Sally Hill, Maja Kalogera, Katie Loughmiller, Jane Remick, Tom Smith, Chase Starr, Merav Tzur at BayBar New Smyrna Beach, Oct 2014
THX everyone!!! :))
See also KATSU Mumble Cam™ for super quick & dirty POV video shooting!

Atlantic Center of the Arts, residents, Florida, Oct. 2014

Point Of View

solo show by Aram Bartholl
at Babycastles (FB), New York City
Feb 20. – April 10, 2015,
Preview Feb 19, 6:00 pm (RSVP)
Workshop on opening night:
Build your own POV head band for your phone!
Statment:
‘Point Of View’ questions the current paradigm shift of perspective. What is the role of the hand held screen framing our everyday life? How has gaming shaped the representation of our digital self?
Over the past 100 years the screen has moved constantly closer to our eyes. Most people today spend significantly more time looking at smart-phone screens than at computer screens or TVs (not to mention the cinema screen Games have been an important driving motor for the development of digital culture in the past four decades. The first person view popularized by early computer games like Doom and Duke Nukem has now entered the  real world with the growing popularity of head-mounted cameras. GoPro and Google Glass users generate a constant stream of pictures with their hands in view like a digital avatar. A whole range of digital glasses are poised to enter the market. The Oculus Rift promises the classic idea of cyberspace an immersive reality, while people in public extend their body with a selfie stick. Is the view leaving our body now? Will the picture frame finally disappear?
Let’s enjoy the last years of looking at each others screens in public transportation or over the shoulder in Let’s Play gaming videos. The point of view is changing.
Aram Bartholl 2015
 
Aram Bartholl 2015

Offline Art: ‘Your are not checked in’
at ‘Capture All!’, Transmediale, Berlin, 28.1.-1.2. 2015
curated by Aram Bartholl
Six positions capturing the state of social, mobile and post anything.
High Retention – Slow Delivery!!
Constant Dullaart, video 10:00 min, 2014
Artificial quantified social capital redistributed, Social media Socialism. 2.5 million Instagram followers were bought and distributed amongst a personal selection of the art-world active on Instagram.
A Letter To Young Internet Artists
Emilie Gervais, website, 2014
Art movements are as irrelevant as categorizing art under medium labels, because 2014 is about life.
Anti-social media protest
Citizens Against Social Media, protest, 2014
PROTEST AT THE SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK ROTTERDAM 2014
*PLSS
Claudia Mate, video, 2:12min,  2014
Portable Life Support System for the contemporary man.
lotru-on-hotpink.com – No Original Research series
Evan Roth, website, 2014
A series of websites, each created from a single animation and audio file found on wikipedia.org
Excellences & Perfections Video Essay
Amalia Ulman, video, 10:31min, 2014
A scripted online performance on Instagram and Facebook.
——————————————————————————————————–
The OFFLINE ART exhibition format:
Browser-based digital art works are broadcast locally from wifi routers which are not connected to the Internet. Each art work is assigned a single wifi router which is accessible through any device, like smart-phones, tablets or laptops. To access the different art works, the visitor has to connect to each network individually. The name of the network reflects the name of the artist. No matter what URL is opened, only the specific artwork appears in the browser. A small web server holding the art piece is installed on a USB flash drive which is connected to the router. Like frames holding the art, the routers are hung in the exhibition space which is otherwise empty. The art i tself becomes visible only on the visitor’s private screen.The pieces are locally widely accessible but disconnected from the Internet.
prior show in the offline art exhibition format at xpo gallery 2013

The 31st Chaos Communication Congress was very much fun!
Thx to the CCC and Gregor Sedlag for having me again a speaker. Please check out the talk above!  #31C3
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2014/Fahrplan/events/6595.html
Video
lecture: »Hard Drive Punch«
Destroying data as a performative act
In general data is stored on technically sensitive systems and can easily be lost. At the same time files today appear often as indestructible once uploaded to the Internet.
In this presentation I will talk about a variety of approaches on data destruction and how these connect to current events and questions in society. From professional hard drive punch systems and art projects to DIY thermite melting, the art of destroying data is a wide spread cultural phenomenon.
Workshop: Bring your old hard drives to have them crushed with the IDEAL 0101 hard drive punch or cut the data platter yourself by hand.
Competition: You think you can still recover files from this drive? Which methods are the best?

BRING YOUR OWN DISK (AND CRUSH IT!!) 
at 31C3 the 31st Chaos Computerclub Congress, Hamburg. Dec 27 – 30. 2014

Lecture: »Hard Drive Punch« Kaputtmachen von Daten als performative Praxis
Dec 28, 7pm http://events.ccc.de/congress/2014/Fahrplan/events/6595.html

Workshop: BRING YOUR OWN DISK (AND CRUSH IT!!)  with the IDEAL 0101 hard drive puncher and other tools…!!
Dec 29, 2-4pm

‘Hurt me plenty’ opening speech by Olia Lialina

Opening speech by Olia Lialin on Sept 12th 2014, DAM gallery Berlin.
Aram Bartholl – Hurt me plenty (pictures )
13th September – 1st November 2014
DAM Gallery, Berlin
 
Good evening,
I’m happy to have a chance to talk at the opening of Aram Bartholl’s, “Hurt me plenty” exhibition. Please allow me to start by mentioning another artist, Herbert Franke. His work was exhibited at the DAM Gallery many times I believe. Some year ago I invited him as a computer art pioneer to tell young designers about the origins of Algorithmic Art and Generative Graphics.
It was a very inspiring and energetic talk. One of the most thought provoking parts though was Franke explaining that there were times such as in the late 50’s/early 60’s when you had to fight for the idea that you can make Art with computers. Computer Artists were outcasts of the Fine Art scene. They couldn’t claim to be called Artists. It was just not accepted, because computers are algorithmic and Art is spiritual. Art was not allowed to come from computers or algorithms. These times are long gone. Digital computers became medium, then meta-medium, and turned in to new media. There is hardly any art today made without computers in Fine Arts and in Contemporary Art. Moreover, there is a whole universe of Media Arts with at least a 30 years old tradition of creating art with digital technology as being medium specific, not just by producing the work with some application, but with being critical or at least attentive to the software itself.
Today we find ourselves surrounded by post-digital and post-internet art, whereas renouncing of digital technology is so important and paying attention to the computer is supposed to be of ‘yesterday’. In post-digital art, hybrid forms are preferred and ambiguous, veiled messages are sent around. Like, common, digital is everywhere. Don’t even mention it. Be an Artist. Don’t be Computer Artist. Full circle.
In particular, this state of the arts makes me think about the possible revival of Computer Art as a notion and term that nowadays could belong to artists who make an effort to show the computer itself. It is neither algorithmic, nor nostalgic. Not 8 bit.
Art of direct messages and gestures. Clear and totally explicit.
Here are 10.000 passwords from Yahoo messenger. Find yours.
This is the graphic card. A computer inside your computer. It is expensive and powerful.
This is your phone. You have no idea when it is off or on. Come to a workshop and make a copper bag to put it inside and find out for sure.
This is the Hard Disk Crusher. This is your hard disk.
Computer art of today is hardware art. Art of hard messages. It hurts.
These brutally scratched hard disk plates are there. They refer to a significant case that happened a year ago when the Guardian received an order to destroy the computer where Snowden’s files were stored. In the mass media we saw explicit pictures of damaged computer parts and images of journalists executing drives and chips. It hurts to see it, hurts to listen to the Guardian’s Editor in Chief, who says, “Its harder to smash up a computer than you think”. Yeah, it’s even harder to accept it as a reality, journalists drilling though hard drives.
They were forced to do so. It was an act of intimidation. But, I think soon we’ll do it voluntarily and on a regular basis. There is less and less certainty of what you are doing with your computer on the level of software. There is hardly a proper way to save, and almost no way to delete by giving commands to the software. When you really would want to delete information, you’ll have to put your hard drive into the hole of this machine.
You are probably familiar with classic images of the first ever computer called ENIAC from 1945. It’s a computer the size of this space, and it is operated by many people who rewire or rebuild it for every new tasks. ENIAC was operated on the level of hardware, because there was no software. These images are from the remote past, but maybe, they are also of the nearest future.
Software is developed in a way that makes us helpless and desperate and there are less and less commands available. I don’t have an ‘undo’ available on my phone any more. So if something crucial, if I really need to ‘undo’, the only way is to throw my phone into this hole. I’m exaggerating. Whats this phone after all? This dumb terminal through which I connect to the Cloud? But the Cloud is in the same routine.
Earlier this year at the Transmediale Festival, Sebastian Schmieg and Johannes Osterhoff showed their project “10 kilograms from the Google factory”. It’s a box of shredded hard disks from the Google Data Center in Belgium with hundreds of useless, formless objects looking like fragments of a meteorite. It’s of no importance for Science, but could be well suited for the gift shop of a science museum. Artists were actually selling them as a souvenir – 85 Euros per piece. Buy part of the Cloud, say hello to your files.
But there is also good news. There is a computer artist who brings a hard disk ‘crasher’ in to the gallery. It looks small here. It is three times smaller than the graphic card on the wall. These cards will not fit inside there. The ‘crasher’ looks rather harmless here. Looks like there maybe alternatives. There is a future for software. That there is a chance for software transparency, a chance to delete by giving a command to the computers not the computer terminators. You should see clearly to think about it.
Dimensions and scale matter.
Last semester we had the honor of hosting Aram at the Merz Akademie. He made a project with my students titled, “For your eyes only”. It was about wearable smart objects: smart watches, smart glasses. These are technologies that promise to be very helpful and almost invisible. Week after week this group was doing the opposite, working on projects and objects that would bring awareness about the presence of the devices. Works that would made them visible and that would make us notice them. Two students decided to build a big model of Google Glass. Like really big. Three to two meters or something like this. Yeah, surprise, of course, invite the author of the monumental ‘Marker’ and ‘Dust’ to teach, and wonder that his students will search for some vivid element of the digital realm to erect a statue of in public space. I know that Aram was not really comfortable with this and tried to guide students into more subtle solutions, but they were steadfast in their decision. And in the end of the semester, they carried in a huge clumsy model of this trendy high-tech accessory. I don’t know what grade they got, but it still stays there, an unusable and sad object like Google Glass itself. But now you can clearly see it.
The thing is, we are not blind, but invisible computing made us longsighted, we don’t see what is right in front of our eyes because we are not supposed to see it. Computer Art can help. It has an optic.
Enjoy magnification, zoom in, clear images and binary statements.
Olia Lialina 2014

Olia Lialina
Net Artist, one of the net.art pioneers.
Co-founder of Geocities Research Institute
New Media Professor at Merz Akademie, Stuttgart

Current & upcoming shows / talks / events
_________________________________________________________
27.11.2014 – 18.1.2015
End User
Hayward Gallery Project Space, London
19.- 21.11.2014
Human Futures
Networked Space, Marketplace, Aarhus,
16.10.2014 – 4.1.2015
The Darknet
Kunsthalle St.Gallen, Switzerland
Curated by !Mediengruppe Bitnik
13.10.- 2.11.2014
Master Artist-in-residence program
Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida
26.- 28.9.2014
Todaysart
Todaysart festival Scheveningen, Netherlands
20.9.2013
Killyourphone
Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg
13.9.- 29.10.2014
HURT ME PLENTY
solo show at DAM Gallery, Berlin
12.9.2014
Cuban Contemporary Art Salon
Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales – CDAV, Cuba
10.9. – 6.11.2014
Work in Public
Decad, Berlin
6.9.- 23.12.2014
SNEL HEST
Alingsås Kosthall, Denmark
28.- 30.8.2014
art / space / public
symposium Urbane Künste Ruhr, Duisburg
20.7.-20.9.2014
Archipel in√est
KUNSTrePUBLIK, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Recklinghausen
19. 6. – 31. 8. 2014
net.art Painters and Poets
Mestna galerija Ljubljana, Solvenia
Curated by: Vuk Ćosić & Alenka Gregorič
with: !MEDIENGRUPPE BITNIK, 0100101110101101.org, Cory Arcangel, Kim Asendorf, Mez Breeze, Cristophe Bruno, Heath Bunting, Shu Lea Cheang, Paolo Cirio, Vuk Ćosić, Constant Dullaart, Lisa Jevbratt, JODI, Justin Kemp, Olia Lialina, Alessandro Ludovico, Mouchette, Mark Napier, Evan Roth, ®™ark, Eryk Salvaggio, Alexei Shulgin, Teo Spiller, Igor Štromajer, Thomson & Craighead, Ubermorgen, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Jaka Železnikar
14.6.-14.9.2014
Crime Scene
Rauma Biennale Balticum 2014 Rauma art museum, Finnland
with: Aram Bartholl (DE), Cooltūristės (LT), Liisi Eelma & Minna Hint (EE), Inga Erdmane (LV), Evgenia Golant (RU), Geir Tore Holm & Søssa Jørgensen (NO), Stine Marie Jacobsen (DK), JP Kaljonen (FI), Karel Koplimets (EE), Haidi Motola (FI), Dorota Nieznalska (PL), NUG (SE), Lauri Rotko & Jukka Rapo (FI), Telekommunisten (Dmytri Kleiner, Baruch Gottlieb) (DE)
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prior shows and events