Aram Bartholl

The Last Captcha
b/w print on paper, 250 x 64 cm

Facebook captchas only show when you are about to delete your acount. Captcha codes have been part of our web experience for more than 15 years now. Since recent advances in machine learning it became clear captchas are not suitable anymore to prove that the user is human (and not a bot or dog). Google and others showed they can beat the human brain reading the scrambled characters better than we can. It is the end of an era. I still love them.

Aram Bartholl
2016

related project: ‘Are you human?‘

Are you human? -  stamp interaction & floor drawing
ink, stamp 24 x 6 cm, chalk drawing, 18 x 4 meter
Aram Bartholl, 2015

at NODE biennial festival – Forum for Digital Arts.
From April 27th – May 3rd 2015, Naxoshalle, Frankfurt.
Exhibition curated by Jeanne Vogt & Alexandra Waligorski

pictures by NODE forum

Thx!! :))

Are you human?
(ongoing series 2009 – 2013)
550 x 130, 10mm steel
2013

Shown at ‘Hello World!! solo show at Kasseler Kunstverein, Sept 2013

CAPTCHA codes are small images we encounter on the internet almost every day. To prove to the server that we are human we have to decode the distorted random letter-number word. CAPTCHA is the acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” and was developed in 2000. While at the Turing test humans were to decide if they chat with a program or another human. Today the computer is asking us if we were human. At the same time often it is quite difficult to decode these bend letters and numbers but spammers write specialized software which still is capable to do so. Are you human?

It is also interesting that CAPTCHA codes are generated by a script in the very moment a website is requested. In fact each code is unique but forgotten in digital nirvana very quickly. Once used (or failed) it will never appear as alike again. While many other files on the Internet are being copied and multiplied CAPTCHA codes stay in an ephemeral blind spot. They seem light, sometimes like a micro poem but they ask us the very existential question in an era of digital life.

This code was found on yahoo.com in spring 2013.

Google Portrait series at ‘Social Media’ Pace gallery NYC, Sept. 2011, 70 x 70 cm, edding, edding, char coal, stamp ink, all on paper

Are You Human? series at ‘Social Media’ Pace gallery NYC, Sept. 2011, dimension variable, up to 100 x 45 cm, 3 mm aluminum anodized, laser cut

I’ll show new work from the ‘Google Portrait’ series and ‘Are you human?’ series at ‘Social Media’, Pace Gallery, opening mid September… CU there!

“Social Media”
The Pace Gallery & Pace/McGill
510 West 25th Street, NYC
from September 16 through October 15, 2011.

Opening, on Thursday, September 15 from 6–8 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA

September 16 – October 15, 2011

Video stills from I Love Your Work, 2011, by Jonathan Harris

NEW YORK, August 22, 2011—The Pace Gallery, Pace/MacGill Gallery and the MFA Photography, Video
and Related Media Department at the School of Visual Arts are pleased to present Social Media. The
exhibition focuses on contemporary artists exploring public platforms for communication and social networks
through an aesthetic and conceptual lens. In an era of increasingly omnipresent new technologies, Social Media
examines the impact of these systems as they transform human expression, interaction, and perception. The
exhibition will feature works by Christopher Baker, Aram Bartholl, David Byrne, Jonathan Harris, Robert
Heinecken, Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher, Sep Kamvar and Penelope Umbrico.

“Are you human?”

during the

Graphic Design Festival Breda “Decoding”
8th – 30th of May, 2010, Netherlands.
Thx to Dennis and the team!

I had a very good time and it was fun hanging out with Zach and the OF workshop crowd! CU around guys!

I am showing “Are you human?” at GDBF.

Graphic Design Festival Breda (GDFB) is a biannual festival on graphic design. The festival goes into present developments on this subject and a large part of it takes place in the public space.

GDFB

8th – 30th of May, Breda, Netherlands

“Are you human?”
dimensions variable , ~ 40 x 90 x 1 cm
metallic coated acryl 3mm, foam core 5 mm, lasercut

BlkRiver.at street art show in Vienna last week was great fun! I showed a selection of 5 “Are you human?“-
Yahoo-CAPTCHA-codes in the exhibition and distributed 6 card board versions of each in the city of Vienna.

Thx to Sydney Ogidan and the whole team of BlkRiver!

“Are you human?”
dimensions variable , ~ 40 x 90 x 1 cm
metallic coated acryl 3mm, foam core 5 mm, lasercut

all pics on flickr