Current Events

Moving Image Perspectives

22. December 2024 – 30. June 2025
Group Show, Annka Kultys Gallery, London

Coinciding with its 9th anniversary, ANNKA KULTYS GALLERY is delighted to announce the launch of its new digital programme Illuminated: Moving Image Perspectives, which will take place over the course of a year, and elaborates on the gallery’s expertise in moving image and reaffirms its ongoing commitment to this field.

On a weekly basis, Illuminated will offer unique insights into a new media artist using film, video animation, as well as their latest technological explorations, including blockchain and advanced technologies such as AI. This project aims to showcase and contextualise diverse digital art practices, while introducing international artists and their distinctive approaches to the gallery’s audience.

The online streams will be augmented by physical presentations of digital artworks in a private home setting at the gallery founder’s loft in Shoreditch. These installations will be accompanied by regular, invitation-only dinners and carefully curated exclusive viewings for art professionals, fostering deeper connections between artists, collectors, journalists, and museum curators.

Grand Snail Tour

26. September 2024 – 29. August 2025
Group Show, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Xanten Ruhrgebiet

What is the Ruhr area? An exciting metropolitan region centred around the major cities of Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg? Or a collection of scattered towns and villages from Alpen to Xanten? Or both? Does it consist of tranquil river landscapes along the Ruhr, Emscher and Lippe or is it hopelessly damaged by the scars of heavy industry? Ruhrpott, example of transformation, poverty zone – how can art open up, change and enrich this diverse region?

Urbane Künste Ruhr wants to find out and is launching the Grand Snail Tour in autumn, an artistic-performative journey through all 53 cities in the Ruhr region. Because this is an ambitious endeavour and Urbane Künste Ruhr has set itself the goal of getting to know local players, forming bonds and establishing sustainable networks, this is a three-year project.

Kick-off Grand Snail Tour in Xanten
Urbane Künste Ruhr is launching the Grand Snail Tour in autumn, an artistic-performative journey through all 53 cities in the Ruhr area. The kick-off event will take place on 26.9. in Xanten.

Instruments of Surveillance

21. September 2024 – 2. May 2025
Group Show, National Communications Museum, Hawthorn, Melbourne

As the race to create an artificial general intelligence (AGI) accelerates, questions of surveillance are more important than ever. Is it human or machine? And how can people equip themselves with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate technological futures?

Instruments of Surveillance grounds an age-old and contentious topic in the human and the everyday. From government spooks, data-extraction and activism through to generative AI, this exhibition unravels the interface between human and machine, inviting audiences to unpack the technologies that people use to surveil and their role in it.

Interact with a robotic commission by Louis-Philippe Demers. See an original WWII Enigma Machine, along with wiretaps and prototypes from the Australian Federal Police. Engage with commissions by Leah Heiss and Emma Luke, Kate Crawford, Aram Bartholl and Weniki Hensch among others.

This exhibition is curated by Jemimah Widdicombe (NCM) in collaboration with Dr. Tyne Sumner, current ARC DECRA fellow at the Australian National University.

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Upcoming Events

Are we there yet?

14. February – 16. May 2025
Group Show, Nome gallery, Berlin

Recent Events

Graphic Matters

29. November 2024
Talk, TURF festival, Breda

On Friday 29 November 2024, we are organising an inspiring afternoon for creative makers and tech enthusiasts together with TURF. During Current Characters IV: Wired Wonders , attendees and speakers will discuss the possibilities and ethical challenges of technology in art and design.

The new event TURF highlights electronic music, art, culture and tech. On Friday 29 November during Characters IV: Wired Wonders , three idiosyncratic makers Aram Bartholl (DE), SMACK(NL) and Roos Groothuizen (NL) present their work and share their views on the role of technology in art and autonomous design. They are known for their critical and social engagement. Wired Wonders promises to be a fascinating mix of inspiration and reflection, challenging attendees to think about the impact of technological innovations on the creative process.

Breda-based collective SMACK highlights the ethical dimensions of digital culture, critically visualising the seductions of technology and algorithms; Aram Bartholl explores the boundary between the digital and physical worlds, with critical installations that make technology tangible in the public domain; and Roos Groothuizen is known for her work on digital freedom and privacy, using technology as an activist tool to create awareness about surveillance and control.

Total Screen Time

21. November 2024
Curatorial, Ithakis 28, Kypseli-Athens, Athens


Total Screen Time is a
one night group exhibition on phones! All participating artists will bring a phone with their artwork on it, which will be mounted on the walls of the exhibition space. The idea behind the show is that the audience gets to peep through the hole of the artist’s phones to immerse into the artworks. LET’S BRAINROT TOGETHER! 🧠 In a collective and liberating moment, we also ask the artists  to share their weekly screen time prior to the opening. WE ARE ALL GETTING EXPOSED LOL 🎀

participating artists:
Andreas Angelidakis, Margarita Athanasiou, Cory Arcangel, James Bridle, Constant Dullaart, Chioma Ebinama, Evoulix, Fruitgillette, Agape Harmani, Hristos Hantzis, Kathrin Hunze, 1g.00_0 (Dirk Paesmans), Karl Heinz Jeron, Anna Kalozoumi, Kakia Konstantinaki, Markella Ksilogiannopoulou, Leefwerk, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Lucile Littot, Miltos Manetas, Maria Mavropoulou, Anastasis-Panagis Meletis, Tokisato Mitsuru, Eva Papamargariti, Angelo Plessas, Captain Stavros, Kosts Stafylakis, Mandy Stergiou, Alexandros Touramanis, Connor Willumsen

curated by:
Aram Bartholl, Socrates Stamatatos & Theo Triantafyllidis

curatorial statement:
Our algorithmic life has been reduced to isolation and hostility the last few years. Alone in our echo chamber we are brain rotting endlessly, while each specific algorithm is surveilling our every move and gatekeeping the process of our actions. To quote the famous philosopher and poet, Britney Spears:

“What am I to do with my life?
How am I supposed to know what’s right?
I can’t help the way I feel
But my life has been so overprotected
I tell ’em what I like, what I want, and what I don’t
But every time I do, I stand corrected
Things that I’ve been told, I can’t believe
What I hear about the world, I realize I’m overprotected.”

Meanwhile, everyone seems to be obsessed with their screen time. Some are trying to downsize it, some are accepting their ‘terminally online’ identity, some perceive it as a competition, and some—as always, simply don’t care. Enough with the heavy! We invited thirty artists to present digital works through their own personal devices, extending an intimate invitation for audiences to peer through the artist’s screen—a portal into their unique, brainrot-filled worlds. From personal and collective imagery to camp, critical takes on surveillance, viral memes, and wholesome escapism—artworks from every corner of the digital psyche are on display. This one night exhibition is about connecting, sharing in the joy of deep-frying our brains, rather than in isolation. And we think THAT’S HOT!

Kill Your Phone (with style!)

16. November 2024
Workshop, Super Duper Store, Athens

KILLYOURPHONE.COM is an open workshop format. Participants are invited to make their own signal blocking phone pouch.📶 In the pouch the phone can’t send or receive any signals. It is dead! 📵This time we are adding a cute twist 🥰 your phone is going down with style 💖

Join @arambartholl & @socratesstamatatos on 16.11.2024 from 12:00-17:00 at our beloved @super_duper_wow 🎀

Blog Archive for Tag: google portrait

Jean-Paul Sartre en Libération

October 28, 2013


During the fiac art fair the newspaper Libération had a special edition (October 24, 2013)  in which all pictures where replaced by pictures of art pieces. Ususally Liberation features every day on their last page a portrait of a person. I had the honor to draw the Jean Paul Sartre portrait for this special edition…
Aram Bartholl, «Portrait Google de Jean-Paul Sartre», 2013, fusain, 1m x 1m. Courtesy XPO GALLERY, Paris.
La 40e édition de la FIAC coïncide avec les 40 ans de Libération. Il fallait à cette occasion lier la création contemporaine à l’histoire du quotidien fondé en 1973 sous l’égide de Sartre.
L’artiste allemand Aram Bartholl signe un hommage à l’auteur des Mots, sans en écrire un seul. Ce QR code tracé au fusain, une fois scanné sur un smartphone, renvoie automatiquement vers les dix premières pages Google de la recherche «Jean-Paul Sartre». Aussitôt archivé et sans cesse actualisé, le visage du philosophe est sanctuarisé par l’information.
Alexis Jakubowicz et Jean-Brice Moutout Fondateurs de NonPrintingCharacter
http://www.liberation.fr/culture/2013/10/23/aram-bartholl_941821

Google Portrait: Kate Middleton

February 26, 2013


Google Portrait: Kate Middleton
Charcoal on Paper
100 x 100 cm
Aram Bartholl, 2013
On display at DAM Berlin at Art13 London  March 1-3 2013

Good by Kate! Was cool hanging out! :))
 
 

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Google portraits at 'Reply All'

February 10, 2012


3 new Google Portraits currently on show at ‘Reply All’ [DAM] Berlin

Petra Cortright – eng., ink on paper, 80 x 80 cm

Vera Molnar – eng., ink on paper, 80 x 80 cm

Olia Lialina – eng., ink on paper, 80 x 80 cm
 

Pieces at Pace

September 21, 2011


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

'Social Media'

September 5, 2011

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
.

Art Amsterdam

May 27, 2010


The Google Portraits Series is currently on display at Art Amsterdam 26.-30. of May represented by Multiple Gallery XX (via Walter thx!)

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4 Google self-portraits

November 12, 2009

g-portraits-9
A Google Portrait is a drawing which contains the Google URL search string of the portrayed person in encoded form. Any camera smart phone is capable to decode the matrix-code with the help of barcode reader like software. The result points the mobile phone browser to a a search on the portrayed person’s name at Google…
full text and more pictures on Google Portrait series project page.
4 Google self-portraits commissioned by Microwave Festival, Hong Kong , 2009
‘Aram Bartholl’, search german
75 x 75 cm, transparent paper, edding 850
‘Aram Bartholl’, search english
75 x 75 cm, transparent paper, edding 750
‘Aram Bartholl’, search chinese
75 x 75 cm, transparent paper stamp, stamp ink
‘Aram Bartholl’, search korean
75 x 75 cm, transparent paperpastel chalk

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“Nature Transformer”

November 12, 2009

Web
I am showing 4 new self-portraits of the ‘Google portrait series‘ commissioned by Microwave at the project room exhibition, Microwave festival, Hong Kong. Visitors are invited to draw their own Google self-portrait in a drop-in workshop during the festival.
“Nature Transformer”
Microwave festival
,
Hong Kong

13.11.-11.12.2009
Participating Artists:
Aram Bartholl / Germany
Petko Dourmana / Bulgaria
Tiffany Holmes / USA
Colin Ives / Canada
Natalie Jeremijenko / USA
Akio Kamisato, Satoshi Shibata, Takehisa Mashimo / Japan
Kult / Singapore
Joao Vasco / Hong Kong
Victoria Vesna / USA

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More Google Portraits

June 21, 2007


Being busy with my new project Google Portrait Series I found this nice drawing by MIT student Ben Dalton who did an analysis on portraiture in general and related to internet development.

“I decided to produce a portrait sketch based on a google search. Google only provides an outline of an individual if their name is very well know on the web, or it is unusual. I chose the ‘guru’ and web celebrity Jacob Nielsen, who’s website useit.com provides his thoughts on design and usability.

In searching for someone’s name, text that uses the persons full name is retrieved. This tends to result in formal descriptuions of the individual. I wanted to contrast a style that used distraction and detail with the stark refined simplicity of google and Jacob’s own design style.

By picking out words, and reforming them into my own phrases I have tried to alter the meaning of the search results to reflect my own interpretations and bias. This form of artistic sketching and wordplay has been explored by an artist who took a whole book, drew on each page (highlighting new phrases to produce a new narrative), and republishing the book (Unfortunately I cannot remember the details of this project to link to it).

Below is the final sketch. i couldn’t help putting a recognisable face in there (after much debate). I think it would be enhanced with the addition of colour wash, coffee cup stains or colour pencil marks.”

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New Project: “Google Portrait Series”

June 20, 2007


Finally I have this new project online. I am using the same technique as in the Tagging project but on a different and very appropriate topic.

“A Google Portrait is an interactive painting which contains the Google search string of the portrayed person in encoded form. Every java enabled camera phone is capable to decode the “Semacode” called 2D-code by taking a picture of the portrait. The result leads the mobile phone browser to Google doing a search on the portrayed person’s name…”

read on at project page Google Portrait Series

Thx to Daniel, my first victim. 😉

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