POST HACK or How To Send A Letter For Free:
A letter is a message written with a pen on a piece of paper (dead tree) which gets delivered in its physical original form[!!] to the recipients physical home address (house in a city i.e.). Wow, pretty cool concept, no?

1. Materials: Paper (blank paper is ususally almost impossible to find but if you’re lucky there might be some sheets left in a printer near by), Pen (just ask your friend or cubical neighbor for a pen to borrow. I recommend to keep it after writing the letter, you might need it again later…)
2. Write a letter (ask your friend for a FB like or something…) and fold the paper to an envelope (see video)
3. Adress!: Now the important part! On the envelope swapp the names of sender and recipient!  put the real recipient in the field of the sender and make up a non existing address for the official recipient field.
4. NO STAMP!!  Send it off and wait for the letter  to ‚return‘ to the ’sender‘.

How does it work? The postal service will try to deliver the letter to the recipients home. Due to wrong address it will  fail and the letter will ‚go back‘ to ‚the sender‘ which is the real recipient. In my first try below I just swapped sender and receiver which led to a visit at the post office in Berlin where I had to reject my own letter to make it ‚go back‘ to ‚the sender‘ in Berlin.


On Tuesday October 20th after class I posted the letter at a letter box (funny metal container in public, different colors depending on the country you re in) in Kassel

Since I put my real address as recipient the Deutsche Post did send me a note (another piece of paper!)  to my Berlin address to let me know they have a letter for me. They also announced it’s gonna cost extra money because the sender was so stupid to put no stamp.

So I went to the Post office on Torstrasse in Berlin and told the clerk that I don t know the sender and that I m not gonna pay 62 cents + 51 cents fine for this strange piece of paper. No problem she said and filed it away…

Finally!! Yesterday on Sunday (prolly on Saturday, five days later) the letter arrived at Constants place in Berlin. Thanks for the tweet! 🙂 https://twitter.com/constantdull/status/657978567381397504  Love it! What a beautiful envelope with all these extra notes and stamps on it.
 

123456 (projection)
Clear text passwords leaked from Yahoo in 2012 projected in public space at the national library Montreal, October 2015.
Aram Bartholl 2015

Pictures and video, Nelly-Eve Rajotte, THX!!
Programming Sebastian Schmieg, THX!

 
Save the data!
27.09. –  22.11.15
Von Kunst und datenträgern
Kunstpalais Erlangen · www.kunstpalais.de
In Erlangen, der Stadt, in der mit Entwicklung des mp3-Formats die Digitalisierung einen ganz bedeutenden Entwicklungsschritt getan hat, fokussiert mit der Gruppenschau „Save the Data!“ erstmals eine Ausstellung das Zusammenspiel von bildender Kunst und verschiedenen Speichermedien.
Auf welche Weise werden die technischen Speichermedien – aktuelle und überholte – für den künstlerischen Ausdruck genutzt, und wie werden deren unterschiedliche Bedeutungsebenen miteinander verwoben? Welchen Einfluss hat die Digitalisierung auf die Bildgenerierung in den Medien Fotografie, Film und Skulptur? Inwieweit wird der Bedeutungswandel, den die Speichermedien von analog bis digital in den letzten Jahren und Jahrzehnten erfahren haben, durch den künstlerischen Umgang mit ihnen hinterfragt?
Schallplatten, Compact Discs und CD-ROMs, vor allem aber Musikkassetten, Disketten und VHS-Tapes verschwinden einerseits zunehmend aus dem täglichen Gebrauch –andererseits taucht solcherlei Hardware in den letzten Jahren vermehrt in Museen und Galerien auf. Als künstlerischer Werkstoff sind sie für viele Künstler zunehmend von Interesse, und auch der Betrachter freut sich über die Wiederbegegnung mit solchem zum Teil allzu vertrauten Material. Der einst gefürchtete Bandsalat, das Rattern des Filmprojektors, die Mixkassette für die Liebste oder das Bild von Regalen voller Videokassetten gehören im täglichen Leben zwar meist der Vergangenheit an, doch die damit verbundenen Gefühle zwischen Nostalgie und Zukunftseuphorie kommen umso stärker zum Tragen und werden von den Künstlern ganz gezielt eingesetzt. Der Aspekt des verborgenen Gehalts, den die gespeicherten, aber dennoch unsichtbaren Daten den Werken hinzufügen, spielt hierbei für viele eine weitere große Rolle.
Zum anderen entstehen mit Elementen des ganz zeitgenössischen Umgangs mit Dateien und Speicherstrukturen auch neue ästhetische Prototypen: so beispielsweise das Fenster im Internetbrowser oder das Raster des Bildbearbeitungsprogramms. Auch diese haben seit einiger Zeit in der künstlerischen Produktion ihren festen Platz. Vergangenheit und Zukunft werden auf diese Weise in der Schau „Save the Data!“ dicht verwoben – spannend, sinnlich wie intellektuell ansprechend und nicht zuletzt durchaus humorvoll.
with: Timo Arnall (GB), Aram Bartholl (DE), Viktoria Binschtok (RU), Gregor Hildebrandt (DE), Ronnie Yarisal und Katja Kublitz (CH und DK), Via Lewandowsky (DE), Joep van Liefland (NL), Florian Meisenberg (DE), Yuri Pattison (IE), Gebhard Sengmüller (AT)

Full project page here!!  –> http://www.datenform.de/keepalive-eng.html



 
Keepalive
Aram Bartholl 2015
permanent outdoor installation
material:  rock, steel, router, usb-key, thermoelectric generator, fire, software, PDF database
size: 100 x 110 x 90 cm
at Landart Kunstverein Springhornhof Neuenkirchen, Niedersachsen, Germany
commissioned by Center for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University Lüneburg
curated by Andreas Broeckmann, Leuphana Arts Program
inauguration: Sunday, August 30, 2015, 11:00 am at Springhornhof
The boulder from the region Neuenkirchen, Niedersachsen contains a thermoelectric generator which converts heat directly  into electricity. Visitors are invited to make a fire next to the boulder to power up the wifi router in the stone which then reveals a large collection of PDF survival guides.  The piratebox.cc inspired router which is NOT connected to the Internet offers the users to download the guides and upload any content they like to the stone database .  As long as the fire produces enough heat the router will stay switched on. The title Keepalive refers to a technical network condition where two network endpoints send each other ‚empty‘ keepalive messages to maintain the connection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keepalive   To visit the piece please arrange an appointment with Springhornhof.de.
The project „Keepalive“ by Aram Bartholl was realised in the context of the research project „Art and Civic Media“, as part of the Innovation Incubator Lüneburg, a large EU project funded by the European Fund for Regional Development and the Germna State of Lower Saxony.
 
Press
http://hyperallergic.com/231483/fire-up-a-wifi-router-hidden-inside-a-rock/
Official Invitation (german)
http://springhornhof.de/aram-bartholl-keepalive/
Pictures
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bartholl/sets/72157655953293283



__________________________________________________________________
You are warmly invited to the Keepalive opening on Sunday, 30th of August 2015
11.00 a.m. Meeting point at Kunstverein Springhornhof
Leave for Hartböhn by car (approx. 10 min) or by bicycle (approx. 20 min, rental bikes are available)
11.30 a.m.
Greeting: Prof. Dr. Martin Warnke (Chair of Art Association)
In discussion: Andreas Broeckmann (Leuphana Arts Program) & Aram Bartholl
Afterwards
Food, drinks and data sharing at the campfire
__________________________________________________________________
“Keepalive” by Aram Bartholl (*1972 in Bremen) looks just like a normal rock from the outside. There is no sign that the stone, which lies inconspicuously in Lüneburger Heide on the edge of idyllic Hartböhn, contains hundreds of digital books. An internal thermoelectric generator and WiFi router must be activated by a lighting a fire under the rock before an electronic survival guide library can be accessed. Data and text can also be added by smartphone or laptop.
Media artist Aram Bartholl works with paths of knowledge and information communication that work against the developments of the digital age and question our handling of data. In this and other projects, he undermines power structures and control mechanisms in the use of internet services and data transmission, mostly through the introduction of a random, uncontrollable element.
In “Keepalive” the stone itself becomes the data medium. In a very archaic, but at the same time clandestine manner, information can be exchanged only locally — in contrast to networked servers, services and clouds worldwide, this rock is not connected to the internet. You have to get close to nature in the countryside, find the stone and make a fire to activate the data source. Anyone can do it once they have found out the exact location of the stone from either the nearby Kunstverein Springhornhof or another source.
Following the advice in the survival guides prepares you — this is the promise at least — for solo survival in the chaotic world of computer programming as much as for solo survival in the wilderness. “Keepalive” examines what “survival” really means and sounds out our true needs. The work resists the centralising forces of the Internet, raises questions about the democracy of knowledge management and ignites an autonomy backlash.” (Jennifer Bork)
__________________________________________________________________
The “Keepalive” project by Aram Bartholl was created in conjunction with the research project “Art and Civic Media” as part of Innovations-Inkubators Lüneburg, a major EU project supported by the European Regional Development Fund and the State of Lower Saxony.

pictures! https://www.flickr.com/photos/bartholl/sets/72157658278862521
ALUHUT WORKSHOP  (tin foil hat workshop)
at Chaos Communication Camp 2015 http://events.ccc.de/camp/2015/wiki/Main_Page
Make your own aluminum hat (much better than tin foil!!) to protect yourself  from any waves and all surveillance!! It is very very safe! :)) Just drop by!
https://events.ccc.de/camp/2015/wiki/Projects:ALUHUT_workshop
https://frab.camp.berlin.ccc.de/en/ber15/public/events/72
Time:
DAY 2, Friday 14.8.2015, 14:00 – 18:00 h
Place:
C-base village, next to BER.

Calle 22 Project

Bogota 2015, more info at http://calle22.org/
Participating artists:
Felipe Arturo
Aram Bartholl
Leyla Cárdenas
Julius Von Bismarck
Curated by:
Oscar M. Ardila Art Historian
Roberto Uribe Architect
Dr. Kathrin Wildner

more pictures on flickr
Links for all four Dead Drops:

Dead Drops au Palais de Tokyo, à Paris

Vernissage public le lundi 22 juin à 21h

Comment exposer au Palais de Tokyo ?

1. Apporter vos oeuvres sur votre ordinateur portable lors du vernissage
2. Téléchargez-les sur l’une des 5 dead drops placées au Palais de Tokyo
3. Dites à tout le monde que vous exposez au Palais de Tokyo

DEAD DROPS at Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Public OPENING, Monday  9:00pm 2015 June 22nd

How to get your art in the Palais de Tokyo

1. BRING YOUR ART ON A LAPTOP TO THE GRAND OPENING.
2. UPLOAD IT TO ONE OF THE 5 DEAD DROPS IN PALAIS DE TOKYO.
3. TELL EVERYONE YOU HAVE ART IN THE PALAIS DE TOKYO.

PEBKAC IMHO
Haus of electronic Arts – HeK at Liste Art Fair
duration: 16.06.2015 – 21.06.2015
At Liste Art Fair Basel HeK – House of Electronic Arts presents four artistic positions:
Aram Bartholl, Constant Dullaart, Raquel Meyers and Evan Roth under the title PEBKAC IMHO.
„Search the web for ‚iPhone reverse product placement‘, and you will find a clip from the first ‚Sex and the City‘ movie (2008), in which the character Carrie gets handed an iPhone and shrieks; “I don’t know how to work this‘. Shot the year the first Apple smartphone was released, the clip overtly illustrates our current relationship to technology. Carrie was not in the know, did not understand popular technology. Left at the altar, not in control of her life, not able to master new technology. We as the viewer do want to understand how technology works, want control, not be left at the altar, and get an iPhone.
‚Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair‘, abbreviated to PEBKAC, is an expression used in tech support culture since the mid nineties. A derogatory term for a human error being the reason for the customer to seek assistance. Abbreviated to hide the pedantic position of tech support, creating an even larger social gap between them and the unwitting human sitting on the chair. By now, PEBKAC not only emphasizes that we are no longer bound to keyboards and chairs, but rather that society until now still struggles to define its relationship with networked technology. We might not always be the human error on the chair anymore, but we still have problems engaging with technology. Commercial interest has tempted many corporations to make technology more user friendly, a process in which technological possibilities are often hurdled to improve usability and profit. Now grandparents email, bandwidth is filled with ads, and nobody knows exactly how algorithms analyze our behavior. Perhaps the problem is sittinag on another chair, programming our technological culture to be the capitalist cultural environment it is today. And we should go back to the recent roots to research our relationship with tech. Go poetic, forensic, anthropologic, spiritual, basic. In any case, it will remain PEBKAC- In My Honest Opinion.“ (Constant Dullaart)