Life is a beach … and then you die

The ‘Webaround’ webcam background is a round, chroma key blue screen made of neoprene that fits over the back of an office chair. It blocks out the background behind a seated person during webcam sessions. In Berlin, old, worn-out and broken chairs are often dumped on the street. For “Life is a beach and then you die” Aram Bartholl scanned various Berlin neighbourhoods for these lonely, sad chairs abandoned in public space. In a gesture of compassion, each found chair receives a blue halo to honor the trillions of hours humankind spends in front of screens these days. These office chairs represent the time-consuming and often precarious work at computer desks. Like a parasite, the false background clings to the chair with an unredeemable promise.