I posted to datenform.de

GestaltenTV

http://datenform.de/blog/gestaltentv/

April 2 2012, 10:05am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

Core77: Recap and Highlights from Art Hack Day at 319 Scholes

http://www.core77.com/blog/events/recap_and_highlights_from_art_hack_day_at_319_scholes_21692.asp

April 1 2012, 8:00pm | Comments »

I posted to visitsteve.com

Why Kickstarter Outfunding the NEA Isn’t a Good Thing – on Read Write Web

http://visitsteve.com/news/press/why-kickstarter-outfunding-the-nea-isnt-a-good-thing-on-read-write-web/

I was quoted in Why Kickstarter Outfunding the NEA Isn’t a Good Thing on Read Write Web. I actually have way more to say about this than what was included. You can read some of what I’ve said in a 4 part post the UCIRA blog (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4). Don’t ask me about this in person unless you want to hear me go on for at least 20 minutes. See also: this video on “why should public funds be spent to support artwork that might be considered offensive?”

March 31 2012, 8:59am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

Core77: Recap and Highlights from Art Hack Day at 319 Scholes

http://www.core77.com/blog/events/recap_and_highlights_from_art_hack_day_at_319_scholes_21692.asp

March 16 2012, 2:22pm | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

The Pop-Up City

http://datenform.de/blog/the-pop-up-city/

full post at http://popupcity.net/2012/03/book-the-speed-book-by-aram-bartholl/

Book: The Speed Book By Aram Bartholl By Anna Triboli | Published: Friday March 16, 2012 Some time ago I wrote about the question “How to democratize art?”. Aram Bartholl’s work is maybe one of the best examples of how to engage a large group of people with contemporary art. Bartholl meticulously tore down those boundaries built around the image of the ‘artwork’ as something far from our everyday lives, converting people into active participants of his projects. Gestalten dedicated one of its latest publications to him. The Speed Book is the first comprehensive monograph of Bartholl’s projects, with essays on his work, an interview and AB News #1 and #2, supplements conceived in the shape of a magazine. Some of Bartholl’s projects gained him plenty of publicity, such as Map (the big red Google Maps marker that was turned physical and placed in urban space) or Dead Drops, a file-sharing network installed in public spaces through USB sticks placed into walls of landmarks or buildings, which we already mentioned in a previous post. These interventions perfectly underline the nature of his work as a smart critique on the digital world through public projects that bring typical Internet culture elements and video-gaming (which everyone knows and can be easily understood) straight into our lives and our cities. … read on! full post at http://popupcity.net/2012/03/book-the-speed-book-by-aram-bartholl/

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March 16 2012, 5:04am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

Schönschrift

http://datenform.de/blog/schonschrift/

full article at http://schönschrift.org/artikel/what-comes-back-from-cyberspace-aram-bartholl-galerie-dam-berlin/ What comes back from cyberspace? Aram Bartholl in der Galerie [DAM] Berlin Lena Loose Ausstellung · 13. März 2012

Was passiert, wenn wir Orten aus der virtuellen Welt auf einmal in der realen Welt begegnen? Oder ist nicht längst die virtuelle Welt auch Teil unserer realen Welt geworden? Aram Bartholl verweist mit seiner Kunst auf spielerische Weise auf die komplexen Verstrickungen und Überlagerungen von digitalem und analogem Leben. Der Künstler interveniert dabei meist im öffentlichen Raum und bedient sich alltäglicher Symbole, Formen und Codes, die sich ganz selbstverständlich in unser Leben eingeschlichen haben, ohne dass wir uns ihres Gebrauchs bewusst sind oder diesen reflektieren. Die Kunst dient hier als Denkanstoß sich dieser Allgegenwart bewusst zu werden und sich ihrer Sprache zu bedienen, um selbst aktiv am technischen Zeitalter teilzuhaben. Bartholls wohl bekanntestes Werk Dead Drops, eingemauerte USB-Sticks als anonyme, allgemein zugängliche Datenablage, ist mittlerweile an vielen Orten weltweit zu finden und hat nun auch in der Außenwand der Galerie [DAM] Berlin ein Zuhause gefunden, im Rahmen von Bartholls erster Einzelausstellung „Reply All“. Unter anderem zeigt die Ausstellung auch die Arbeit 15 Secs of Fame, die für Aufmerksamkeit sorgte, nachdem Bartholl 2010 zufällig mit einem Google-Street-View Wagen in Berlin zusammen traf und diesem folgte, um sich auf der virtuell begehbaren Karte zu verewigen. Auf sympathische und intelligente Weise befreit sich Bartholl vom Künstlermythos, indem er seine Arbeitsprozesse offen legt, um Wissen zu teilen und seine Betrachter zum selbstständigen Agieren und Eingreifen anzuregen. Die Guy-Fawkes-Masken, die zum Markenzeichen der Occupy- und Anonymous-Bewegung geworden sind, dabei aber widersprüchlicher Weise Geld in die Kassen des Medienkonzerns Warner Bros. spülen, kann der Besucher in How to Vacuum Form mittels einer Plastikplatte, eines umfunktionierten Toasters, einer Ton-Form und einem Blasebalg innerhalb von wenigen Minuten selber herstellen….. read on http://schönschrift.org

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March 16 2012, 1:05am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

DustTag Graffiti Analysis iPhone App | Hypebeast

http://hypebeast.com/2010/01/dusttag-graffiti-analysis-iphone-app/

March 6 2012, 2:26am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

‘Reply All’ review on ArtConnectBerlin

http://datenform.de/blog/reply-all-review-on-artconnectberlin/

Aram Bartholl at [DAM] Berlin Posted on February 26, 2012 by Luise Kuhn

In cooperation with the last Transmediale 2012 which ran from 31 january until 5 february under the title “in/compatible” in the HKW the gallery [DAM] Berlin is showing the first solo exhibition of new media artist Aram Bartholl (*1972 in Bremen) who lives and works in Berlin. In “Reply All” Bartholl deals in different ways with the topics of computer and internet and constantly blurs the borders between the real and the digital world. In various positions Bartholl demonstrates discourses of power in the digital world. The human being seems submitted to the laws of the binary code. However, the people also have free access to information worldwide. The artist’s works don’t come to live only because of looking at them but more of the thougt-provoking impulses which Bartholl initiates. They come to a life of their own that is emerged through the participation of the viewer. Space, feel of the surface and political potency mark Bartholls works and aren’t only bound to digitalism. The medium of the internet is treated critically, mocked, projected into the analogue world and becomes a punching ball of our imagination. …. read on at http://blog.artconnectberlin.com/2012/02/26/aram-bartholl-at-dam-berlin/

February 27 2012, 2:43am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

‘Vom Code zur Kunst’

http://datenform.de/blog/vom-code-zur-kunst/

Article on the ‘Reply All’ show on artiberlin.de by Thea Dymke, THX! http://www.artiberlin.de/article/Vom_Code_zur_Kunst_Aram_Bartholl_im_DAM_Berli

Vom Code zur Kunst: Aram Bartholl im [DAM] Berlin von Thea Dymke (17.02.2012)

„Schreib‘s mir auf meine Pinnwand!“ spricht der Digital Native mit gekonnter Lässigkeit und kann sich heute sicher sein, dass er –solange unter seinesgleichen weilend – nicht mit der Frage nach Stecknadeln, Korkwand oder gar Papier belästigt wird. Nein, längst hat das Netz ursprünglich analoge Begriffe aufgesogen und im Namen der digitalen Beziehungspflege einverleibt. Gleichzeitig werden neue Wörter und Gesten eingeschleust: Wer hätte früher schon alles „liken“ wollen, was gefällt? Wem wäre ein „re-tweet“ als sinnvolle Alternative zum Weitertratschen an Freunde erschienen? So plappern wir in unseren Netzvokabeln, leisten artig Folge und tun, was das Internet von uns verlangt. Der Künstler Aram Bartholl dreht den Spieß um: in seinen Arbeiten überträgt er Prinzipien aus dem Internet in unsere physische Welt. Er platziert riesige rote A-Pins nach Google Vorbild im Straßenraum oder Sprechblasen mit Chat-Ausschnitten über den Köpfen von Besuchern. “Vom Code zur Kunst“ könnte Bartholls Credo lauten, ebenso wie der treffende Titel des ersten Videoclips auf seiner Website.

Die Galerie [DAM ]Berlin zeigt mit Reply All nun erstmals eine Einzelausstellung des UdK-Absolventen. Hier werfen Schriftzüge plötzlich Sinnfragen auf: So genannte Captcha Codes (verschwommene Schriften zur Vermeidung von automatisiertem Spam, die der Nutzer entziffern und wiederholen muss) hängen an Wänden und fragen ihre Betrachter im Titel „Are you human?“ Eine Prüfung, der wir uns im Netz bedenkenlos unterziehen, die in dieser Dimension jedoch eine ganz andere Bedeutung erhält. Das Projekt Dead Drops gehört zu Bartholls bekanntesten Arbeiten und nutzt eingemauerte USB-Sticks als allgemein zugängliche Datenablage. Wer hier Daten zieht, hoch lädt oder teilt, erhält einen Einblick in das Gedankengewirr der Großstädter. Und beteiligt sich gleichzeitig am Aufbau eines kollektiven Datenbildes.

In seiner neuesten Arbeit, einer Verbindung aus Performance und Installation widmet sich der Künstler nun der Anonymous-Bewegung. Als Teil der Netzkultur und steht sie für ein hierarchiefreies und offenes Kollektiv, dass Wissen und Informationen miteinander teilt, Aktionen plant und durchführt. Ihr Markenzeichen sind jene Guy-Fawkes-Masken, die uns aus der Occupy-Bewegung nur allzu bekannt erscheinen. Ein Symbol, das Anonymität und Identifikation gleichermaßen versinnbildlicht und längst aus der digitalen Welt in die Protestzüge der New Yorker Straßen überschwappte. Bartholl wendet sich damit expliziter als zuvor politischen Themen zu, verliert einen Teil des zwinkernden Wohlfühlfaktors seiner bisherigen Arbeiten, markiert stattdessen seine Position im netzpolitischen Umfeld. Sie zu verstehen, genau wie die zahlreichen cleveren Drehungen und Wendungen in Bartholls Arbeiten setzt voraus, dass man die Formalsprache des Internets kennt. Ein Appell an uns digitale Ureinwohner, sich nicht nur dem massenhaften Liken von Links zuzuwenden, sondern das Netz und seine Funktionen aufmerksam zu betrachten. Um sich umso mehr an Bartholls kreativen Umkehrungen zu erfreuen.

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February 21 2012, 6:30am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

¿Habla Español?

http://datenform.de/blog/habla-espanol/

Post by Pau Waelder written in spanish. Full article here http://www.pauwaelder.com/?p=354&lang=en Thx!! Aram Bartholl: this is not digital

[Post published in Spanish on the blog Arte, Cultura e Innovación] Hace unos días, la galería berlinesa DAM ha presentado Reply All, una muestra individual del artista Aram Bartholl (Bremen, 1972), que coincide con el lanzamiento de su libro Aram Bartholl – The Speed Book (Gestalten-Verlag, 2012) y se enmarca dentro del programa de actividades paralelas del festival Transmediale 2012. Este evento, que consolida la carrera de este artista y comisario, nos ofrece una oportunidad para examinar una trayectoria centrada en las relaciones entre el mundo real y los entornos virtuales que habitamos a diario. A partir de la popularización de la interfaz gráfica de usuario (GUI) con la comercialización de los primeros ordenadores personales en los años 80 y su rápida evolución en la década siguiente, nuestra interacción con el mundo digital se ha basado en una serie de representaciones gráficas de objetos del mundo real. Carpetas, hojas, lápices, lupas, y en un nivel más abstracto, ventanas y un puntero en forma de flecha se incorporan a nuestro vocabulario visual y configuran un espacio que progresivamente se percibe como una realidad propia. Contribuye a ello el desarrollo de gráficos más elaborados y unos elementos que reaccionan al puntero creando la ilusión de una interacción táctil, acentuada recientemente por tablets, smartphones y otros dispositivos en los … continue at http://www.pauwaelder.com/?p=354&lang=en

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February 17 2012, 3:28am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

TAZ Berlin article about ‘Reply All’

http://datenform.de/blog/taz-berlin-article-about-reply-all/

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replyall

February 16 2012, 3:36am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

‘Analoger Aufruhr’

http://datenform.de/blog/analoger-aufruhr/

A piece by Julika Nehb about my solo show at [DAM] Berlin in Kunst Magazin http://www.kunst-magazin.de/aram-bartholl-analoger-aufruhr/ (german)

Aram Bartholl – Analoger Aufruhr Publiziert am 31. Januar 2012 von Julika Nehb

Aram Bartholl: Map, seit 2006, Installation im öffentlichen Raum, Skulptur, 6 x3,50 x 0,35 m, Courtesy Galerie DAM Berlin.

Sie befinden sich: Hier! Wie eine Welt aussehen kann, in der virtuelle Zeichen das Erscheinungsbild der Wirklichkeit prägen, und nicht umgekehrt, ist eine Frage, der Aram Bartholl in seiner aktuellen Ausstellung “Reply All” in der Galerie [DAM] Berlin nachgeht. Diese ist im Herbst von der Tucholskystraße in die Neue-Jakobsstraße umgezogen – und auch ohne überdimensionale, von googlemaps inspirierte Ortsangaben zu finden. Bartholls Arbeiten üben nicht nur einen rein ästhetischen Reiz aus, sie laden verspielt-humorvoll zu Grenzgängen zwischen Online- und Offlinewelt ein. Dabei schwingt das Bewusstsein potentieller politischer Wirksamkeit stets mit. Konsequent bedient sich Bartholl daher performativ ausgerichteter künstlerischer Formen wie Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum, Performances und Ready-Mades.

Aram Bartholl: DeadDrops, seit 2010, Urbane Intervention, Courtesy Galerie DAM Berlin

Der digitale Datenaustausch zwischen Unternehmen wird unmöglich, wenn Bartholl USB-Sticks in Gebäudewände einmauert: das vermittelt die Arbeit “DeadDrops”. Nicht nur um physisch erlebbare Entschleunigung, sondern um die Entdigitalisierung des Digitalen geht es dem Künstler: “Im Netz entwickelt sich alles extrem schnell. Ich habe das Bedürfnis, etwas zu schaffen, was sich um dieses Thema dreht, aber trotzdem Bestand hat”. Auch zu netzpolitischen Phänomenen wie der Internet-Guerilla-Bewegung “Anonymous” nimmt Bartholl Stellung. Jeder Besucher der Ausstellung kann selbst eine Guy-Fawkes-Maske herstellen und bekommt dadurch die Möglichkeit, Teil der Bewegung zu werden – oder zumindest mit dem Gedanken daran zu spielen: In der “Anonymous”-Bewegung spiegelt sich die Idee eines freien, netzbasierten Informations- und Kreativitätskollektivs, das ohne hierarchische Organisation, ohne determinierte Identität politische Handlungsfähigkeit demonstrieren kann.

Aram Bartholl demonstriert bei der Performance “How to vacuum Form” die Herstellung der Guy-Fawkes -Masken.Foto: Julika Nehb Das Werk des in Bremen geborenen Bartholl wurde 2011 durch eine Ausstellung im MoMA geadelt. Die Ausstellung in Berlin läuft noch bis zum 10.3.2012. Galerie [DAM] Berlin, Neue Jakobsstrasse 6-7, 10179 Berlin-Mitte, Di-Fr 12-18h, Sa 12-16h. by Julika Nehb about my solo show at [DAM] Berlin in Kunst Magazin http://www.kunst-magazin.de/aram-bartholl-analoger-aufruhr/

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February 7 2012, 6:17am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

Core77: Recap and Highlights from Art Hack Day at 319 Scholes

http://www.core77.com/blog/events/recap_and_highlights_from_art_hack_day_at_319_scholes_21692.asp

February 6 2012, 10:09pm | Comments »

I posted to visitsteve.com

Interview on Breakthru Radio

http://visitsteve.com/news/press/interview-on-breakthru-radio/

Thomas Seeley did an interview with me about Capitalism Works For Me True/False for Breakthru Radio. You can listen to the show online.

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November 12 2011, 8:06am | Comments »

I posted to visitsteve.com

DESIGN ACT published

http://visitsteve.com/news/press/design-act-published/

Book launch:

DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics Time: 30 September, 6-8 pm Place: EXD’11 Lounging Space, Antigo Tribunal da Boa-Hora, Lisbon, Portugal Programme: Presentation of the DESIGN ACT book by the editors Magnus Ericson and Ramia Mazé followed by a panel discussion with Joseph Grima, Meike Schalk (both contributors to the book) and Lisa Rosendahl, Iaspis director. Moderator: Annika Enqvist, project co-ordinator, Iaspis

DESIGN ACT Socially and politically engaged design today – critical roles and emerging tactics is a new book that presents and discusses contemporary design practices that engage with political and societal issues. Since 2009, Iaspis’ and Interactive Institute’s collaboration DESIGN ACT has been highlighting and discussing practices, in which designers have been engaging critically as well as practically in such issues. Itself an example of applied critical thinking and experimental tactics, the process behind the DESIGN ACT project is considered as a curatorial, participatory and open-ended activity. DESIGN ACT has developed through a website with an online archive; public seminars; presentations and an international network of practitioners, theoreticians and curators.

The book is organized around three sections: ‘WHAT are examples of these movements?’ Contemporary and historical writings, including reprints of ‘Suicidal Desires’ (from the book Superstudio: Life Without Objects, by Peter Lang and William Menking) and ‘Designer as Author’ (from the book Design Noir by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby), historical reflections by Helena Mattsson and Christina Zetterlund and an interview with Doina Petrescu (FR) by Ramia Mazé. ‘HOW does it happen and what does it take?’ A substantial analysis of the tactics and methods of the examples of projects featured in the DESIGN ACT archive, by Ramia Mazé and Natasha Marie Llorens. ‘WHERE does it happen and in what contexts?’ A broad perspective on practice from institutions, education and research to new forms of practitioner initiated projects: Interviews with Pelin Dervis (TK), Joseph Grima (IT/US), Ou Ning (CH), Meike Schalk (SE/DE), Yanki Lee (UK), Ana Betancour (SE), Otto von Busch (SE), Mauricio Carbalan (AR) and Tor Lindstrand (SE), by Magnus Ericson. The book also includes descriptions of 36 projects from the DESIGN ACT archive by: A+URL, Camilla Andersson, Anti-Advertising Agency, Jon Ardern and Benedict Singleton, atelier d’architecture autogérée, Otto von Busch, Constant in collaboration with Recyclart, City Mine(d) and Speculoos, Dunne & Raby, eskyiu, Fantastic Norway, Aslı Kıyak İngin and Teike Asselbergs, International Festival with Front, Natalie Jeremijenko and the xClinic staff, Yanki Lee with Paula Dib, live|work, m7red, MINE, muf, New Beauty Council, Josh On, Marjetica Potrč and STEALTH in collaboration with A5 Arkitekter, Michael Rakowitz, Raumlaborberlin, Hannah le Roux, School of Missing Studies/Centrala – Foundation for Future Cities, Stalker, Think Public, Unsworn Industries and Zoom Architecture

This book is a final and complimentary part of the project DESIGN ACT, produced by Iaspis, published by Sternberg Press and edited by the founders of the DESIGN ACT project, Magnus Ericson and Ramia Mazé.

Iaspis is the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Arts. The main purpose is to promote dialogue between practitioners in Sweden and the international scene. Iaspis encompasses an international studio program in Sweden, a support structure for exhibitions and residences abroad for Swedish-based practitioners, and a program of seminars, exhibitions and publications. www.iaspis.se

The Interactive Institute is a Swedish IT research institute that combines expertise in art, design and technology. Pioneering societal and sustainable approaches to world-leading applied research, the institute develops new research areas, products and services, and provides research and strategic advice to corporations and public organizations. www.tii.se

Sternberg Press www.sternbergpress.com

EXD’11 EXD (Experimenta) is an international biennale dedicated to design, architecture and creativity; a forward-thinking platform that cultivates and analyses contemporary culture through discussion and reflection. It is a springboard for up-andcoming talent and experimentation in different formats, from exhibitions to urban interventions, debates and lectures. Focusing on people and ideas, the biennale’s programme is designed to provide insight and incentive to both a specialized audience and the public at large, disseminating information and provoking debate. www.experimentadesign.pt

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September 27 2011, 7:51am | Comments »

I posted to fffff.at

PBS Off Book | Hacking & Culture with FAT Lab

http://fffff.at/pbs-off-book-hacking-culture-with-fat-lab/

PBS’s new web series “Off Book” explores the LAB, with interviews from a few of us. (Check the near the end for the secret FAT Lab formula for a successful speed project.)

FF00FF & #FFFF00 to PBS & Kornhaber Brown for the awesome interview.

September 14 2011, 8:02am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

Rhizome Interview

http://datenform.de/blog/rhizome-interview/

[Recent interview with Joanne McNeil published on Rhizome] Artist Profile: Aram Bartholl

Turning a digital object into a physical one is often part of your practice. Dead Drops and the 2004 version of de_dust blurs the boundaries between the physical environment and digital worlds. Do you think that there is a place anymore where one world ‘ends’ and the other begins? Can we ever stop playing Counter-Strike? In 1995, I had to walk over to the Technical University TU-Berlin campus to get my first email address. I was permitted there to use the UNIX computer pool while studying Architecture at the UdK (Art School Berlin). I only had one friend in Hamburg I knew who had an email address I could write to. Back in the day a lot of people were like “Yes that is cool, but what really do you need the Internet for!?”. Today it is more like “You are not on Facebook, why?!?” being asked from more or less the same people. Obviously there was a rapid development over the last 2 decades in terms of Internet and Computers. The digital space grew bigger and bigger and takes over big parts of our life today. It becomes more and more the extension of ourselves, like McLuhan put it. And yes, you are right: One can’t tell anymore today where one space ends and the other one starts. The classic distinction of digital-analog, real-virtual and online-offline doesn’t work anymore. Those worlds mix up and leap into each other and we are in the center of it. Everything I do every day is my reality. While studying Architecture in the 90s my focus was bound to the early web, computers and games. Working in these worlds was much more attractive with all the possibilities of the universal machine. Why draw plans by hand when you could design impossible spaces in 3D (and play first person shooters in them)? I was then interested to combine the spaces. How would digital space influence real life in the city? What would return from virtual worlds into every day public life? In my thesis project “Bits on Location” I was interested to combine city space and the Internet and I developed a series of proposals for how Internet could unfold in physical world. Back then this was called ‘Location Based Services’, today a lot is already in the field or on its way. (FB places, 4sq, Gowalla, navigation etc). In the early-mid 2000s I started building objects like the Counterstrike crates de_dust. It seemed like the next logical step. Will it look like this when virtuality bleeds into real life?! A lot of the works from that time inherit this question. Later this gesture of reenacting/rebuilding computer space became sort of a cultural ‘mainstream’ on the web. Just search for IRL Super Mario on Youtube. I’m not exactly sure how to put it but it feels like this was an era where we needed to reprocess the digitalization of society, a way to achieve ‘post digital consciousness’. The gaming community was one of the first ones to go through this phase of awareness but for a big part of society the process is still going on. One thing I found interesting about Dead Drops was that it seemed to invert the romantic imagination of ‘cyber space’ as a mediated virtual reality like the Matrix and early William Gibson novels. In reality, cities are the real networks. Dead Drops seems to force a ’slowing down’ by making the speed of transfer happen at a human, rather than digital pace. Did you conceive of dead drops as being a means of protest against continued ‘cyber space-ing’ of our cities? Yes, you are very right. I don’t believe much in the sort of classic idea of cyberspace like in the Matrix. I don’t see us floating in sodium liquid our brains directly connected to cyberspace. This won’t happen soon. Second Life represented this vision for a short moment but Facebook today is much more likely our ‘Matrix’ although it works in a different way. It is interesting to study how digital space unfolds in physical space in the city and in communication. Like the de_dust crates from 2004, Dead Drops is very much a symbol for the unfolding process of Internet in Real Life. I love the gesture of directly connecting your $3000 notebook to the dirty curb and the image of the USB port in the brick wall. A house or part of the city literally becomes data storage. Yes, I like very much the slowness and simplicity of these kind of projects. “Hmm… I need to go to that place and I don’t even know what’s on there…maybe even a virus!“ It is interesting how people perceive a flash drive in public as dangerous because it is in the street but most viruses are on the Internet, not on flash drives. We are connected all the time through all kinds of services, devices and clouds and it is very much foreseeable we are getting more and more dependent on them. Besides the slow down effect Dead Drops is also a lot about freedom and uncontrolled communication. The politics of digital technologies, especially in relation to physical space and the city, are vital in much of your work. Is there a necessity to ‘raise awareness’ through interventions for the public about the changing fabric of our cities and homes? I think we are living in a very crucial time period. Many decisions are taken currently regarding privacy, censorship and Internet freedom. Governments, politics and content industry (etc) try to get a grip on free communication and would love to be able to limit, filter and control the digital more than ever. Anonymous, Wikileaks and ongoing revolutions have shown lately the power of the net. Besides the city-becomes-internet-effect, Dead Drops is also a reminder to keep thinking about independent networks and open source technologies. Those might come handy in the future when everything will be buried behind filter and pay-walls. Sooner or later local ports like the USB plug will be extinct. “Save the USB port!“ ;) Local file storage will be yesterday. The iPad is a good example of how things move to the cloud currently and at some point we won’t have the saving of our data any more. “Sorry, we had to delete 7 movies, 24 music albums and 18 ebooks of your cloud space of which we couldn’t find a purchase certificate for. We would be happy to offer you the ownership of the files in question for just $29.99 flaterate, except the PDF document ’How to run a file server.’ which is rated as illegal. Best regarfs, your iCloud legal team!” ;) Yes, I think it is important to raise awareness about these issues although I don’t want to be too moral about it. Let’s discuss this but no need to panic. The Google map marker piece should make people think about tech-society-privacy relations. ‘Map’ in a way symbolizes the massive position of Google’s gate to local filtered information and its influence on our perception of the city. Instead of building map markers it is much more likely though that Google sooner or later will enter the interactive billboard market. Greetings from ‘Minority Report’, it is all in the making… Is there something about de_dust or Counter Strike in particular that you like? Why not cs_office or even Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six? Is its role in the history of First Person Shooter games (before Halo but after DOOM) what interested you? Like in most of my works where I translate a situation or set of rules from a digital space to real world, a game always represents a whole genre of games or services. The floating names in the “WoW“ intervention i.e. is a very common interface feature which can be found in almost any other MMO. But then it was also interesting to take a closer look at World of Warcarft and the reasons for its popularity. Of course there are a massive number of first person shooter games out there and yes, the classic ones like DOOM II, DukeNukem3D, the Quake series or UT would be worth looking at as well. On one hand choosing Counterstrike for such a project is very much a personal decision. It represents an important milestone in my personal ‘gamography’. CS is sort of the last game I really actively played during my school-time in the late 90s early 2000s. We spent many hours of intense gaming on the very popular map Dust back then. It was one of the first 5 or 6 maps in the early beta release of Counterstrike back in 99 and will give a nostalgic feel to any gamer when you mention that name. It is funny how people responded by email when the Rhizome commission of Dust was announced. “Why aren’t you choosing Dust2 (the successor), it is way more balanced! But for historical reasons you are right: Dust was epic“ It is one of my personal old dreams to see one of these maps we spent so much time in as a real building, made of ‘blood and flesh’ (architecture analogy for concrete…) But besides my personal memories there are also a couple good reasons why such an undertaking of building a virtual space as IRL scale 1:1 (museum-)scultpture makes sense. If this proposal comes through some day (it won t be finished by next year, read the full project description) I wouldn’t mind at all to continue and honor DOOMs first level with a real life representation (or Quake or Wolfenstein3D). Everyone who played these games will also remember the pure game-functional architecture. Why not this one? Yes, it is very much part of cultural heritage as well. The thing is, Counterstrike was (as far as I know) the first real team play first person shooter. In a certain period of time, beginning in the 2000s, Counterstrike was certainly the most played online game and Dust the most popular map within it. Just think about how many people have seen Times Square or the Kaaba or been at Tiananmen and how many people have been in Dust. You need to know a map like Dust very very well to master the game, to win with your team. Every corner, door, crate, crack and line of sight plays an important role. Compared to games nowadays like Battlefield or the COD series, the space in Counterstrike was quite small back then. An almost compressed space of pure egocentric, game-play-optimized, virtual architecture served as a perfect playground for an endless chain reaction of emotional bursts. You spend hours and days in the same space, playing over and over the same routines with minimal variations in movement and speed, that is where the true art of game-play comes in, a high-end ballet of eye-hand coordination and decisions taken in micro seconds. Sport! Bystanders never understood that “You still play the same level!?! Thats so boring!” … On a daily routine you happen to miss a stop or exit the wrong floor in an office building. Many places look very much alike and we use navigation systems to find our way. I always hate it when the supermarket rearranged all their products to a new supposedly much more effective and customer friendly consumer maze. Why is ketchup and mayonnaise not next to each other? I’ll never get that! (at least in DE it isn’t.) But the virtual spaces we LIVED in, spend our precious youth in are like memories carved in stone, like a Mayan temple hidden in the jungle, like a faint tattoo but full of memories from the first day. They are way more transparent and clear to us, in their artificial complexity, than all the multi-generation airport sprawls we get lost in again and again. Age: I was born in 1972, Bremen, Germany. Location: I have been based in Berlin since 1995 How long have you been working creatively with technology? How did you start? When I was a kid we mostly played games on C64, Atari ST and consoles etc. I never was a real coding geek but the whole trouble shooting, getting things to run and hacking topic involves quite some creativity, I believe. Doing my own projects on the web, in 3D or Flash started during school time at UdK in mid-end 90’s. Describe your experience with the tools you use. How did you start using them? Back in the day, I was keen on learning all kinds of programs and software. I used a lot the usual software you deal with in architecture, DTP and web but it was fun to experience the evolution of those. “Oh look, there is more than one undo now! great!” (imagine!) It was quite a striking experience to lose data and projects by badly burned cheap CD Roms. “Oh! I just lost a whole semester of 3D experiments! where is it?!?“ (DropBox keeps so many versions of your files, you’ll never be able to delete them for real) Where did you go to school? What did you study? 1995-2001, Diploma in Architecture at University of Arts Berlin. What traditional media do you use, if any? Do you think your work with traditional media relates to your work with technology? Although I question digital space and our entanglement with it all the time most of my work is in a way very traditional. Objects, installations, interventions, workshops, video, tangible matter, very basic electronic devices, lights (or candles ;). None of my pieces are made for the screen or in software (some collabos excepted) – although most people know my work through documentation online. That’s where the ‘Katze beißt sich in den Schwanz’ (to chase one’s own tail) ;) Are you involved in other creative or social activities (i.e. music, writing, activism, community organizing)? I give a lot workshops and talks at conferences. Since the Speed Show series started a year ago I am also involved more into curating and creating events. I am part of F.A.T. Lab since beginning 2009 and I very much enjoy the style of work there. My own work in terms of Speed Shows or Dead Drops network is very much a social activity and involves a lot community involvement. What do you do for a living? Do you think your job relates to your art practice in a significant way? I live from my art, fees for talks, workshops, grants etc. only! I quit all my jobs in 2006/7 Who are your key artistic influences? I am very much influenced by a political driven youth, hanging out at Chaos Computer Club congress and hacker events. I was part of a group called ‘Freies Fach’ during architecture school which questioned public-private partnership city development and ran different interventions during the 90s in Berlin. I am not specifically influenced by a certain artist but I always liked a lot the work of Gordon Matta-Clark or projects like the Rachel Whiteread – House Have you collaborated with anyone in the art community on a project? With whom, and on what? I have of course collaborated a lot with members of FAT Lab; as a group on projects like the fake Google car or individually like with Evan Roth and Tobias Leingruber on Chinachannel. Ariel Schlesinger is a good friend and excellent artist i ve worked with on Looptaggr. I recently collaborated with Bruce Sterling and his AR team to have Dead Drops getting its own layer on Layar. And I just finished a book about my work, edited by Domenico Quaranta, desigend by Manuel Bürger (‘Digital Folklore’) which will be published by Gestalten next year. Was great working with you guys! Do you actively study art history? I am very practical. I love to create things, work fast and kick around ideas for projects. Art history and art theory is certainly not my biggest focus although I always enjoy a good essay on topics I feel connected to. Do you read art criticism, philosophy, or critical theory? If so, which authors inspire you? Hennesy Youngman is the best!! ;) Are there any issues around the production of, or the display/exhibition of new media art that you are concerned about? The question of how to display digital art has been around for a while. Sure, there are all kinds of options. Classic net.art considered the Internet as the true place. You just need a computer and Internet and you can access the art from everywhere. The moment you put a web based piece in a show with maybe a big installation next to it, visitors often happen to look at the install and then check their email/FB on the computer instead of clicking through the piece. The Speed Show exhibition format which I started in June last year addresses these issues. Let’s take the show to the Internet Cafe, the dedicated Internet place where you won’t get distracted by ‘old media art’ ;) I’m not saying there haven’t been smart solutions for these questions. It depends a lot what generation of digital art we talk about and how they define their medium etc. Maybe your work is just on the Internet i.e. spread over Tumblr? Or maybe it is a piece of software running offline in a dedicated machine+display hanging on a wall with an on/off button. Maybe your work is inevitably connected to a bigger service and can’t be watched separately or offline. When it comes to art market and digital art it’s getting even more interesting. Like in photography or video there is that basic problem that you can’t really say how many copies are around. The uniqueness or edition for a photograph is assured by the gallery/artist certificate. That works actually quite well because there is at least a physical piece. In digital art, it becomes more interesting. Do you just sell the files on a drive with certificate? Sure, why not. Are the files a representation of a web/online-piece? Yes, why not. See: “My Boyfriend Came Back From the War“ by Olia Lialina 1995. Is it a multiple? Sure, Olia’s piece comes in an edition of 5 as files on a drive (4 sold!!). Does the piece stay online? Yes it does, but there is no connection to the URL. How about selling the piece with the URL as a bundle? Rafael Rozendaal is best known for that practice today. The collector is even bound by a special contract to maintain the work (keep it online) but he would also get offline files. It is interesting to study the different ways how digital art could be sold and there’s been a lot of discussion around it lately. The reflex of trying to limit access to a piece is understandable since limitation has always been a main base for art markets. For example the MoMA was interested in showing a piece by JODI in an exhibition a couple years ago but they wanted to show an offline copy of the piece. This makes sense in the classic exhibition logic but for net.art it feels like fraud. (… eventually JODI declined to be part of the show.) But since things move on I hope that institutions like MoMA become more aware soon on how digital art and online art works. Rhizome i.e. always played an important role in supporting and maintaining digital work. ‘Keeping it online’ A lot of artist experiment with market or offline questions currently, like the http://gifmarket.net/ by Kim Asendorf & Ole Fach or the offline http://streetshow.org/ by Michael Manning. I’ve also been thinking about the dilemma of limitation and accessibility for digital art and came up with a proposal, which I started to discuss with artist friends. Is there a way of serving both interests? How about an independent peer to peer network which by encryption in bitcoin-style would be able to approve a limited edition of a piece, i.e. a gif? The file itself would become unique and at the same time there could still be millions of copies on tumblr just representing the piece. The piece doesn’t need to be bound to a URL. It might also be interesting to look up the collections a piece is in while you find it on Tumblr. Yes true, you just can put the piece on a flash drive and hand it over with a paper certificate. But why not keep this process in the medium it belongs to? I would love to see this happen in a pure digital way and I think a system like this or similar could be a big opportunity for digital art to become more present in the commercial field.

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press
rhizome

September 7 2011, 11:38am | Comments »

I posted to blog.ni9e.com

BBC reports on When We Were Kings SPEED SHOW in NYC

http://blog.ni9e.com/bbc-reports-on-when-we-were-kings-speed-show-in-nyc/

Full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14336082

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press

July 29 2011, 7:40am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

NYTimes.com: At 2 Apple Stores, Creating Art via Webcam, Secretly

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/nyregion/at-2-apple-stores-creating-art-via-webcam-secretly.html?_r=2

The face on all the masks: Steve Jobs

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fffffat
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July 21 2011, 1:27pm | Comments »

I posted to blog.ni9e.com

Juxtapose Interview...

http://www.blog.ni9e.com/archives/2011/05/juxtapose_inter.html

Realized I never posted this interview I did with Alexander Tarrant for JUXTAPOSE Magazine. The full interview can be downloaded here.

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press

May 2 2011, 6:14am | Comments »

I posted to visitsteve.com

Against Generosity, or: Steve Lambert, and a Lot of Other People, Want Something From You an Essay by Sam Gould

http://visitsteve.com/news/press/against-generosity-or-steve-lambert-and-a-lot-of-other-people-want-something-from-you-an-essay-by-sam-gould/

The following is an essay by Sam Gould written for The Present Group‘s to accompany the edition of “I Want You To Have This”. I was very flattered by it. If you prefer a pretty pdf version, here it is. There’s more on the project (an audio interview, photos, and ability to buy one if they are still available) at The Present Group’s website. Against Generosity, or: Steve Lambert, and a Lot of Other People, Want Something From You by Sam Gould Generosity is a lie. To be more precise, generosity, as a form of absolute selflessness is almost never achievable, and most often when you come across someone attempting to be actively generous it’s an action rife with conflict and contradiction. Though we hate to admit it, we shouldn’t be worry about this too much. Unless you are training to be the Messiah why should it be any other way? People want to redeem themselves, they want to boost their ego, their sense of self-worth. People want to do good deeds for any number of reasons. And yet, to continue the adage, our punishment for our good deeds done is often the guilt in knowing that we wanted something in return for our actions, no matter how incalculable that return might be within our own heads and hearts. However benignly or benevolently, however grossly, we are selfish beings. Is that so wrong? How much good is psychically corrupted in hiding it? Would it be more helpful for us to start describing these acts in a somewhat different fashion, a fashion more productive to the situation at hand, one that for semantics sake doesn’t degenerate into questions of intent? There’s no shame in admitting that we get something out of giving. It doesn’t dilute the gesture or its value. We create our own values when it comes to un-regulated and intangible systems of exchange. Let’s therefore promote a community of reciprocity wherein our return, the exchange in question, is self-determined. Let’s do away with the problematics of generosity for something more anarchic, more complex, more… generous in deed than definition. Steve Lambert – his person and his work – exists on a continuum in a long line of absurdist provocateurs hell bent on changing the world for the better one sincere, well-formed, slightly ridiculous gesture at a time. Sometimes it’s not intentionally so ridiculous, it’s just that from the outside, for those not already there, it can seem a little far-fetched. But just wait. You’ll see. He makes objects and actions in equal measure, never favoring one over the other – they are all constructed as a means of provoking dialogue around various political subjects, profound and humorous alike. For Lambert these bits of provocation are intended to get people thinking (and talking) about how they act, what they believe, how they imagine the world around them, and how they imagine what it could be. Inaccurately defined, his work is generous. It gives a lot of itself. It also asks for much in return from its viewers and participants. So, from here on out, I’ll use Lambert as an agent for my argument. Lambert’s newest project is an edition, a simple wooden box with the words, “I Want You to Have This” inscribed upon it. Keep it by your front door. Put that scratched copy of Come On Feel the Lemonheads inside, your old rabbit’s foot, the weed someone gave you and you’ve kept in the freezer for years, in the hopes it will remain fresh, thinking, “I like pot. I’ll smoke this someday. The perfect day…” and yet you just never got around to it. I Want You to Have This allows you to give away the shit you don’t want anymore, the items that follow you, from one house to the next, one phase of your life to another, like a benign demon, a cuddly, lice-free, and not all that heavy monkey on your back. They aren’t too much of an intrusion or burden, these items. But honestly, they take up space and you don’t need them now, and you might not ever have to begin with. Why not give them away? The piece is a very simple gesture that aims at discussing a less than simple subject; the transparency of a gift delivered insincerely. A gift can be a burden, and a burden given in the guise of a gift can really piss people off, as cultural norms state that you have to accept the damn thing without complaint. These days it seems to call someone out as a Social Practice artist is to say they are doing something, which for one is public, as well as new and difficult to define. Or to call some a Social Practice artist is to say that their work is, again, public and that they aren’t trying hard enough. Lambert is a Social Practice artist, but not quite for either of those reasons. His work is about publics, yes. And his work is not hard to define or difficult. It is deceptively simple. Simplicity, as a methodology, is a great asset in the creation of a public around a piece or practice. It allows those who engage a work to enter into the piece easily, with confidence that they are aware of its place in the world, how it works, and how they are to engage it. From there on out, they gain the agency to consider, deconstruct, and absorb the work as their own. They are aware of the ruse, the trick, the framework, and in the case of Lambert’s practice, their “in on the joke.” His work, in line with a particular stain of Social Practice, is public in that it is often situated outside of the gallery space, but far more importantly it is about galvanizing a group of unknown people around an idea to consider it and make it their own. It is open. It is malleable. It grows from project to project to include others. It continues conversations from one to the next, and encourages the viewer/participant to converge with the work of other practitioners, as well as become one themselves if they do not consider themselves one already. It asks us to do this work till it doesn’t become work any more but life. It asks us to form A Public around our work so that through embodiment and accumulation it may become The Public, i.e., Common Place, Quotidian. It represents itself in a state of becoming, in that it suggests to those who encounter it a possibility of a future, a future which they are part of – with others. Social Practice accepts and values the influence of other fields and histories outside of the aesthetic realm. Furthermore, contrary to what one might expect, Social Practice values art and aesthetics equally as much as the practices so-called outside influences. And, with that in mind, it finds that the designation of art can allow one to mine fields and hybridize them in a manner to elicit dialogue around issues that are important to the practitioner, and as this work is about the formation of publics, those that gravitate towards the work. Of course this forces one to mention an important issue – there’s a lot of disingenuous crappy social practice work out there that doesn’t work hard enough, that isn’t critical of its own intentions, and yet due to its relative “newness” gets lumped with the rest. This is work that wants to give, wants to be (pseudo)generous, without being honest with its intentions or desires, without being open with its tensions, which are generative and nothing to hide. I say this without a want to be cynical, and I’d argue that my statement isn’t that. It’s to say that to create a space that values the socio-cultural and political intentions of its rhetoric the person or people who envisioned and desired that space need to get naked, fight to relieve themselves of hierarchies, and attempt the creation of an area of questioning as much as an area of statement making. Too much Social Practice continues to value statements over questions. I’d argue though that the questions, in the end, are the slightly more valuable by- product of the two. Good questions provoke more thoughtful statements. Questions, which are of honest concern to those who ask them, are reciprocal in nature. And this brings us back to my original point. A practice concerned with the formation of publics, the notion of social art as a form of generosity has become increasingly prevalent. For a practice whose strengths, for one, lay within its non-hierarchical stance, this is disingenuous when inconsiderately employed. In response to the work of artists such as Harrell Fletcher, do-gooder work abounds, with more and more works and projects proposing to do this and that for someone. But the imitators and the influenced, as well as Fletcher’s work itself, seem dangerously hollow. I say dangerous because I see and believe deeply in the public possibilities and political efficacy of a certain strain of Social Practice. When a work or worker presupposes that they have something to give to someone without making it plainly apparent that they get something in return for this act, a system of hierarchies is established and allowed to flourish; between artist and participant, between white people and people of color, between middle class or rich and the poor, able and disabled, and so forth down the line. A practitioner working in this way promotes dictation over facilitation in that its more about making statements through their interactions than it is about asking questions of the people who allow that interaction to emerge, or about being publicly questioned ourselves. We need to express, in overt, theoretical, even aesthetics terms that we as social practitioners are part(s) of the public which we are actively attempting to form, not actors alongside or outside the public(s) which we endeavor to help create. And, if it is evident to others that, in certain circumstances we do not consider ourselves part of that public, we need to ask difficult questions of ourselves if we wish to see the work we do as separate from ourselves while continuing to be politically effaceable. Simply put, our concerns and actions need to be reciprocal in some form or another, and this reciprocity needs to be visible. We need to ask, “What do I get out of this,” with as much intention as, “what can I give.” This is a problem that Lambert handles often, and elegantly. Whether creating a space to publicly talk “about anything” (as in Lambert’s 2006 work, I Will Talk With Anyone…), or an object that asks its viewer to consider the manners and habits in which we give of ourselves to others (as in Lambert’s newest work), an exchange between maker and participant takes place in the work we make. In this sense, there really isn’t too much of a difference between I Want You to Have This and another work of Lambert’s, a collaboration with The Yes Men and many others, entitled NY Times Special Edition. Each work takes a simple object and presents a set of possibilities and problems in front of those who encounter it. Both are works that are supposed to live with you, rather than you visit them, in that they enter into the most quotidian aspects of our day; our commute, a visit to a friend’s house. While the scale of each project differs, the intentions of both are of a piece. They ask us to question the things in our life that we find most common place and immovable; the material wealth we collect yet find burdensome, our complicity in war’s fought in our name, education and the models we accept for ourselves and others, or our participation in economies of all sorts. With a slight smile they ask, “Well… what if?” They give something to you for free, and yet ask you to do something with the information or object you’ve received. They agitate for us to question our considerations. They are anything but singular, anything but passive, anything but generous as we know it.

April 15 2011, 11:24am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

I know my meme

http://datenform.de/blog/i-know-my-meme/

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press

March 30 2011, 3:23am | Comments »

I posted to datenform.de

Open Source Exhibitions

http://datenform.de/blog/open-source-exhibitions/

Article by Domenico Quaranta, on the SPEED SHOW series and Rafael Rozendaals BYOB (Bring your own beamer) shows “Mostre open source”, in Flash Art, Issue 290, February 2011, p. 32. Read full article here (italian)

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press
flashart

February 15 2011, 9:30pm | Comments »

I posted to jamiew.tumblr.com

caseypugh: The Makery, VHX and myself made an appearance in...

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jamiew/tumblr/~3/hsXO89sqKGQ/2714986727

caseypugh:

The Makery, VHX and myself made an appearance in Details Magazine. Thanks to Matt and the rest of the gang for pulling this together! P.S. Can you spot Jamie?

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press
lol
vhx

January 12 2011, 9:27am | Comments »

I posted to delicious.com

Google Street Art: Kunst mit der Internetkrake - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Kultur

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-62082-9.html

Article in Der Spiegel about "GOOGLE ART" featuring Aram and FAT Lab

December 26 2010, 11:40pm | Comments »

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Schönschrift

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‘Reply All’ review on ArtConnectBerlin

‘Vom Code zur Kunst’

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TAZ Berlin article about ‘Reply All’

‘Analoger Aufruhr’

Core77: Recap and Highlights from Art Hack Day at 319 Scholes

Interview on Breakthru Radio

DESIGN ACT published

PBS Off Book | Hacking & Culture with FAT Lab

FF00FF & #FFFF00 to PBS & Kornhaber Brown for the awesome interview.

Rhizome Interview

BBC reports on When We Were Kings SPEED SHOW in NYC

NYTimes.com: At 2 Apple Stores, Creating Art via Webcam, Secretly

Juxtapose Interview...

Against Generosity, or: Steve Lambert, and a Lot of Other People, Want Something From You an Essay by Sam Gould

I know my meme

Open Source Exhibitions

caseypugh: The Makery, VHX and myself made an appearance in...

Google Street Art: Kunst mit der Internetkrake - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Kultur