Aram Bartholl (born December 27, 1972, in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, West Germany) is a

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

-based conceptual artist known for his examination of the relationship between the digital and physical world. His works often deal with anonymity and privacy. Aram Bartholl is currently Professor for art with digital media at HAW Hamburg.

Early life and education

Aram Bartholl graduated from

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

in 2001 with an

engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Asia and Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always require ...

in architecture. His graduate thesis "Bits on Location" won the 2001 Browserday competition. During Bartholl's studies, he held a nine-month internship position at the Rotterdam-based architecture office

MVRDV MVRDV is a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1993, with additional offices in Berlin, New York, Paris, and Shanghai. It is currently regarded as one of the world's finest architecture firms. MVRDV is ...

. From 1996 to 2000, Bartholl was part of the artist group "Freies Fach" which was known for its discourse on urban matters and for its public interventions. He was also a member of the Internet-based Free Art and Technology Lab a.k.a. F.A.T. Lab founded by

Evan Roth Evan Roth (born 1978) is an American artist who applies a hacker philosophy to an art practice that visualizes transient moments in public space, online and in popular culture. Biography Evan Roth received a degree in architecture from Universi ...

and

James Powderly James Powderly (born 1976 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is an American artist, designer and engineer whose work has focused on creating tools for graffiti artists and political activists, designing robots and augmented reality platforms, and promoti ...

from 2009 until its discontinuation in 2015.

Work

Aram Bartholl is variously identified as a media artist, a conceptual artist, a post-digital artist, and an interdisciplinary artist. Bartholl’s work has been associated with that of

Constant Dullaart Constant Dullaart (born Leiderdorp, 7 March 1979) is a Dutch conceptual artist, media artist, internet artist, and curator.Evan Roth Evan Roth (born 1978) is an American artist who applies a hacker philosophy to an art practice that visualizes transient moments in public space, online and in popular culture. Biography Evan Roth received a degree in architecture from Universi ...

among others. He meticulously examines the implications of digital media and the changes in environment and circumstance that have resulted; he attained global recognition for his seminal work, Map (2006), an installation in public space that bridges the real and virtual worlds. In Bartholl's play on video game adaptations, he also connects the virtual and real world in new ways. Bartholl has also explored new curatorial formats to represent digital art. In ''SPEED SHOW'' gallery-like openings are created for browser-based artworks in public internet cafes. In 2014, Bartholl curated ''Full Screen'' an exhibition of digital art presented on a variety of screens, including wearables, featuring works by artists including

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...

Constant Dullaart Constant Dullaart (born Leiderdorp, 7 March 1979) is a Dutch conceptual artist, media artist, internet artist, and curator.Rafaël Rozendaal and

. As visiting professor at Kassel Art School] (

Kunsthochschule Kassel Kunsthochschule Kassel (German; "Kassel College of Art") is a college of fine arts in Kassel, Germany. Founded in 1777, it is a semi-autonomous department of the University of Kassel. History Kassel Art Academy After the Seven Years' War (17 ...

, Bartholl has taught Visual Communication/New Media since 2015. He was also visiting professor in Design Media Arts at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, Los Angeles in the Winter/Spring quarter 2016.

Notable works

Keepalive

''Keepalive'' is a permanent outdoor sculpture in Niedersachsen, Germany, commissioned by the Center for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University Lüneburg. The title, Keepalive, refers to the keepalive signal, a message – often sent at predetermined intervals – that is used on networks to check the link between two devices, to make a diagnosis or to indicate to the internet infrastructure that the connection should be preserved. Domenico Quaranta described the work as generating, "...a fiction that ironically locates it in a post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk scenario where humanity has been “kept alive”, the internet is over and power is provided by fire, but also where technologies and pieces of information have survived as digital junk. Presented as an artwork and preserved as such, it may once turn useful and even essential for a wandering Mad Max to survive, as the only remaining access point to basic information."

Dead Drops

Bartholl's ongoing

Dead Drops A dead drop or dead letter box is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items or information between two individuals (e.g., a case officer and an agent, or two agents) via a secret location. By avoiding direct meetings, individuals can m ...

project, started in 2010, set up an offline peer-to-peer file-sharing network at five public locations in New York using

dead drops A dead drop or dead letter box is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items or information between two individuals (e.g., a case officer and an agent, or two agents) via a secret location. By avoiding direct meetings, individuals can m ...

: USB sticks cemented into walls. The project has expanded exponentially around the world—over 1,400 of them have been placed in dozens of countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Germany, Iran and Russia. The Dead Drops concept was extended in 2013 with the ''DVD Dead Drop'' installation at the

Museum of the Moving Image (New York City) The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria, Queens, Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The museum originally opened i ...

. Bartholl embedded an inconspicuous, slot-loading DVD burner into the side of the Museum, available to the public 24 hours a day. Visitors who found the Dead Drop and inserted a blank DVD-R received a digital art exhibition, a collection of media, or other featured content curated by Bartholl or selected artists. In 2011, Dead Drops was included in the "Talk to Me" show at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York.

Map

In 2006, Bartholl created a public art installation called Map. Bartholl installs a large physical representation of the

Google Maps pin The Google Maps pin is the inverted-drop-shaped icon that marks locations in Google Maps. The pin is protected under a U.S. design patent as "teardrop-shaped marker icon including a shadow". Google has used the pin in various graphics, games, an ...

in the exact location that Google Maps identifies as the centre of a city. Locations thus far have included

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. Each sculpture remains in place for about three months, usually coinciding with a local art festival or exhibit. The series was designed to raise viewers' awareness of the increasing overlap between the virtual and the physical, and to highlight mapping services' influence on perceptions of location. Bartholl's physical representations of the Google Maps pin urges viewers to reevaluate the information given by digitized maps, the meaning of the “center” of a city, the politicization of boundaries, and other issues related to maps and the digital versus the physical world.

Exhibitions

Bartholl's work has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions. He is one of the artists selected for the 5th

Skulptur Projekte Münster Skulptur Projekte Münster (Sculpture Projects Münster) is an exhibition of sculptures in public places in the city of Münster (Germany). Held every ten years since 1977, the exhibition shows works of invited international artists for free in d ...

in 2017, a once every ten years exhibition curated by

Kasper König Rudolf Hans "Kasper" König (; 21 November 1943 – 9 August 2024) was a German museum director and curator. He curated exhibitions of works by Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol in the 1960s, initiated the ''Skulptur Projekte Münster'' in the 1970 ...

that has previously featured artists such as Naim Jun Paik, Mike Kelly, Rachael Whiteread, Mark Wallinger and Rosemarie Trockel. Aram Bartholl's 2016 solo show at

Kunstverein Arnsberg Kunstverein Arnsberg is an Association for Contemporary Art established in 1987 and located in Arnsberg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the Nor ...

, #remindmelater, featured the public performance ''Greenscreen Arnsberg'', which "caught" passers by with a portable green screen. Solo Shows: * 2016 Remind me later -

, Arnsberg * 2015 Point Of View - Babycastles Gallery, New York City, NY * 2014 Hurt me plenty - DAM GALLERY Berlin, Berlin * 2013 Hello World! - Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel * 2012 ''Reply All'', DAM Berlin, Germany

Awards

In 2007 Bartholl received an honorable mention from

transmediale Transmediale, stylised as transmediale, is an annual festival for art and digital culture in Berlin, usually held over three to five days at the end of January and the beginning of February. transmediale takes the form of a conference (sometime ...

for the piece "Random Screen" and with the concept for the performance piece "Sociial" he won the 17th Video Art Award Bremen 2007. In 2011, ''Dead Drops'' received an Honorable Mention at

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

References

External links

* ''datenform.de''
"Bits on Location" thesis 2001

F.A.T.
Free Art and Technology Lab
Deaddrops database and information.

Videos of Aram Bartholl : „Map“ (2006-10), „Dead Drops“ (2010), “Highscreen” (2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartholl, Aram 1972 births German conceptual artists Living people Artists from Berlin Berlin University of the Arts alumni Digital artists UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty