Current Events

Home Smart Home

8. March – 21. April 2024
Solo Show, Kunstverein Rotenburg, Rotenburg

For the exhibition “Home Smart Home,” Aram Bartholl equips the tower of the Kunstverein Rotenburg with a variety of home surveillance cameras. In addition to hidden cameras, known as “Nanny Cams,” Bartholl also experiments with 360° “Lightbulb” cameras equipped with lights and speakers. The market for surveillance cameras in the private sphere has grown tremendously in recent years. The desire for control over one’s own private space is reflected in this development and is part of the digitally driven society marked by a loss of trust.

The Art Tower, 4 Floors – 122 Steps – 24 m.
Originally slated for demolition in the mid-90s to make way for parking space for the “Ronolulu” leisure pool, the disused fire brigade water tower was on the chopping block. However, Peter Möhl, the former managing director of the municipal utilities and thus the owner of the tower, envisioned a meaningful repurposing. Together with the vice chairman of the Art Association, architect Jürgen Lohmann, the idea was born to convert the tower into a gallery.

pictures

Transmediale Exhibition: you’re doing amazing sweetie

31. January – 14. April 2024
Group Show, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

Exploring the horror of content, the 37th edition of transmediale you’re doing amazing sweetie questions how logics of content production determine and frustrate our relations to technology. The festival takes place from January 31 to February 4, 2024 at silent green Kulturquartier, Akademie der Künste, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The festival’s main exhibition will be on view at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien.

pictures

Decoding the Black Box

27. January – 2. June 2024
Group Show, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen

Die Ausstellung Decoding the Black Box bringt Künstlerinnen und Künstler zusammen, die Licht in diesen dunklen Raum und die Prozesse werfen, die sich in ihm ereignen. Sie legen dabei nicht nur die Funktionsweisen digitaler Technologien wie beispielsweise von künstlicher Intelligenz offen, sondern visualisieren zugleich die Auswirkungen, die sie auf unsere Wahrnehmung von Realität und unser In-der-Welt-Sein haben. Während sie die ökonomischen und machtpolitischen Strukturen der digitalen Technologien und insbesondere des Internets transparent machen, zeigen sie Gegenentwürfe für eine dezentralisierte, humanere und demokratischere Nutzung ebendieser auf.

pictures

?>

Upcoming Events

Urban Art Biennale

26. April – 10. November 2024
Biennial, Völklinger Hüttte, Saarbrücken

Killyourphone workshop

13. April 2024
Workshop, Transmediale exhibition hosted by Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

14:00 – 16:00

Killyourphone 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 workshop was run for the first time at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg end of 2013.

Recent Events

Stitch Incoming!!

25. March 2024
Curatorial, Speed Show at Web Cafe, Athens

Monday 25th of March, 7:00 PM at Web Cafe, Eptanisou 40, 113 61 , Kypseli – Athens

with:
!Mediengruppe Bitnik with Selena Savić & Gordan Savičić , Ingrid Hideki, Joanna Bacas, Kyriaki Goni, Maria Mavropoulou, Marina Gioti, Marsunev, Nadja Buttendorf, Theo Triantafyllidis

Curated by Aram Bartholl & Socrates Stamatatos

Speed Show lands in Greece, the country of souvlaki, the sun (yes we can claim that they originated a celestial body), ouzo, feta, an enormous financial debt. Currently, Greece is also trending for all the wrong reasons namely, gentrification, queerphobia, state crimes and more dystopic incidents.
As 2024 unfolds, we find ourselves amidst a whirlwind of confusion, bombarded with a cacophony of online horrors to consume, an attention span further abbreviated by TikTok’s algorithm and the barrage of incoming stitches.

Stitches Incoming serve as a conduit for creators to engage and converse, traversing from one topic to the next. They have evolved into a new social fabric, weaving connections within an ever-shifting digital and physical landscape while also serving as a testament to personal and collective traumas, both past and present.

What unites the participating digital artists? Perhaps everything and nothing simultaneously… Departing from the traditional Speed Show setup, where artworks are carefully stacked inside internet cafe computers, and drawing inspiration from the structure of TikTok stitches, each piece seems to propel the conversation forward, or perhaps uses the next as a springboard for its own narrative.

Stitch this and stitch that, we have everything you ever wanted (maybe) ! Are we stuck in an infinite loop of sh*tposting, valuable content, the highlight of social issues, personal and interpersonal experiences?
Maybe! Come and find out…

More info on Speed Shows at https://speedshow.net/stitch-incoming/

Killyourphone workshop

23. March 2024
Workshop, Transmediale exhibition hosted by Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

14:00 – 16:00

Killyourphone 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 workshop was run for the first time at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg end of 2013.

Killyourphone workshop

9. March 2024
Workshop, Transmediale exhibition hosted by Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

14:00 – 16:00

Killyourphone 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 workshop was run for the first time at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg end of 2013.

Killyourphone workshop

24. February 2024
Workshop, Transmediale exhibition hosted by Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin

14:00 – 16:00

Killyourphone 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 workshop was run for the first time at the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg end of 2013.

Blog Archive for Tag: howto

Your Prof Application

April 17, 2023

Dos & Don’ts for your application in art & design, 

Your professor hearing / interview situation: 

This is a total random and uncomplete list of the top of my head from personal experience in these situations over the past 10 years, (from both ends of the table) There is much more to say about this of course, but here is a start to avoid the most classic mistakes. Also disclaimer, in other disciplines total different rules may apply…. and all of this my private opinion. Aram 2021

Preparations

  • Know the school in detail! Study their website, their programs, the people teaching there. This will make a good impression when you can relate to this knowledge in the conversation.

  • Also make sure that you know who is running the workshops that are relevant to your field. Those workshop leaders have a high chance to be in your selection committee as well.

  • If you still have questions calling the school or a professor who is in the selection committee might be beneficial.

  • Know the address of the school and come early. It gives you time to look at the campus. I was in interviews where the applicant took a taxi that brought them to the wrong campus.

  • Normal but crucial: Check all your hardware, cables, adapters etc. Make sure the presentation really works, videos play, sound etc. Test your presentation in a two monitor setup.

  • In case it is a remote presentation  (Zoom), make 100% sure you have a top internet connection. Use an ethernet cable not the kitchen wifi. Dont have people walk in your room interrupt you.

  • Some committee members will right away search on google for you, not paying attention to the exquisit PDF you crafted. what and where will they find? it makes sense to have a website. (always! 😉



Portfolio

  • The traditional portfolio has an Anschreiben, a CV with teaching experience, exhibitions, publications, things you did in the self organisation of other universities, people you worked with can also be added.

  • One part should talk about the way you teach and how you imagine the teaching at the school you are applying at. Universities are always interested with whom you might collaborate.

  • If it’s a digital application then a horizontal screen optimized portfolio makes the most sense.

  • If you are not a graphic designer yourself it can be beneficial to ask one to support you with your portfolio but try not to over do it.

  • In case you re not getting invited for a hearing+interview within 3-6 months after the deadline of the application, it is very likely you are not selected for the 2nd round. It will take another 12months or so till you get a rejection notice. the whole process needs to be finished before they can let you know, german burocracy.



Hearing / lecture situation

Normally this will take 30 to 45 minutes. You will give a lecture in front of the hearing commitee and students from the school (“hochschulöffentlich”). After your presentation their will be 15 minutes for q&a.

  • Come early and check if your laptop works with the projector. It is good to have some kind of backup (usb stick with the keynote file ect.)

  • Don‘t read from notes!! Freely spoken lecture for a professor job is mandatory! It can be K.O. reason later.

  • Check the time. You need to keep track of the time yourself. (maybe you need to switch to other content you were asked to at some point) Make sure to stay in the asked time frame.

  • Yes, be self confident, show your works but don‘t bragg too hard about it. Your are not talking to a customer, gallerist or collector etc.

  • Important! Also show student works, not just your own work. They know already your work is great, but they will judge you also on your students results. When showing student work, be very precise with the attribution! (Who, when, where, what) (I would say it also depends on how applied the school is. The more applied it is then show more student work and how you want to structure the course. The more artistic the school is the more talk about your artistic vision/portfolio ect)

  •  ….

Interview situation with Berufungskommission

After the hearing there will be a more private q&a with the application commitee. Normally this will happen in a different room then the lecture.

  • Yes, you wrote a long application with all your info and CV etc but not everyone in the room (10-15 people) has read that or already forgot details. Assume they don‘t actually know you.

  • Classic tip, but here again. Unless you re asked to, don‘t talk about your weaknesses, things you are missing in your qualification or in your education. (they don‘t know, they already forgot your CV)

  • Besides individual questions these are the most common, sort of default questions for a professor hearing in Germany you can expect:
  • Why do you think you fit this position? (classic, always, everywhere)


  • What would you teach next semester in your class? What topics? How would it look like? Who would you invite? Etc.

  • This is a full time position! Aren’t you afraid this position will throw over your art/design career? How will you handle that?
    Besides teaching, what are you planning to research? What is your research field?

  • What ist your vision for your class/program? what do you need in terms of equipment/space?

  • Are you interested in interdisciplinary collaborations? Who could be a partner? (In school, city, world wide)

  • Are you willing to participate in akademische Selbstverwaltung/ commitee work? Do you have experience?

  • Will you move to the city? (they usually want that of course) Just answer with yes, you can always change your mind later 😉

  • From when on are you available? (obligations, other contracts?)

  • What are your questions? They will ask you that. What do you want to know?

  • Questions like: “You just got a kid. How will you be able to handle the work load?” are very unethical but they get asked sometimes. You should think about how to answer them in a polite way and make clear that this is not an appropriate question. Every commitee has a “Gleichstellungsbeauftragte(r)” a person for diversity and equal rights. They should intervene in such cases

  • ….

Some background info 

  • Often the Berufungskommission doesn’t know what they want or have internally very different ideas who to employ.

  • Also, they want everything. You need to be international but need to have local connections. You have to have experience in teaching but als be great in research. Should be super famous but that could also be a problem (depending on school) and it goes on like this. It s impossible to fit it all.

  • It is important to understand that that they will judge you not only for your expertise but they also wonder “do i want to work with this person in commitee meetings next couple decades?”

  • Not everyone in the Kommission is an expert in your field. Sometimes they have weird ideas.

  • These Kommissions can be very erratic and come to conclusions which are hard to follow (politics)

  • If you get invited but not actually fit the requested profile, meaning you re ‘fachfremd’ it is not very likely for you to get the position. They just wanted to please themselves with “Oh look, we invited such a diverse crowd”

  • The whole process for new positions in germany takes unfortunately super long most of the times. This means you had your interview but don’t hear back from them for months or even years. They can only let you know you ve been rejeted once the position is confirmed and a contract has been signed etc.

Fun fact!

You don t need to wear a suit jacket (sakko) to be taken serious (unless you are wearing those for real)

Dont give up! try again and again!

Tagged with: + +

How to share a UCLA all day parking ticket

May 17, 2016

ucla-sharing-parking-ticket-how-to-3
How to share a 12,-$ UCLA parking ticket:

  1. Get your 12,- $ all day visitor parking ticket .
  2. Leave it in the car as long as you park at UCLA.
  3. When you leave pass it on!
Tagged with: + +

POST HACK or How To Send A Letter For Free

October 27, 2015

how-to-send-a-letter-for-free-1
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.

how-to-send-a-letter-for-free-2
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
how-to-send-a-letter-for-free-3
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.
how-to-send-a-letter-for-free-4
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…
how-to-send-a-letter-for-free-5
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.
 

How to make a POV headband for your phone

February 11, 2015

how-to-headband-phone-7
You always wanted to shoot hands free Point Of View video but there is no Google Glass or a GoPro around? Here is how you can make a simple POV headband to shoot video from your forehead with your phone!  “Yes, I am actually filming you!”
how-to-headband-phone-1
1. Materials & tools: Sticky velcro, headband, scissors, needle and thread.
how-to-headband-phone-2
2. Stick the sturdy side of the velcro to your phone.
how-to-headband-phone-3
3. Any headband, winter or sports stlyle should be fine.
how-to-headband-phone-4
4. Stick the soft side of the velcro to the headband. For safety do a few stiches on the four corners.
how-to-headband-phone-5
5. Stick the phone to the headband.
how-to-headband-phone-6
6. Done! Make a lot of them! Shoot POV video together with your friends!
Aram Bartholl: Point Of View at Babycastles (FB), NYC
Feb 20. – April 10, 2015, Preview Feb 19, 6:00 pm (RSVP)
Workshop on opening night: Build your own POV head band for your phone!


Point Of Vision video shooting experiments with Atlantic Center of the Arts residents: Bonnie Ebner, Sally Hill, Maja Kalogera, Katie Loughmiller, Jane Remick, Tom Smith, Chase Starr, Merav Tzur at BayBar New Smyrna Beach, Oct 2014
THX everyone!!! :))
See also KATSU Mumble Cam™ for super quick & dirty POV video shooting!

Tagged with: + + +

How to make a light bulb to AC socket adapter

July 30, 2012


(since you can t buy these in EU … w/ @daviddarts at Offline Filesharing workshop at Baltan labs, Eindhoven NL)
 

Tagged with:

How To Avoid Facial Recognition

May 15, 2012

or ‘YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PAAARTY (ANONYMOUSLY!!)

How To Avoid Facial Recognition from Aram Bartholl on Vimeo.

This is not a hoax! It really works! But you ll need some extra training for your neck muscles 😉 Don’t be worried about party pictures any more. Just keep your head tilted when ever a friend pulls a camera or you travel to the UK. You’ll be safe! In case you are not an expert in software like Kyle’s ofxFaceTracker you can also test this just with your phone or camera. Facial recognition is default nowadays (especially on all the Faceboogles….)!!


by Kyle McDonald & Aram Bartholl
Berlin 2012
first posted on fffff.at/how-to-avoid-facial-recognition May 9 2012

Tagged with: + +

'How To Vacuum Form'

January 31, 2012

How To Vacuum Form from Aram Bartholl on Vimeo.

http://youtu.be/eE26y-r63vY, track byDanny Dive Thru
I am very pleased to finally publish this new project I’ve been working on the last couple months (def. not a Speed Project 😉 It was premiered last week at my solo show opening ‘Reply All’ at [DAM] Berlin. If you are in town drop by, check out the show and make your own mask! FOR FREE!!
‘Reply All’
Solo show: Aram Bartholl, January 28 – 10th March 10 2012
[DAM] Berlin, Neue Jakobstr. 6/7, 10179 Berlin


Materials:

  • polysterol 1-1,5 mm, 23 x 33 cm
  • plaster
  • hose, hose connectors
  • clamps
  • vacuum hand pump, (camping supply)
  • toaster
  • wooden board, rods
  • stop watch
  • original, prototype or master mask to make copies from

Tutorial:

  1. positive plaster cast from mask
  2. additional plaster modeling (chin and forehead) optional
  3. negative plaster cast from model to obtain master mold
  4. include hose, hose connector and holes for decompression in the cast
  5. toaster parts rearranged to heating board, mounted on stand
  6. heat 1mm polysterol approx. 2 min in 6cm distance
  7. and keep pumping !!


all pics on flickr!
Vacuum forming is a quite old technique and is used a lot in mass industry especially packaging and such. The lid of your coffee cup is vacuum form i.e. Students in product design are used to vacuum form their prototypes, it’s a very common technique in that field. You also find all kinds of tutorials on the web how to build your own DIY vacuum former (Instructables). The one I am proposing is less flexible in what you can produce but are able to produce the same piece in a rather fast cycle (2:30 min) The setup above was inspired by this video.
I think we live in a super interesting era. This is just the start of a paradigm shift from mass industry production to self DIY fabrication. And it s going to get very interesting with all the patents and copyright issues for physical objects very soon. Like Cory Doctorow puts it: “… to fight what we thought was the final boss at the end of the game, but it turns out it’s just been the mini-boss at the end of the level, and the stakes are only going to get higher.” I am super curious to see someone print a pair of Nike sneakers on the new makerbot replicator or just imagine Apple would sue everyone because your DIY tablet looks like an iPad. It might happen soon. – Aram Bartholl 2012
Build your own vacuum forming gear today. Copy, experiment and remix! Start coping physical things! And keep pumping!! 😉


Transparent Guy Fawkes


“You don’t know the power of the dark side! We are Legion. The force is with you. Expect us. Join the dark side !”

Darth Fawkes
“How To Vacuum Form”
by Aram Bartholl 2012

Tagged with: +

How To Turn Code Into Art

October 12, 2011

[1st published on fffffat]

Art aware hackers!! Your code can be art! Yes, no kidding!!!

Recent events have shown again that computer code and its power is still underestimated by the public and governments. The way software is written, it s quality, openess, closedness etc. has a very high impact on which way society is taking.  Some small changes or features in code can result in an enormous loss of democratic values or lead to a hidden surveillance state.  Because comparably only few people can read and understand code it is so important we communicate it, discuss it in public and make it art! 🙂
Congrats to the CCC for revealing and revers engeneering this incredible piece of software and to FAZ (a leading german news paper, circulation of 360.000) which went of the charts by printing 5 full pages assembler code. Awesome!

BOINGBOING: Chaos Computer Club cracks Germany’s illegal government malware, a trojan that spies on your PC and lets anyone off the street hijack it
Germany’s Chaos Computer Club published the sourcecode for a piece of malware used by the German government to spy on citizens. The software was discovered in the wild and reverse engineered. It can be used to spy on or control remote PCs. Because of flaws in the software, anyone who was infected with this by German police was vulnerable to spying by “anyone on the street.” The German supreme court banned the use of trojans to spy on German citizens in 2008. ….

Tagged with: + + + +