Aram Bartholl, a Berlin based artist, mixes up realities: online and offline, public and private. The central theme of his work is the question of how digital data or products could be transferred to the physical world. In his keynote speech at NEXT Berlin 2012 he introduced some of his projects, illustrating the impact media and technology have on our lives.

The offline filesharing network “dead drops” is an excellent example of how Bartholl brings objects or even whole worlds (e.g. a level of the game ‘Counterstrike‘) from the digital world to life . Creating familiar but unexpected situations, Bartholl plays with people’s expectations and perception. In doing so he confronts us with our sometimes paradoxical behavior and the odd separation between our on- and offline lives.

Aram Bartholl studied architecture at the University of the Arts Berlin. His art installations have been exhibited around the world, e.g. at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Futuresonic Festival in Manchester and the Total Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul.