Selected Words

With Julius Popp, the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art presents an artist whose installations translate digital information and cultural communication processes into sensually perceptible and poetic forms.

The abbreviation ‘bit’ found in the titles of several of his works forms the contentual bracket for the selection of works in the exhibition, which also includes new productions.  

At the centre of the exhibition in the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art is the digitally controlled waterfall bit.fall. A control system modifies a curtain of water so that the falling drops of water form words for a brief moment before they dissolve again as they continue to fall. New words that only remain legible for a fraction of a second are continuously formed. bit.fall reflects the theme of information, which makes up the core of Popp's artistic exploration.

The installation is connected to the internet and with the assistance of an algorithm, words are filtered out of the incessant stream of information on the global web. Digital processes are made sensually tangible for the viewer as an analogue sculptural installation. Drops of water serve as building blocks, as bits from which information is formed.

In the installation, these smallest units of information are just as fleeting as the speed with which information is obtained, exchanged and updated in the media society. Further works in the exhibition, such as bit.flow or bit.code, use other materials, forms and processes, but like bit.fall they make communication processes and the transformation of information visible and comprehensible.

At the same time, the legibility of the individual installations only ever arises for a brief moment within the course of incessant movements that correspond to the flow of digital data. Popp succeeds in capturing moments even though they have already passed or do not actually exist.