video made for exhibition “design and the elastic mind” in the MOMA NY 2008

short documentary about JULIUS POPP while setting up his work Bit.Fall in St Louis

Exploring and inventing a formal and functional language in order to express his artistic preoccupations, German multi-disciplinary artist JULIUS POPP develops machines and robots capable of interacting with their environment and even develop a form of artificial consciousness. His projects are not only recognized in the art world but also in the field of scientific research. At the intersection between art and science, his works enlarge and redefine the notion of interactivity.

Bit.Fall (2005) is a machine which displays words selected from the internet via drops of falling water in precise configuration, each word visible only for a second. The input for this installation is provided by a computer programme; on the basis of statistical rules, this selects topical keywords from various Internet news services and transforms this digital information into analogue data.

The ephemeral information-curtain is a metaphor for the incessant flood of information we are exposed to and from which we draw our perpetually changing realities.

Bit.Fall is an oldie project but a goodie…And good news: if you want to see in person new projects by JULIUS POPP, you have until 11 April, 2010 to go in London for the Decode: Digital Design Sensation @ Victoria and Albert Museum. Nice!