Dead Drops Master Class with Aram Bartholl :: June 29, 2011; 10:00 am – 4:00 pm :: V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam.

The term “Dead drops” refers to places where spies leave information behind to be picked up by others; a method often used among spies during the Cold War. In Aram Bartholl’s version of the dead drop, USB memory sticks are installed in public locations for anyone to upload or download information. By doing so, an anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer network for the exchange of digital information is created. More information about the project and current Dead Drop locations is available here.

Aram Bartholl (b. Bremen, 1972) studied architecture at Berlin University of the Arts, graduating in 2001 with the final project Bits on Location. His interests include the debates around copyright and developments on the Internet. For several years, he’s been collecting impressions related to topics including street art and privacy on his blog. His art concerns the relationship between the digital and the physical and investigates the degree to which the digital is woven into our everyday lives.

Coinciding with the exhibition Land Art for a New Generation, the master class is a collaboration between MAMA and V2_, and part of an online residency partnership between Showroom Mama and Kunstverein Hamburg.