Museum of the Moving Image Opens Aram Bartholl Installation DVD DEAD DROP, 8/16

On August 16, 2012, Museum of the Moving Image will open DVD Dead Drop, a new, unique installation by Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl (b. 1972). The Museum-commissioned work features an inconspicuous, slot-loading DVD burner embedded at an undisclosed location on the side of the Museum's building (36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria), available to the public 24 hours a day. Visitors who find the Dead Drop and insert a blank DVD-R will receive a digital art exhibition, a collection of media, or other featured content curated on a monthly cycle by Bartholl or selected artists.

Bartholl will appear in person at the opening reception on August 16, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and free DVD-Rs will be given out to first guests (as long as supplies last).

"DVD Dead Drop imbues the act of data transfer with a tangibility left behind in a world of cloud computing and appstores, using a medium-the digital versatile disc-that is quickly becoming another artifact of the past," commented Jason Eppink, the Museum's Assistant Curator of Digital Media who organized the installation. "The installation will be 'on view' and available for as long as the hardware functions."

The first exhibition on DVD, entitled HOT, and curated by Bartholl, represents a wide range of artistic positions analyzing, reinterpreting, and deconstructing the moving image. As Bartholl says, "The moving image has been hacked, transformed, and infiltrated from multiple directions and digital sources, but over the last ten years it also conquered the Internet. The show HOT features new and classic works from well-established digital artists, served to the public hot on silver disc 24/7." HOT includes work by 0100101110101101.org (Eva and Franco Mattes), Constant Dullaart, Curating Youtube (Robert Sakrowski), Joel Holmberg, JODI, JK Keller, Olia Lialina, Jonas Lund, Rosa Menkman, Katja Novitskova, Niko Princen, Casey Reas, Evan Roth, Andrew Salomone, Borna Sammak, and UBERMORGEN.COM. HOT will be available from August 16 through September 15, 2012.

DVD Dead Drop is a continuation of Bartholl's series of offline file-sharing networks in public spaces. The original Dead Drops cemented unauthorized USB thumb drives into walls, buildings, and curbs, encouraging a "read-write" information ecosystem. In the Museum installation, the "read-only" DVD Dead Drop serves as an automated platform for dispensing digital culture to the public at any time, day or night. For more about Aram Bartholl, visit http://datenform.de/

DVD Dead Dropinstallation was made possible by the Harpo Foundation, with support from the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, New York.

Museum of the Moving Image (movingimage.us) advances the understanding, enjoyment, and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. In January 2011, the Museum reopened after a major expansion and renovation that nearly doubled its size. Accessible, innovative, and forward-looking, the Museum presents exhibitions, education programs, significant moving-image works, and interpretive programs, and maintains a collection of moving-image related artifacts.

Image courtesy the artist.