Julius Popp: Bit.Fall

The present version of Julius Popp’s Bit.Fall is a logical next step of the project, which started in 2001 as an installation of eight nozzles. Water is used as a medium between information regarding current affairs and the viewer. The input of the installation is based on buzzwords selected by a statistical software from various news websites. The digital information is transformed into images, which then are shaped by the water: the nozzles emit water in individual drops through magnetic valves. The valves are synchronised by a computer program, making it possible to control the drops as they fall to the ground, giving shape to the bitmap pattern. After the water is collected in a container, it is sucked back into the valve construction by a pump, creating a closed circuit.

Julius Popp develops interdisciplinary works, in which art and science converge—experimental set-ups that are as simple in structure and perceivable to the senses as they are complex and techno- logically sophisticated. His installations analyse the interactions between complex systems, by applying the autonomous, logical rules of artificial machines. Bit.Fall focuses on the basic aspects underpinning the intricate interrelationships between humans, between humans and machines, and between humans and nature, as well as their social implications—the process of becoming human through cultural and natural conditioning.

The ephemeral “info-curtain” is a metaphor for the flood of information we are exposed to, and from which we draw our ever-changing realities. Here, the pieces of visual information are only temporarily perceptible as images, before they dissolve into themselves. The distribution of information is revealed as a transient, easily manipulated phenomenon. What remain are the associations of the viewers. The point is not what we see—the decisive factor is how we evaluate it.

Julius Popp is a media artist. He was born in 1973 in Nuremberg, Germany. He currently lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. After an apprenticeship as a photographer, between 1998 and 2005 he studied Fine Arts at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. From 2005 to 2009 he was a master class student of Astrid Klein at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst. In the past Popp has received several awards, including the Robot Choice Award of the international art exhibition ArtBots in 2003, the Ars Electronica Award of Distinction in 2008, the Kunstpreis of the Leipziger Volkszeitung in 2009, the Silver Design Lion and the Bronze Outdoor Lion of Cannes in 2011. His work often involves technology, resulting in interdisciplinary ventures that reach across the boundaries of art and science. He cooperates with the University of Leipzig, the Fraunhofer Society in St. Augustin, Germany, and the M.I.T. Cambridge in Massachusetts, USA. Since 2005 he was involved in various group exhibitions worldwide, and has realized solo exhibitions in the Kunsthalle Nürnberg, in the Oboro Art Centre, Montréal in Canada, in the Kunsthalle Wien in Austria, in the Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig, in the Konstmuseum Eskilstuna in Sweden, in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul in South Korea, and in several other institutions.

Curator: Christian Gracza

The exhibition is realised in the frame of Dunapest Festival, a regional art event organised for the first time, presenting the rich and variegated cultural life of cities laying along the Danube. A special focus will be on the connection between the city and the river.

Opening: 16 June 2016, 6 p.m.

This event is the opening ceremony of Dunapest Festival, too.

The artwork is installed on the square in front of the Ludwig Museum, and can be visited until 31 July 2016.