Aram Bartholl
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New York artist fashions dead drop from dying hardware, mounts DVD burner in city wall
The optical drive may be making its exit in the world of personal computing, but at least it seems to still have a place in artistic architecture. Aram Bartholl -- the man behind New York City's infamous USB dead drops -- has installed a DVD burner into the side of the Museum of the Moving Image to promote HOT, an art exhibition described as "a group show about video that is not video." Passersby who pop in a blank DVD-R will be rewarded with a digital copy of the show and the satisfaction of finally having something to do with their aging stash of unused optical media. Just how do you install PC hardware in a museum wall? Drill an enormous hole, of course -- check out a video of the installation for yourself after the break.
German artist wants you to roll around in de_dust
When the Germans do something, they do it right -- or, at least big. German artist Aram Bartholl has created a slew of projects inspired by gaming and the Internet, but his largest is a 1:1 scale model of the classic Counter Strike map, Dust, that Bartholl wants installed as a large-scale public sculpture. Bartholl plans to make the entire map out of concrete, with parts of it preserved in uncolored and untexturized abstract glory to "represent a petrified moment of cultural game space heritage." Bartholl is currently petitioning for $5500 in government funds to create the first stage of Dust, a 1:100 scale model of the map, and is scheduled to begin public promotion of the full project this fall. The video shows Bartholl's mini-mini-scale model of the map, and while that one may not be big, it is certainly done right.
New York City walls play host to covert thumbdrives
Back when the walls had ears, spies would store their information in a hidden cache and pass along the location via code. Now, a New York City artist is doing the same with USB flash drives, five of which he's already injected into the city's brick walls. While there some obvious logistical reasons we'd avoid using his creation (not to mention worries about AutoRun in older PCs) we'll definitely keep the idea in mind for Engadget informants who are particularly paranoid about their anonymity. See the first five drives' not-so-secret locations in photos at our source links.
Now you can wear your social networks
In a world of Web 2.0, it can be a little intimidating trying to find others on the social network that you love. Doubly so if you're looking for a real life friend that shares your interests. Why wear your heart on your sleeve when you can wear your web presence on your shirt?Aram Bartholl compiled a list of the best known social networks, including their icons and coloring, and put them on a shirt with checkboxes. There are the obvious ones, such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, but there's also a box for Second Life! In my vision of a perfect world, I hope to run across at least a few people wearing these shirts with the SL box checked while I'm out and about. Get yours today and help me live my dream![Via Gizmodo]
