BIT.FALL

JULIUS POPP

The speed at which information is sourced, exchanged and updated in our modern society is almost

inconceivable, and more ephemeral than ever before. The work BIT.FALL translates this abstract process into an experience for the senses and is a metaphor for these contemporary currents of information. In BIT.FALL, information is represented by words generated by a computer program, based on a statistical algorithm. The program filters relevant terms from the current stream of news on the internet, and transmits the values to the control unit of BIT.FALL. In a split second, BIT. FALL releases hundreds of drops at specific intervals, creating a ‘waterfall’ of words. Each drop of water thus becomes a liquid and transient ‘pixel’ or ‘bit’, the smallest unit of information. BIT. FALL combines two distinct circulation systems – circulation in nature (through its own laws, such as gravity) and circulation in culture (through the degrees of social attention as recorded by statistics). Water, an amorphous medium, becomes a carrier of cultural information that is only perceptible for a split second and then disappears again. This aspect of BIT.FALL refers to the ephemeral nature of cultural information and values: while we do perceive them, we are truly unable to ‘grasp’ them.

The speed at which information is sourced, exchanged and updated in our modern society is almostinconceivable, and more ephemeral than ever before. The work BIT.FALL translates this abstract process into an experience for the senses and is a metaphor for these contemporary currents of information. In BIT.FALL, information is represented by words generated by a computer program, based on a statistical algorithm. The program filters relevant terms from the current stream of news on the internet, and transmits the values to the control unit of BIT.FALL. In a split second, BIT. FALL releases hundreds of drops at specific intervals, creating a ‘waterfall’ of words. Each drop of water thus becomes a liquid and transient ‘pixel’ or ‘bit’, the smallest unit of information. BIT. FALL combines two distinct circulation systems – circulation in nature (through its own laws, such as gravity) and circulation in culture (through the degrees of social attention as recorded by statistics). Water, an amorphous medium, becomes a carrier of cultural information that is only perceptible for a split second and then disappears again. This aspect of BIT.FALL refers to the ephemeral nature of cultural information and values: while we do perceive them, we are truly unable to ‘grasp’ them.