Keep Alive, 2015

In his works, Aram Bartholl repeatedly focuses on the interfaces and relationships between online and offline worlds. In Keep Alive, visitors are invited to light a camp fire in front of a stone, which is equipped with a thermoelectric generator that translates energy into electricity and thus activates a WLAN router inside the stone. This provides access to an electronic library with a selection of Survival Guides available as PDFs for download. The title points to a technical condition of the network when two devices send each other meaningless "keepalive" messages to maintain the connection. Even if the router is not connected to the Internet, the work points to global networks, server and cloud structures, and increasingly centralized access to information. Cleverly, Bartholl raises questions about autonomy and survival in the information society.

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