“Are you human?” Object and Urban intervention 2009 by Aram Bartholl

“Are you human?” - Urban intervention, Series of hand cut CAPTCHA tags, 60 x 25 cm, 5 mm foam board, spray paint

“Captcha codes are omnipresent on the web since a while and I loved them from the beginning. In a certain way they tell a lot about our relation to the machine world. And btw, I am waiting for the day when they will be extinct.”

CAPTCHA codes are publicly available, and each is uniquely generated by a computer program which “knows” the correct response. Although current software is unable to accurately read and understand the codes most humans can. Getting up with CAPTCHA cracks me up. I’ve heard of graff writers flipping tags in reverse to add some confusion to the game, but bombing with a challenge-response test is a new one for sure. Abstract conceptual public art? I also find the reCAPTCHA project very interesting.

Aram Bartholl has been working in Berlin since 1995. In his art work he thematizes the relationships between net data space and every day life. “In which form does the network data world manifest itself in our everyday life? What returns from cyberspace into physical space? How do digital innovations influence our everyday actions?”