bit.fall – Julius Popp (2014)

The CBK brought the artwork bit.fall by German artist Julius Popp to Groningen in 2014 especially for the Let’s Gro inspiration festival. In bit.fall, falling water droplets form words that can be read for a fraction of a second. The software chooses words that currently appear most frequently on news websites. This leads to a poetic spectacle that makes viewers reflect on the rapidly changing data flows that we encounter every day. This is not so much about the meaning of the specific words, but more about the data flows and their constant change. The artwork was a nod to the discussion surrounding the fountain on the Grote Markt. The work was previously exhibited at MOMA in New York and above the Thames in London. For Groningen, Popp reprogrammed the artwork so that it only shows words on Dutch websites.