Map

Everyone knows the red marker pin that identifies a place they were looking for on Google maps. Translated into reality, it looks something like the nine-metre-high sign that, labelled with a big A, marks the centre of Arnsberg in the middle of a roundabout. The artist has been working with this motif since 2006, which – as a “blow up” referencing classic Pop Art methods– has already defined the Google-calculated centres of cities like Taipeh, Berlin, Arles, Tallinn or Kassel, always for a limited duration of three months. The now permanent installation in Arnsberg also addresses the connection between the real and digital world and the resulting changes in society. While the focus at the beginning of the project was probably on drawing attention to a then new topic, it is obvious today that barely regulated corporations like Google, Microsoft or Amazon have a far-reaching influence on our daily life and perception of the world. Aram Bartholi also showed this in his 2016 solo exhibition #remindmelater in Arnsberg and in his 2017 installation “Obsolete Presence,” an oversized mobile phone with a mirror for a camera in the Möhnesee, which itself ironically became a popular motif on all social media channels.

www.arnsberg.de