Digital drive-by: Dead Drops plugs a real gap

New York – In a project by Aram Bartholl from Berlin, digital moments are being brought back into the real world.

As more and more illegal file-sharing websites are closed down, Dead Drops is the first offline peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Bartholl has embedded USB drives in walls around the city, encouraging people to connect and upload or download files.

The artist aims to make the project global by planting USB drives in cities all over the world from the UK to China, encouraging as many people as possible to participate.

To coincide with his residency at Eyebeam , the art and technology centre, Bartholl questions the technology-driven society and the tension between public online and offline space.

For more on the impact of the digital world on society, see our Conviviality Culture trend.