Julius Popp

bit.fall, 2002–06

Network-Based Installation

The installation bit.fall turns water into a bearer of information. A computerized control system modifies a curtain of water so that the falling droplets form words for a brief moment before dissolving as they continue to fall. New words form constantly, legible for a fraction of a second. bit.fall is connected with the Internet and uses an algorithm to filter words from the incessant stream of information in the global network. The software is programmed to choose words that are meaningful and that most often appear in online news portals, according to statistical analysis at the moment of the search.

In his installation bit.fall Julius Popp focuses on the transformation of information. The viewer is able to experience digital processes sensually, as an analog sculptural installation. Drops of water serve as building blocks, as bits from which information is formed. These minute units of information in the installation are just as ephemeral as the time that our media-oriented society needs to grasp, exchange, and renew information.

With his “waterfall” Popp is less concerned with the meaning of the selected words than with the underlying digital communication structures and their visualization. The poetic visualization of this fleeting stream of data reveals the interaction between digital processes and the changes in society.