Aram Bartholl, 8k, 2016

Aram Bartholl’s installation 8k features a panoramic view of Los Santos from GTA V, substantiating a digital landscape inspired by a real-world setting within an artworld context. This process of re-contextualisation and materialisation invites viewers to reflect on how digital environments inspired by existing places shape our perception of 'reality' when presented in tangible spaces, a constant strategy within the artist’s modus operandi. Specifically, 8k employs a 12 metre long billboard and a parked car in a hangar-like structure to mimic urban advertising and tourism experiences.

The title of the work, 8k, refers to the high resolution of the billboard image, which is rendered in stunning detail. Currently, 8K resolution serves as an aspirational graphics benchmark for video games, representing the latest milestone in the pursuit of hyperrealism. At the same time, the flatness of the billboard itself serves as a reminder of the superficiality and shallowness of digital simulations, which are nothing more than modern-day Potemkin Villages, the virtual equivalent of the deceptive facades constructed by Grigory Potemkin to impress Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea. Just as Potemkin Villages presented an illusion of prosperity and development, the billboard in 8k presents a façade of a vibrant cityscape, masking the underlying artificiality of digital simulations. Bartholl obliquely critiques the underlying ideologies of the GTA V’s intended customers. The audio collage of YouTubers playing the game, imbued with misogynistic themes – the segment 'How to get a girlfriend in Grand Theft Auto' is especially revealing – underscores the inherent value systems of digital simulations and their users.

The installation encourages interaction by inviting visitors to sit in the car and 'enjoy the view,' transforming passive observation into a more engaging and multisensory experience. This mirrors the interactive nature of open-world games like GTA V, where players can freely explore and interact with the environment. Within the context of the installation, the car serves as a bridge between the virtual and physical domains, creating an immersive experience that highlights the intersection of digital and concrete spaces. Considering that the automobile functions both as a means of transportation and as a viewing device - or even a "way of seeing" - we can assert that 8K is fundamentally about the politics of visibility and the mechanisms (such as advertisements, video games, and YouTube videos) through which visual culture constructs meaning and assigns value, hierarchies, and status. Depicting Los Santos as Sin City – a 'metaphorical excess flow valve,' as Bartholl writes – suggests that GTA V mirrors contemporary society’s vices and desires, cravings and behaviours. Unlike other artists working with in-game photography, 8k combines digital art, physical interaction, and social commentary, inviting viewers to engage with digital cityscape in real life setting, triggering a cognitive dissonance. Finally, the installation raises questions about identity and agency within simulated environments. The implicit suggestion that human beings, who carry their ideology of individualism and uniqueness, are nothing more than game characters challenges the notion of individual agency in the face of pervasive digital mediation. In fact, if there is no difference in how digital content and physical environments are mediated and consumed, then those who 'consume' them are equally indistinguishable. This critique aligns with theories of postmodernism and hyperreality, where the distinction between reality and simulation becomes increasingly blurred. Which is to say, visual culture and consumer culture are the same and real life was always already gamified.

More by Aram Bartholl: arambartholl.com