Video, 4K, 12 min, 2021
 

Like a virtual aquarium, “Screencleaner” depicts fish cleaning the polluted screen surface. The bristlenose catfish swim leisurely over the desktop, pausing to eat the dirt. In addition to the usual menu bar, the thumbnails of the previous works of Timo Ullmann’s “The Screen Series” can be seen in the background. In the course of the 12-minute video, the screen surface is completely cleaned. Afterwards, the cursor, which has been dormant until then, opens the video “Screencleaner” with a double-click, thus restarting the video loop. In the piece, the monitor becomes a digital fish tank, reminiscent of hotel and restaurant decorations, or video artworks of the seventies, such as Nam June Paik’s “TV Fish” or Peter Weibel’s “TV Aquarium”. Suggesting that these fish clean the screen for our viewing pleasure, the work raises questions surrounding the relationship between technology, culture and the natural environment.

In the installation, the physical windows become a display to the outside world and the interior becomes an imaginary aquarium.