Video, FullHD, 12 min, 2021
 

In times of lockdown, home office and video conferencing, Timo Ullmann shared his screen. During a residency, he connected his computer in Berlin to a computer at home in Switzerland. The two computers shared one screen via the Internet, creating a feedback loop. Images and sounds were processed through the continuous transmission and circulated in the closed circuit.
The video begins with hands opening a square of white noise. This noise gradually decays into a moiré, a pattern created by the infinite recursion. Using a touch screen, the artist zooms into the existing image, shifting sections, opening virtual windows and interacting with the self-dynamic system. The abstract image’s composition continuously develops, while simultaneously degenerating in the data compression. The audio also begins with white noise, which gets stuck in the online loop. Parallel to the image, digital artefacts and glitches emerge, as sounds are layered on top of each other, developing into a dense, acoustic sphere.
«Screenshare» makes the materiality of digital technology and the transmission of data perceptible. The work thus points to a «blind spot» of the normative, smooth user interfaces of communication software and operating systems.