Tremolierung

Screen burn-in is a flatscreen defect also known as ghost image. Screen burn-in occurs when a static image is displayed over an extended period, in which an uneven degradation of the screen cells causes the displayed image to permanently “burn” into the screen, leaving a ghostly- or watermark-like silhuet of the given image every time the screen is in use.

The static image is in many ways in contrast to the screen as interface and site for a constant flow of moving images. On screens and tablets the display of static content is normally prevented by built in screensavers and auto sleep-mode features.

In this case, on the contrary, the intention has been to accentuate and cultivate this effect/defect by leaving the screens on for months up until the exhibition, allowing a static image to burn into each screen.  

In an increasingly digitized age and animated visual culture, what is even a static image? Within art history, the static image has played a central part and enjoyed a privileged position. In this context however, it becomes a kind of involuntary stigmata and threat to the very technology it is shown through.

Rasmus Røhling (b. 1982) is an artist whose practice is about withholding and re-coding images and imaginaries. His recent works have dealt with virtualization and representation within the healthcare sector and how this iconification through image-sanitation relates to art historical- as well as current political issues.

Røhling holds a MFA from California Institute of the Arts, US, (2010).