Over a period of two years, Sven Bergelt collected automated email notifications from Google Alerts for the search term »halbmast« (»half-mast«). The artist's book brings together these fragmentary messages in chronological order, according to the date and time they were received. Google sends email notifications about newly indexed online content containing the search term: messages referring to half-mast flags as an expression of mourning and remembrance appear alongside others in which the word is used colloquially.

Arranged chronologically by date and time of receipt, the messages are translated into a graphic grid that makes the media representation of events visible. Events conveyed through the media flicker into view, transforming shattering events into an equally shattering sense of eventlessness. The work questions the continuous flow of media information and the ways in which events are disseminated and perceived.

Design: René Siegfried