Off the Grid by Alexander Endrullat

In Off the Grid, Leipzig based artist Alexander Endrullat takes discarded laptops and tablets and uses them as physical printing plates. The results are striking material prints that expose the internal structures, mechanical damage and traces of everyday use embedded within digital devices. What begins as a simple act of putting an obsolete object through a press becomes a study in material failure, surface behaviour and the strange beauty that emerges from technological decay.

The project began unexpectedly. Faced with a device that could no longer be updated and was effectively unusable, Endrullat decided to run it through a gravure press that had been sitting unused in the studio. The press itself was around a century old. Once pressure was applied, the device cracked, warped and revealed hidden layers as the ink transferred to paper. What fascinated him most was how clearly the progressive destruction could be traced across the prints. Each pass through the press altered the plate. Screens shattered, touchpads collapsed and even small details such as fan shapes and adhesive residues left their marks on the page. These discoveries quickly turned the experiment into a sustained body of work.

Before printing, Endrullat removes the batteries and stabilises the empty spaces with wood and Finnboard. Despite this preparation, the first attempts rarely produce a clean print. The devices all have different heights and surfaces, which makes balancing them on the press bed difficult. Several test impressions are usually required before he reaches a usable result. Once the plate generates consistent pressure, he prints a small edition of six and two artist’s copies. Beyond that point the devices tend to be too damaged to handle easily. Wiping the ink from the surface becomes more challenging as the cracks deepen and the materials fragment.

The most compelling aspect of the series is the way each device reveals its own history. Areas worn by years of typing become pronounced. Frequently used keys stand out as raised or recessed forms. Scratches, stickers, ventilation grids and patterns of heat damage become visible in the print. What remains normally hidden inside a sleek digital casing becomes a rough analogue landscape. The work touches on themes of materiality, consumption and the short life cycles of contemporary hardware. It also highlights how the physical bodies of our devices carry traces of use that are rarely acknowledged.

Off the Grid is an ongoing project that expands with each new device Endrullat puts through the press. Every laptop or tablet offers a different set of structural challenges and a different visual vocabulary. The prints document not only the transition from functioning tool to destroyed plate but also the way digital objects can be reimagined through traditional printing processes. The series sits at the intersection of sculpture, photography, painting and printmaking, bringing together destruction, precision and a close study of surface.

Alexander Endrullat lives and works in Leipzig. He studied painting at the HfBK Dresden, where he later became a master student of Prof. Bömmels. Alongside his painting and photography, he has spent several years exploring everyday digital objects as artistic material. In his series Solutions, he transforms laptops, tablets and other devices into printing blocks or sculptural forms, combining experimentation with a sharp attention to shape, trace and material quality.

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