Press Release

I love you [rev.eng]
The Aesthetics of Computer Viruses. German Exhibition on International Tour

Providence (USA) / Copenhagen: The return of "Made in Germany“ – "I love you [rev.eng]“ (rev.eng = reverse engineering), the extension of the successful exhibition in Frankfurt on everything to do with computer viruses, is going on an international tour. It can be seen from September 11th to October 4th at the renowned private Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, and then from October 7th to November 14th in the Museum for Communication in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“I love you [rev.eng]” is the first exhibition world-wide dedicated to the phenomena of computer security and computer viruses. In a networked society, dealing with computer viruses, worms, or so-called “blended threats”, has become part of everyday digital life.
“I love you [rev.eng]”, conceived and presented by the cultural organisation digitalcraft.org, takes this up to carry out a controversial experiment with contemporary culture that goes far beyond current vehement debates on hacking.

“I love you [rev.eng]” is divided into four investigative areas - political, cultural, technical and historical - and focuses on the controversial positions of security experts and hackers, of net artists and programmers, of literature experts and code poets. The exhibition examines: What actually is a computer virus? Who creates them, and why? What sort of world is hiding behind these everyday phenomena?

What can visitors to the "I love you [rev.eng]“ exhibition expect?

- Force computers to crash with "Sasser“ or "Suicide“
- Experience a global virus outbreak in real time via a 3D world
- View security concepts and methods for preventing global network attacks
- Witness computer viruses as works of art like ”biennale.py“ and "The Lovers“
- See films by hackers on their subculture
- Learn about programming languages as the material for contemporary poetry
- Juxtapose experimental literature and code poetry

Through a collaboration with experts at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies and researchers from Symantec - the market leader in internet security - digitalcraft.org further delved into the political, economic and social actuality of this subject. At both locations, the exhibition will be complemented by symposiums, in the USA with the theme "The Power and Pathology of Networks".

With this project, the cultural organisation digitalcraft.org based in Frankfurt, Germany, directed by Franziska Nori, is taking up the challenge of exploring complex virtual phenomena and presenting them in a visual way. "I love you [rev.eng]“ is the revamped and expanded version of the initial exhibition which was successfully shown in June 2002 in the Museum for Applied Art in Frankfurt and in February 2003 at the "transmediale.03" in Berlin.


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Further information on all exhibits, the digital version of the exhibition catalogue and extensive pictorial material can be found on the project's website www.digitalcraft.org/Iloveyou (+ press section) or direct from:

Dr. Gabriele Reinartz
PR and communication
Phone: +49 (0)171 / 8 34 56 48
Fax: +49 (0)69 / 48 00 61 32
E-Mail: gabriele.reinartz@digitalcraft.org

www.digitalcraft.org
www.watsoninstitute.org
www.ptt-museum.dk
www.symantec.com
www.infopeace.org


Brief profile of digitalcraft.org

digitalcraft.org was founded in 2003 as a spin-off of the “digitalcraft“ section of the Museum for Applied Art in Frankfurt am Main (2000-2003). Its mission is to research and document fast-moving trends in everyday digital culture and to present them to the public. Since 2003, digitalcraft.org has been an independent cultural organization under the direction of Franziska Nori. Its work includes interdisciplinary exhibition projects such as “adonnaM.mp3“ (2003) on the phenomenon of file sharing, “Origami Digital“ (2003) on the digital demo scene, public lectures and publications, and consultancies for public institutions and museums. The subjects it explores reflect the rapid development in communications technologies and methods and their significance for modern society.

Brief profile of the Watson Institute for International Studies

Brown University in Rhode Island is one of the most renowned private Universities in the USA. One of its associated institutes is the Watson Institute for International Studies, named after its founder, which is dedicated to interdisciplinary studies. Under the direction of Prof. James Der Derian, the "Information Technology, War and Peace Project“ has been started up to make a targeted analysis of the potential impacts of network structures in the globalized society. In September, "InfoTechWarPeace“, a new, one-year research project, is starting up with the heading, "The Power and Pathology of Networks“. The central matters it will be dealing with involve analysis of the questions: What new forms of global security and governance are needed to manage the potential, allocate the resources, and reduce the risks of networks? How do we assess the dangers of global interconnectivity (net-worked terrorism, computer viruses, pandemics) against the vaunted benefits (increased transparency, higher productivity, global interdependence)? The research project will be inaugurated with a symposium and the "I love you [rev.eng]“ exhibition.

 

 

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