Presentation of the project and exhibition "I love you [rev.eng]", Franziska Nori
Franziska Nori is head of research of the digitalcraft.org organization which produces exhibitions devoted to phenomena of digital culture. From 2000 - 2003 she was curator of the department for new media art and crafts at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Frankfurt, for which she organized exhibitions as well as a collection of digital objects (games and websites). Franziska Nori and her team produced exhibitions such as 'I Love You' exploring the worlds of hackers and viruses, 'adonnaM.mp3' devoted to peer-to-peer networks and file-sharing in the Net, 'Digital Origami’ about the so-called demo scene. In 1998, she was appointed by the European Commission to deliver an appraisal of future strategies for European museums working with new media. From 1992 on she has worked as an independent curator of modern and contemporary art at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Vienna, the Museo Nacional Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Fundación la Caixa in Palma de Mallorca.
digitalcraft.org was founded in 2003 as a spin-off of the “digitalcraft“ section of the Museum for Applied Art in Frankfurt is 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. The subjects it explores reflect the rapid development in communications technologies and methods and their significance for modern society.
"I love you [rev.eng = reverse engineering]" is the first international exhibition devoted to the phenomenon of computer viruses. A unique feature of this exhibition is the idea of a wide range of possible meanings of computer viruses - from purely computer-related entities through inspiration to the means of artistic creative work. As part of the "I love you [rev.eng]" exhibition, various inquiries into this matter are divided into historical, political, cultural and technical segments. The focal points are controversial relationships between computer security experts and hackers, net artists and programmers, literary experts and "poets" of the computer code.
Nowadays computer viruses are an integral part of our computerized everyday life. The damage to national economies caused by the more than 90,000 viruses that have already appeared worldwide runs into many billions. The independent US research institute Computer Economics puts the damage in the case of virus "I love you" in 2001 alone at 8.75 billion US $. But not all computer viruses are harmful. Computer viruses can also result from experimentation with (programming) language. “I love you [rev.eng]” is the first exhibition worldwide dedicated to the phenomena of computer security and computer viruses, and takes up both these aspects to carry out a controversial experiment with a contemporary culture that goes far beyond current vehement debates on hacking.
“I love you [rev.eng]” is divided into political, technical and historical areas of investigation and focuses on the controversial positions of security experts and hackers, of net artists and programmers, of literature experts and code poets. What actually is a computer virus? Who creates them, and why? What sort of world is hiding behind these everyday phenomena? The exhibition provides background information, presents artworks, and reveals the role of computer viruses as a destructive force and economic threat as well as an inspiration for creating art. "I love you [rev.eng]“ is conceived and presented by the cultural organization digitalcraft.org based in Frankfurt, Germany.
The exhibition has been presented in Novi Sad and in Belgrade, June/July 2006.
Producer of the exhibition in Serbia:
New Media Center_kuda.org, Novi Sad
www.kuda.org/iloveyou
www.digitalcraft.org/iloveyou
Coproducers of the exhibition in Serbia::
BELEF 06: www.belef.org
Museum of Contemporary Art Novi Sad: www.msluns.org.yu
Museum of Contemporary Arti Beograd: www.msub.org.yu