Interview with MACHFELD, VISP Project

The Austrian art duo MACHFELD (aka Sabine Maier & Michael Mastrototaro) were founded in 1999 and investigate a variety of areas of art-technology practice, including net art, experimental film and interactive installations.

Their “VISP” project is a kind of bio-history of computer viruses and email spam, told through artistic practice and visualizations. MACHFELD’s consideration as to the historical and creative significance of what are normally considered sources of breakdowns or failures within computer networks is a unique lens through which to understand the imbricated character of technosocial assemblies.

The duo shared their insights on the creative implications of computer viruses.

http://www.machfeld.net/visp/mailbox/index.html

Q: The VISP project page starts historically, telling visitors about one of the earliest computer viruses “in the wild.” Besides being earliest, this project has other interesting characteristics, including the physical character of propagation. Notably, this virus had much less of a digital network upon which to spread – the infection spread by human carriers. What can you say about this mode of propagation in relation to Internet-era viruses? Are there ways in which your visualizations represent networked propagation that might appear different when a virus, like Richard Skrenta’s Elk Cloner, has to cross the human-machine barrier? What can you say about this mode of propagation – through human carriers – in relation to Internet-era viruses in which the network is the spreading vector?

A: The purpose of this artistic project was to investigate the spreading, and frequency of Computer Viruses. Typical for this theme is, that Computer Viruses are not mutating during the active live. The “mutation” is made by a Coder and represents for us the new lyric of the digital age.

Q: Are there ways in which your visualizations represent networked propagation that might appear different when a virus, like Richard Skrenta’s Elk Cloner, has to cross the human-machine barrier?

A: The barrier between human and machine is from a cybernetic point of view very small. It is the cooperation between both of them to make the data living. From the view of a spam maybe the only barrier could be a good firewall.

In our visualization we create an artistic output form the collection of computer viruses on our project-server. this data is transformed to nano and mail-box (two very smooth visualisations by alessandro capozzo). In our project we create different outputs related to the theme of computer viruses and spam.
In our interactive installation IVI we break this barrier on a visual level. We extend the medium video by the support of image recognition. The complex interaction between the media and the human body creates a new platform of experience. The recipient will be a visual part of the interaction between machine and human. Substrate of the emotional level is the visual representation of viruses. When the recipient play with the projected picture the human will activate behaviour of biological patterns. the family instrument of the own body becomes the test tube of visual perception.

Q:What makes a digital virus compelling to visualize?

A: To be invisible is very important if you want to spread out a computer virus to the world wide web.

Is it the character of the code that you visualize?

The character is not visualized; it is the spreading and frequency of Virus and Spam.

The “spread”? Its means of transport? Mutation?

The spread means the spread means the spread the spread the spread.

How do you find the metaphor of virus, which once was firmly rooted in the biological realm, useful for the digital realm?

Biological viruses are disturbing cells. Computer viruses are disturbing Data.

In the biological view the transportation of the virus information is going through the air maybe through blood.

The digital version is walking through mail-programs ore use search technology to find new victims.

Q: How does the metaphor shape the aesthetics of your project?

A: Similar to biological viruses our project mutates during the artistic process.

In this regard, one can see the result of this video projections and net installations as mutation examples.

The artistic duo may be playing in fertile ground. Metaphors that link together life in its various meanings with the activities of digital media and networks have a particular significance, partially to help humans understand how digital systems operate. Artificial intelligence and artificial life are but two of the conceptual metaphors that became bold enough to confuse metaphor for reality. Artificial life shows “signs” of life only because the metaphor is pre-loaded to do so. Computer viruses, as metaphor, behave similarly. Viruses are symptomatically linked to their behavior – viruses are viruses because the metaphor is powerful. Computer viruses have the benefit of exhibiting the debilitating traits of some of their more pernicious biological kin and thus travel well as a description of the misbehaviors the infected device exhibits. Machfeld chooses their metaphors well. They show us how language – visualizations, in this case – can reveal invisible characteristics of the world. By using our digital instruments to make the illegible legible we can learn how to change the way we see the world and, thereby, reconfigure the way we occupy it, hopefully towards a more habitable, sustainable near-future.