Crypto Design

Workshop and series of lectures
6–7 March 2018

The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana

Curated by
Institute of Network Cultures (NL)

In the framework of State Machines

Crypto Design is a workshop and series of lectures to explore the Deep Web and find new ways to visualize the nooks and crannies of the hidden parts of the internet. Curated by the Institute of Network Cultures (NL).

THE TALKS

6 March 2018 at 10 AM – 1 PM
The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, classroom 118

Patricia de Vries
Masks and Camouflage as Artistic Cryptographic Strategies

Over the past years, a growing number of artists have formulated a critique over the ubiquity of identity recognition technologies. Specifically, the use of these technologies by state security programs, tech-giants and multinational corporations has met with opposition and controversy. A popular artistic form of resistance to recognition technology is sought in cryptographic masks. Zach Blas, Leo Selvaggio, Sterling Crispin and Adam Harvey are among a group of internationally acclaimed artists who have developed subversive anti-facial recognition crypto-masks that disrupt identification technologies. In this lecture, Patricia de Vries explores the ontological underpinnings of these popular and widely exhibited crypto-mask projects.

Patricia de Vries works as a PhD researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam and a lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. She reads and writes about algorithmic anxiety in the arts. More

Anthony van der Meer
A Guided Tour Through the Clear, Deep and Dark Web

What’s the clearnet? What is the difference between the deep web and the dark web? And how do we find something that wasn’t supposed to be found? In this interactive talk all these questions will be answered. We meet on the clearnet where you learn how to easily find what you’re looking for and what you weren’t supposed to find. Then we will gradually find our way into more hidden parts of the web where we will discover the size and possibilities of the deep web and get to know around this huge online world. Our last stop? The dark web! Is it really such a bad place as the name implies? Or does it have a good reason for existence? You will be provided with tips and tricks to find out yourself. The tour will provide a practical “itinerary” but will also zoom in on the importance of having places to hide.

Anthony van der Meer is a director, researcher and concept developer. He graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 2015 with his movie Find my Phone. More

Tim Brouwer
Cryptographic Collectibles: the Materiality of Cryptography

Whether it’s electronic money, tokenized assets or identities on the blockchain – digital wealth is gradually becoming a prominent part of our reality. As a result, the importance of cryptographic technologies is increasing. However, do we really understand those technologies? How do cryptographic technologies provide, secure and display wealth? The current, rather technical, depiction of contemporary cryptography omits those who aren’t literate in code writing. Therefore, its significance and scope aren’t entirely visible and cryptography remains in its crypt. Tim Brouwer believes that cryptography can be reimagined through the medium of product design. During his presentation, he will demonstrate the manner in which cryptographic technologies (from ‘Cryptographic Collectibles’ to futuristic bio-cryptography) manifest itself in our material reality.

Tim Brouwer is writing his thesis at the Institute of Network Cultures for the bachelor Product Design, University of Applied Sciences Amsterdam. He uses product design as a medium to investigate and materialize abstract themes such as recognition systems and cryptographic technologies. More

THE WORKSHOP

Loes Bogers
Crypto Design Workshop
6–7 March 2018 at 3–8 PM
The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, classroom 311

The aim of the Crypto Design Workshop is to “go diving” into the Deep Web, to decrypt its content, and explore how these hidden infrastructures could be empowering, hospitable, and inspiring. During this 2-day workshop, participants set out to find new tangible and visual metaphors that contribute to an understanding of the Deep Web beyond the iceberg and navigation metaphors. The workshop will kick-off with the talks Masks and Camouflage as Artistic Cryptographic Strategies about crypto-inspired art by researcher Patricia de Vries, A Guided Tour Through the Clear, Deep and Dark Web by film director Anthony van der Meer, and Cryptographic Collectibles: the Materiality of Cryptography by designer Tim Brouwer. Loes Bogers, design researcher at the MakersLab at the University of Applied Sciences Amsterdam, will lead the rest of the workshop.

Crypto Design Workshop is an extension of the Crypto Design Challenge that was first held in the Netherland in 2015 and resulted in an exhibition at the Museum of the Image in Breda and the Z33 House of Contemporary Art in Hasselt. In 2016 the edition entitled Deep Web culminated in a symposium and an exhibition at the Club Paradiso in Amsterdam. Posters of all nominees of that edition will be on display in the venues of the Department for Visual Communication of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design until mid-May 2018.

Loes Bogers is a researcher and educator exploring in participatory practices at the intersections of art, technology and design research. She is coordinator and educator at the minor Makers Lab: Making as Design Research at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences where she also works as a researcher in the Visual Methodologies Research Group and the Citizen Data Lab.