Media Cultures 2, Assignment 2

1. Kalonica Quigley s3237922 BA (Games Graphics Design)

2. A form of art that functions only on the internet and uses the internet as its theme. The internet is a medium which is constantly changing and growing and net art reacts accordingly. It differs from ‘art on the net’ which is a documentation of art created outside of the internet. Net Art : More than 85% of all emails are spam and this has lead to the creation of a form of art that uses the text and data from junk email as the theme or method for creating art. Spam Art : One man’s spam is ‘s art another man

3. Alex Dragulescu Born in Romania another man Moved to the US in 1997 Film Photography Art History Computer Science Visual Arts Computer Animation Computer Programming Web, multimedia and game design Studied: Self Taught: Worked on:

4. He recognized the over whelming amount of data accumulating on the internet and started to experiment with ways to harness it using algorithms and information visualisation . - A traditional scientific method used to create an image of data so connections can be made visually - connections that might otherwise be lost. Alex Dragulescu

5. This has become his art Alex Dragulescu “ Using scientific visualisation methods to make art shows how technology changes art”

6. This has become his art Alex Dragulescu “ Using scientific visualisation methods to make art shows how technology changes art”

7. “ Spam is a random piece of literature, it has unseen effects, it changes all the time. And it’s led me to see text differently.” Spam Plants

8. Spam Plants uses algorithms that analyse text and data from junk email and uses this information to grow plant-like 3D images that visually represent the relationships between the data. - subject line, headers, footers, message, sender’s email address, IP address, time it was sent, message size, keywords The size, shape, growth rate and colour are all aspects of the plant that are directly created from information within the spam email.

9. Spam Plants uses algorithms that analyse text and data from junk email and uses this information to grow plant-like 3D images that visually represent the relationships between the data. - subject line, headers, footers, message, sender’s email address, IP address, time it was sent, message size, keywords The size, shape, growth rate and colour are all aspects of the plant that are directly created from information within the spam email.

10. is a similar project where the information in spam emails is used to influence the architecture of a structure. It also identifies patterns, keywords, and rhythms found in the text. Spam Architecture

11. Malwarez was commissioned by the Security Firm Message Labs. This was done for an advertising campaign and it includes visual representations of online threats: viruses, trojans, spam, worms, spyware code. - “ Comprehensive, cost-effective, industry-leading messaging and web security solutions ”

12. Malwarez “ For each piece of disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses and subroutines are tracked and analyzed. Their frequency, density and grouping are mapped to the inputs of an algorithm that grows a virtual 3D entity. Therefore the patterns and rhythms found in the data drive the configuration of the artificial organism.”

13. Malwarez

14. Malwarez

15. Malwarez

16. Malwarez

17. Malwarez Because these online threats work unseen and uncontrolled hidden in the computer, the average internet user may not realize their true threat. Therefore creating a visual representation of them allows the user to see just how hostile and complex they are. Message Labs is able to use this representation to highlight that their software is able to protect their customers from these scary entities.

18. Alex Dragulescu ’ s net art addresses the issue of the increasing and expanding, immense amount of data on the internet and attempts to make sense of it all by conceptualising it into a visual form that is easy to understand. Spam is often seen as pointless, obtrusive, annoying and unattractive and yet Dragulescu is able to take it and craft it into something new, intriguing and aesthetically pleasing whilst also highlighting the connections in the code and the beauty within the hidden complexities of these disregarded creations.

19. References “ Alex Dragulescu Official Site” http://www.sq.ro/ “ What is Net Art?” http://www.irational.org/cern/netart.txt “ One man's spam is another's art” http://news.cnet.com/One-mans-spam-is-anothers-art/2100-1025_3-6098479.html “ Phishing Scams and Viruses Can Be Beautiful, Deadly ” http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/02/phishing_scams_and_viruses_can_be_beauti ful_deadly/ “ Cyber crime art revealed” http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/110336-cyber-crime-art-revealed “ Know Your Enemy” http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/threats?c=WW729BpQp4GLx7X2QWb46g%3d%3d “ spam architecture by alex dragulescu” http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/3627/spam-architecture-by-alex -dragulescu.html

20. Kalonica Quigley s3237922 BA (Games Graphics Design)