Misha's Blog

Image ripped off from Adam’s website http://deaddrops.com/

Do you remember Adam Bartholl’s Dead Drops art project?  The one were he installed USB drives into public spaces and invited people to plug into them and share data? It is incredibly prescient that he created it in 2010: the same year that Stuxnet was discovered.  Stuxnet is the centrifuge-ruining computer virus that wormed its way into Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges after spreading through USB keys for several years.  The virus—purportedly written by Israeli and US American government cyber warriors—was meant to reach targets that were not connected to the Internet.  The strategy was to have the virus spread via removable media in the hopes that some scientist will eventually bring their MP3s to work with them  from a home computer infected via the Internet.  In a post-Stuxnet world, I am a prude about opening my computer’s ports to strangers’ USB keys without formatting them first let alone jacking into a Dead Drop.

Bartholl’s Dead Drops project is described as a rumination on public space and sharing, but behind this optimistic story lies a much darker comment on the dangers of mutual exchange.  Stuxnet and its variants threaten to turn any innocent bystander into an enabler of international cyber warfare and the risk of unforeseen consequences loom over people’s personal data.  The paranoia widened after the paradigm-shifting NSA related leaks from Edward Snowden.  How likely is it that your computer is not currently infected with sophisticated spyware?

Adam Bartholl’s Data Drops are the digital equivalents of the glory holes.  There is dangerous excitement around the idea of complete anonymous intercourse and the exchange of information between strangers.  A recent new product referred to as a “USB Condom” caught my attention not only for its functional promise, but for its potent symbolism.  By short circuiting the USB’s data pins and leaving only the power pins functional, this device promises to sanitize device charging via strange ports and third party cables.  It seems that our post-Stuxnet, post-Snowden world needs some USB Condom vending machines in every bathroom of every public playground which houses a USB Dead Drop device.  So if you see a Dead Drop and plug into it I hope you find something tasty.  Or perhaps you can leave something tasty behind.  There is a glory in surviving such an anonymous encounter.

Parametricism (parametric design) encompasses computer aided design approaches that let you endlessly tweak models by changing variables and generate new iterations of structures.  A two day conference on the politics of parametricism was sponsored by Autodesk—the company behind 3D modeling programs and Building Information System management tools.  There was an ideological divide between the speakers: some designers and architects were on the “right” and spoke of top-down design approaches being the answer to humanity’s problems.  Others were on the “left” because they were more concerned with issues of access to these design methodologies and how they may marginalize whole swaths of people.

One of my favorite speakers was Teddy Cruz.  He gave examples of kids who started using a crappy lot under a highway overpass as a skate park.  They were told to stop by the city and county, but they kept at it and eventually formed a non profit organization, did fund raising, and finally made over the underpass as a really cool skate park.  I was energized by this story which was optimistic about dealing with state bureaucracy .  I’ve heard this idea in the parametric design circles of reconfigurable buildings which would physically readjust their structure based on human desires.  Cruz overwrote this mechanistic vision with video of Tijuana street vendors who retracted their ultra light sales kiosks to make room for a passing train.  As the train cleared the railroad the vendors unfolded their awnings in rapid succession, closing behind the train in a wave.

The question and answer period resulted in a heated exchange between and the panelists and Patrik Schumacher with demands being made to disclose political affiliations and rebukes of etiquette flying back and fourth with the audience caught in a sort of awkward rapture in between.  It was truly worthwhile to be part of a real confrontational smack down between parametricism apologists led by Schumacher and the opposition led by Cruz.  They said the conference was going to be streamed and archived on the site, but I can’t find the racy video anywhere!  All I have is this lousy pic.

I’ve use living plants and animals in my artworks and research. I always worked hard to make sure the fish and plants (and even bacteria) are happy during all these trials. After a year of living in an aquaponics toilet, my tilapia named Beefadou was adopted as a pet into a roomy new fish tank. Today I found out that the pair of Koi I used to bootstrap that system—which I later sold on Craigslist—are alive and well.

So far, I’ve been able to retire all the plants and animals used in all experiments. The fish all went to new homes as pets, and the vegetables got eaten. I would like to continue this in the future. I’m happy to get word that these two Koi, named “Mr. and Mrs” are still together. They always spent every moment with each other, and now are continuing to do the same. Here is an image of them in their new home.

The two koi I’m referring to are the silver guys.

When I was ready to switch to the tilapia, I thought of releasing these Koi into the wild. I’m glad that they became pets because they grew up with humans. Luckily I haven’t done anything weird enough to any of these life forms to preclude safe release into the wild. There is little chance of anything like the terrible frog fungus epidemic spread by laboratory frogs released into the wild happening in my case.

In conclusion am also happy to report that the snail I sold to the same people is reportedly bigger than golf ball now. It is the sole companion of a gruesome looking but congenial fish named Oscar who suffers from hole-in-head disease. I knew the snail would do well. I remember him when he was just a young transplant: a leader and good samaritan even in those days.

Snail Leader