!Mediengruppe Bitnik
“Fake Fake Fake Off”
(2022)
In March 2017, Wikileaks published a series of confidential documents on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Named “Vault 7” by Wikileaks, the documents detail the activities and capabilities of the CIA to perform surveillance and cyber warfare. The leaked documents date from 2013 to 2016 and show efforts of the CIA to hack and compromise cars, computers and smart phones. Unlike the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, the CIA’s tools are more about infiltrating the communication systems of individual targets. Often via physical access to the devices, sometimes also via the Internet.
The leak shows that the CIA together with MI5 worked on a malware code named “Weeping Angel” to hack Samsung Smart TV series model F8000 and target the webcam and microphone.
The malware is able to hijack the microphone and record its audio. The recordings are either stored to be retrieved via USB key or the secret services placed a WiFi device within the same room through which to access the microphone in real time.
Fake Off is the term the CIA used to describe that the TV seemed to be off, while in the background the malware was still running and recording. The TV gives the illusion of being switched off, but continues to function as a spying device. The only indication of Fake Off mode is the lit Samsung logo.
In the exhibition the Samsung Smart TV model F8000 sits quietly with its screen off.
“Delivery for Mr Assange”
(2013)
32-hour live mail art piece performed on 16 and 17 January 2013. On 16 January 2013 !Mediengruppe Bitnik posted a parcel addressed to Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The parcel contained a camera which documented its journey through the Royal Mail postal system through a hole in the parcel. The images captured by the camera were transferred to this website and the Bitnk Twitter account in realtime. So, as the parcel was slowly making its way towards the Ecuadorian embassy in London, anyone online could follow the parcel’s status in realtime.
!Mediengruppe Bitnik
!Mediengruppe Bitnik (read - the not mediengruppe bitnik) live and work in Zurich/London. They are contemporary artists working on and with the Internet. Their practice expands from the digital to affect physical spaces, often intentionally applying loss of control to challenge established structures and mechanisms. !Mediengruppe Bitniks works formulate fundamental questions concerning contemporary issues.
In early 2013 !Mediengruppe Bitnik sent a parcel to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy. The parcel contained a camera which broadcast its journey through the postal system live on the internet. They describe «Delivery for Mr. Assange» as a SYSTEM_TEST and a Live Mail Art Piece.
They have also been known for sending a bot called «Random Darknet Shopper» on a three-month shopping spree in the Darknets where it randomly bought objects like Ecstasy and had them sent directly to the gallery space.
!Mediengruppe Bitnik are the artists Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo. Their accomplices are the London filmmaker and researcher Adnan Hadzi and the reporter Daniel Ryser.
Their works have been shown internationally including: Shanghai Minsheng 21st Century Museum, City Art Gallery Ljubljana, Kunsthaus Zürich, NiMk Amsterdam, Space Gallery London, Cabaret Voltaire Zurich, Beton7 Athens, Museum Folkwang Essen, Contemporary Art Center Vilnius, Beijing «Get it louder» Contemporary Art Biennial, La Gaîté Lyrique Paris, Gallery EDEN 343 São Paulo and the Roaming Biennale Teheran.
They have received awards including: Swiss Art Award, Migros New Media Jubilee Award, Honorary Mention Prix Ars Electronica
More at: wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.bitnik.org
