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  /// press release may 30 2001


Notification of the limited distribution of a self-copying program



http://www.0100101110101101.org/ + [epidemiC], intend to release an self-copying program, or computer virus, for the occasion of their participation in the forty ninth edition of the Venice Biannual, conceived and developed by them. It is called "biennale.py". This document is intended to furnish the just precautionary measures with which the aforementioned program should be handled. Furthermore it is our intention to underline the technology which permits itself to automatically reproduce, copying itself in various files which could be stored in your computer.


Operative environments at risk

Computers which have a working version of Python installed and therefore are able to correctly execute programs complied with the Python language sintax, must be considered to be under risk and should absolutely avoid the execution of any Python application containing a copy of "biennale.py".


Operative environments not at risk

Computers that do not have a working version of the Python are not at risk and can manipulate "biennale.py" at will.


Technology

The self-copying program "biennale.py" is based on the services offered by the Python execution environment. This environment is able to read the contents of files edited with a particular sintax (Python) and follow the instructions contained therein. This operation is called the execution of the Python program. The "biennale.py" program is to be considered active only when executed, in this case the following operations will appear.

# Scanning of the list of all the files contained in the local disk with the exception of those contained in the "/dev" and "/proc" folders

# Selection of the files with the prefix ".py" e ".pyw" from the obtained list

# The modifications of the files in the selection with the addition at the head of the instruction sequence of "biennale.py".


Removal

In case some files in your possession have been modified by the execution of the "biennale.py" program you must follows these steps.

# Obtain a list of the modifies files

# Using a text editor cancel all the lines between, and including, the line
"# biennale.py ___ go to ___ 49th Biennale di Venezia"
and the line
"###"

These simple instructions are sufficient to remove the modifications.


Damage

"biennale.py" has been designed to avoid in any manner damage to the contents of your computer. The individuation and the removal of the modification that it could bring, exclusively to python files, are extremely facilitated.
For no reason shall the authors consider themselves responsible for the execution of the sequence of instructions belonging to "biennale.py" which has been conceived expressly for the Venice Biannual and nevertheless to be destroyed immediately.


Antivirus

A copy of "epidemic.py" and this document will be sent to the most well known societies who produce AntiVirus.


Authors

[epidemiC]
website: http://www.epidemic.ws/
email: biennale.py@epidemic.ws

0100101110101101.ORG
website: http://www.0100101110101101.org/
email: biennale.py@0100101110101101.ORG


Target

49° Biennale di Venezia
slovenian pavillion
opening: 8 jun 2001
galleria A+A, San Marco 3073, Venezia

 

 


  /// press_release jun 1st 2001


A Virus in the Biennale
A group of artists and programmers will exhibit a new computer virus.


A virus is usually considered evil, chaos. But what happens when it is a contemporary art temple to spread the chaos?

Conceived and compiled for the invitation to the 49th Venice Biennale, "biennale.py" is the product of the collaboration of two entities, 0100101110101101.ORG and epidemiC, already known for other shocking actions, often bordering with crime. "biennale.py" is both a work of art and a computer virus.
The source code of the virus will be made public and spread on the opening day of the Biennale, June 6th 2001, from the Slovenian Pavilion. The main anti-virus software companies have already been informed about the technical specifications of "bienale.py" and the disinstallation instructions will be attached to the virus.

Computer viruses or self-reproducing programs behave according to the same modus operandi of biological viruses: they attack an "organism", that is a file, sometime to settle and install their own habitat, and in other more rare cases, to destroy it. Viruses, thus, spread respecting the species conservation laws and the survival instinct. A virus is. More, a virus wants to exist instinctively and without mediations, and it is just this the main and only function of "biennale.py": to survive.

The creation of a virus tout court, free and without an end or a goal, is in the worst case a test, a survey on the limits of the Net, but in the best case is a form of global counterpower, generally a pre-political form, but that resists the strong powers, it puts them under a new balance, it shakes and reassembles them. A new idea of a "virus that is not just a virus" is gaining acceptance, and that it can represent the outbreak of the social into the most social thing of all: the Net.

Inside the Slovenian Pavilion it will be possible to read the source code of "biennale.py" and test its functioning on a infected computer. During the opening days of the Biennale thousands of t-shirts carrying the source code of the program will show up. Paradoxically, such as in biological viruses, "biennale.py" will spread not only through machines but also through men. The paradox becomes even more clear if you think that the virus, a vague and dangerous entity by definition, is for sale to adventurous curators and collectors. To buy a computer virus is probably on the most exciting investment one could make today.

The "biennale.py" fits perfectly with the context of the Pavilion of the Slovenian Pavilion, that this year will present the Absolute One project. With Absolute One the Slovenian Pavilion, starting from the basic question on how the artist could consctructively operate and actively respond to the globalization process, offers a strong and optimistic signal instead of the spreading fatalism and of the idea of inevitability. The artists that will represent Slovenia in the 49th Venice Biennale, besides the forth mentioned ones, will be Vuk Cosic and Tadej Pogacar. The new commissioner of the Slovenian Pavilion and curator of the project is Aurora Fonda.

 

 

[epidemiC]
website: http://www.epidemic.ws/
email: biennale.py@epidemic.ws

0100101110101101.ORG
website: http://www.0100101110101101.org/
email: biennale.py@0100101110101101.ORG


 /// source code

 

 

biennale.py

 

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biennale.py


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