Artists commemorate the worst computer virus

es in history
Some computer viruses are little more than crudely brutal assaults,
while others are secretive things, works of elegance. Whichever it ma
y have been, though, it is the rare PC user who has never been infecte
d -- and, over the years, since the frst large-scale outbreak due to the
lk Cloner, there have been many notable viruses over the years.
Curated by !msterdam-based writer "as van de Poel, Computer #irus
Catalog is a sort of homage to those viruses -- the funny, the clever, th
e downright infuriating.
$%hey steal our fles, corrupt our hard drives, and destroy our lives. W
e scan. We block. &o everything we can to prevent infection. Compute
r viruses. We hate 'em,$ van de Poel wrote. $(evertheless, we remain f
ascinated by their evil plots. %his fascination led to a new kind of art c
ollection -- Computer #irus Catalog. %he worst viruses in computer his
tory interpreted by artists around the world.$
%he viruses span a period from the very frst virus -- Cookie )onster i
n the *+,-s -- to .-*-, across a range of platforms /although mostly &
0S and Windows1.
ach of the .2 participating artists has chosen a virus and added th
eir own interpretive spin. %echno, for instance -- a &0S virus that flle
d the user's screen with the word $%C3(0$ while blaring out techno
music -- has been interpreted by artists (ick 4iefhebber and 5oost as a
series of rubbery, pi6elated dancers on a glitch orange screen.
!nother virus, 7mplant, illustrated by artist 8arborn on a Commodore
,9, showed the user a picture of a blonde woman in her underwear -- i
t looks a lot like an underwear ad from the :-s -- and wiped the hard d
rive. %he rather more benign 4ichen -- a program that would create tri
ppy, lichen-inspired visuals on the monitor whenever keyboard activity
stopped for more than a minute -- was reimagined by 5onathan ;awad
a as a cloud-like sculpture.
7t's a very pleasant, funny and enlightening way to spend half an ho
ur.
!nd, if Computer #irus Catalog has whet your appetite for strange co
mputer viruses, head on over to the <ou%ube channel of &anooct*, a
wondrous rabbit-hole where you can see all these viruses /and a whol
e bunch more1 in action=
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