Surveilling Official Art

'History of Art for the Intelligence Community,' a new work by Vuk Cosic, appropriates classic paintings (like Kasimir Malevich's 'Black Square,' or Cezanne's 'Still Life with Plate of Cherries') to integrate them with RSG's 'Carnivore' technologies. Like in other 'Carni' clients, network activity makes the art. In Cosic's implementation, Carni opens up features of these canonized masterpieces. See Mantegna's St. Sebastian wounded by arrows, the number of which depend on LAN static. Or see a mutated Cezanne still life, in which the portion of cherries varies. Those who consider historical paintings to be dusty relics of official culture will like Cosic's vital redos. - Rachel Greene