This year’s Craft Cyber Eyes is taking real shape. This is the third year that we have been running an arts programme in conjunction with Creative Fuse North East, as part of #CyberFest. Once again I am amazed by what the artists are bringing to the challenge.
Last Thursday I was back at the John Marley centre in Newcastle for my first reveal. I wasn’t sure whether there would be much to see as there is still a month or so to go and in the end we all sat around in a circle with each artist having the chance to describe what they were doing and where they were up to.
Perhaps you’ve never thought about how you would portray cyber security. In my mind it is a hard thing to do without falling into the cliches of guys in hoodies or matrix style coding falling down a screen. So I was taken aback by the wide variety of ways in which the artists had risen to interpret the topic.
Without giving too much away, the interpretations included a head wrapping workshop, the creation of a cyber warrior, spelling out security messages in wild seed, the making of a security blanket and superhero cape, an investigation of inbody technology and the implied threat, a signature tune, a tunnel which reacted to you and presented information about you scraped from the Internet and hair weaving sculptures.
Not all the artists were there and so I didn’t get to see the circus performer. That is something to look forward to.
Clearly there is still a lot of work to do to bring the pieces to a presentable position in time for the festival but the wind is definitely in their sails.
There will be three chances to see the works, starting at BSides Newcastle on either 2 or 3 September (possibly both), followed by the Creative Fuse North East Conference on either 14 or 15 September (again possibly both) and finally at the end of season show on 29 September. I’m certainly looking forward to them.
All the #CyberFest events are free and tickets are available from here and I hope to see you there.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 