COVER ME – Documentation

COVER ME a project by Julian Oliver that consists in a gallery of Creative Commons licensed photographs found on Flickr that the artist transformed into data containers for distributing Snowden files.
 

 
Using a method known as as steganography, the artist embedded the volatile data into images matching the search queries ‘island getaway’ and ‘beach paradise’, without visibly changing their appearance. Here, the act of sharing comforting, tranquil images helps to counterbalance the bleakness and anxiety enshrouding clandestine leaks while broadening the potential for redistribution.
With ignorance as a robust excuse, the images can be safely shared among colleagues at work, uploaded back to Flickr or used as a desktop background while crossing borders. At any given point a leak can be conveniently and privately extracted from the image onto a personal computer using a free and open-source software program developed by the artist.
 
This project is proudly part of Masters & Servers. Networked Culture in the Post-Digital Age, a European adventure focused on a new generation of digital interventionism, awarded with a Creative Europe 2014 – 2020 grant. Up to August 2016, Masters & Servers will explore networked culture in the post-digital age.
 
Below some images documenting the exhibition.