The Persistence of Chaos
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- Guo O Dong
- MSCHF
| The Persistence of Chaos | |
|---|---|
 The Persistence of Chaos in 2019, with WannaCry visible onscreen | |
| Artist |
|
| Year | 2019 |
| Dimensions | 10.3” (260 mm) × 1.2” (30 mm) × 7.3” (190 mm) |
| Weight | 2.8 pounds (1.3 kg) |
| Website | thepersistenceofchaos |
The Persistence of Chaos is a work of art consisting of a laptop that contains six computer viruses, worms, and pieces of malware that have caused major damage. The artwork was created in 2019 by artist Guo O Dong and the collective MSCHF, and sold at auction for $1,345,000 in May 2019. Guo O Dong described it as a bestiary for historical malware, and expressed concern about the high price at which it sold, stating that he would either spend the money on another project or burn it.
We have this fantasy that things that happen in computers can't actually affect us, but this is absurd. Weaponized viruses that affect power grids or public infrastructure can cause direct harm.
The Persistence of Chaos was created in 2019 by artist Guo O Dong[1] and MSCHF[2] after they were commissioned by Deep Instinct, a computer security company.[1] It cost more than $10,000 to create, with much of the money spent on ensuring that the malware it contained was effectively firewalled so that it could not spread to other computers.[3]
Guo O Dong originally intended to title the work Antivaxxer in reference to vaccine hesitancy, but changed the name as the intent of the artwork shifted during its creation.[3] He told The Verge that the work was intended to be a physical manifestation of digital threats that might otherwise seem abstract, describing it as "a kind of bestiary — a catalogue of historical threats".[1]
Description
The technical basis for The Persistence of Chaos was a Samsung NC10, a netbook first released in 2008. The laptop computer equipped with Windows XP was deliberately infected with an assortment of viruses, worms, and malware which have caused $95 billion in financial damages: the ILOVEYOU virus, Mydoom worm, Sobig worm, WannaCry ransomware, DarkTequila malware, and BlackEnergy malware.[1] The device was isolated and airgapped to prevent misuse of the malware it contained.[4]
The artwork measures 10.3” (260 mm) × 1.2” (30 mm) × 7.3” (190 mm), and weighs 2.8 pounds (1.3 kg). In addition to the malware-loaded laptop, it includes the power cord for the device and a restart script.[2]