Skeuomorphic Steganography

Presented at HOPE X (2014), July 19, 2014, 5 p.m. (60 minutes).

Skeuomorphic steganography is spawned in the terrain where art, code, and digital media interbreed. Steganography is the ancient art, revitalized in the digital age, of hiding messages in plain sight. Skeuomorphism is the use of design elements that include features inherent to an earlier design, for example, images of leather binding in on-screen calendars, or faux wood grain printed on vinyl tiles. This talk puts forth the theory that steganography finds a natural home inside skeuomorphism. Sometimes, when one is looking for hidden data, one has to know where to look. This is especially true outside the digital realm. An idea for a new convention will be proposed: Let's have skeuomorphism show us where to look. Joshua will show how printed skeuomorphic steganography can be decoded with simple tools. The dream is of a world, just slightly more fun than this one, in which skeuomorphism takes on a new life, not as kitsch, an eyesore, or some wigged-out aberration at Apple Inc., but as a hint of a possible invitation, a bread crumb left by a new friend.


Presenters:

  • Joshua Fried
    Joshua Fried is a musician first and a coder second, or third. As composer, performer, and producer his work spans experimental music, DJ culture, and live art. He has remixed They Might Be Giants, drummed on electric shoes, and put headphones on downtown New York City's most mercurial stars. Fried has performed solo at Lincoln Center, The Kitchen, Danceteria, La MaMa, BAM, Joe's Pub, and le Poisson Rouge (all in New York City), as well as in Los Angeles, Miami, Tokyo, Berlin, Milan, Paris, and across Europe. His solo project, RADIO WONDERLAND, turns corporate media into recombinant funk, live in real time, and will perform at HOPE X. He teaches music technology at NYU.

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