Divine Security (666), 2010
Venezuelan SSN database, hacking on paper
Dimensions variable

Divine Security (666) is a datagram, a spatial representation of secured data arranged as a monumental wallpaper installation by using a geometric-chaotic pattern, of all the people born the same day as Hugo Chávez, the former late President of Venezuela. The peculiar element of this work is that there were six hundred and sixty six people born in Venezuela on July 28, 1954.
In order to create this installation, Merhi had to hack into the Venezuelan Identification Office, today known as SAIME. After an extensive search on their DB, all the ID numbers of the people who were born in July 28, 1954 (Chavez' birthday) were saved and printed in individual pages using black ink. Only Chavez’ ID number was printed with red ink.




The wikipedia points that “in the New Testament, the Book of Revelation (13:17-18) cryptically asserts 666 to be "the number of a man," associated with the beast, an antagonistic creature that appears briefly about two-thirds into the apocalyptic vision. In modern popular culture, 666 has become one of the most widely recognized symbols for the Antichrist or, alternately, the Devil. Earnest references to 666 occur both among apocalypticist Christian groups and in explicitly anti-Christian subcultures. An appearance of the number 666 in contemporary Western art or literature is, more likely than not, an intentional reference to this number of the Beast symbolism. Such popular references to 666 are too numerous to list.”




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