Minimum Security (Feb 4), 2006
Venezuelan SSN database, hacking on paper
Dimensions variable

Minimum Security is an immersive installation that displays the Venezuelan Social Security Numbers or ID numbers of all the Venezuelan people born on February 4, the day when former late President Hugo Chávez initiated his revolution. The work was visually produced using a data visualization system known as datagram. A datagram is a spatial representation of secured data arranged as a wallpaper using a geometric-chaotic pattern defined by the artist.


In order to create this installation, Merhi had to hack into the Venezuelan Identificacion Office known as ONIDEX. After an extensive search on the the database of this institution, all the targeted ID numbers were selected and presented as a monumental wallpaper. Thus, what the viewer sees is a numerical representation of all the people born on February 4 for the past 100 years.




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