DeadCode
Hector Rodriguez
http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/DeadCode
DeadCode is a downloadable software application that transforms the user’s hard drive into a digital cemetery. It searches the user’s computer for Java class files, duplicates them, and inserts long snippets of redundant code into them. These files are then saved at various locations in the user’s hard drive. DeadCode also generates new programs full of redundant code and stores them in the computer.
DeadCode does not tell the user where these various files are located. They can only be found by patiently looking through the hard drive. DeadCode thus embraces the potential risk that some or all of its components will never be seen by anyone. The idea of a potentially invisible archive concealed within the recesses of a private hard drive is the heart of this project. This buried network of data provides a metaphor for the “hidden-ness” of digital information. It foregrounds the nature of computation as an opaque black box.
Hector Rodriguez is a digital artist and theorist. His digital animation Res Extensa received the award for best digital work in the 2004 Hong Kong Art Biennial and has been shown in India, China, Germany, and Spain. He is currently Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, where he teaches courses in Visual Studies, Contemporary Art, Play and Game Studies, Film Theory, Computation, and Critical Theory. He is also a member of the Writing Machine Collective in Hong Kong.