On 11 Mar 2016, at 09:51, Felix Stalder <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2016-03-09 02:29, nettime's_scanner wrote: >> >> https://cosmowenman.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/the-nefertiti-3d-scan-heist-is-a-hoax/ >> >> The Nefertiti 3D Scan Heist Is A Hoax > > I'm not sure I would call it a hoax. I think -- though I have no > inside knowledge -- the most likely case is that of a leak, that is, > someone with access to the official scan gave it to the artists and > the story of the guerilla scanning was created as cover to protect the > source. In the same way that it's likely that some of the hacks of > anonymous where actually leaks by the sysadmins who used story of the > anonymous hack as device to cover their tracks.
Maybe there is an overarching category that links the hack, the hoax and leak that -trickster-. The artist/activist/trickster an increasingly familiar figure whose method is frequently (if not invariably) fiction. >From Wenmen?s article it seems likely that the Nefertiti 3D Scan heist is both a hoax (the artists quite probably did not capture the artifact in the way described) and a leak (in that the data is sound but in all probability was sourced elsewhere). https://cosmowenman.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/the-nefertiti-3d-scan-heist-is-a-hoax/ But that said we don?t have to buy into the lament of the final paragraph in Wenmen?s article in which he opines that it is -unfortunate that this story is based on a falsehood.- On the contrary in this kind of -media act- the tactical use of fiction is one of the most powerful tools in the trickster?s arsenal, as the Yes Men demonstrated on many occassions. However not any old hoax will do. For fiction to be deployed most effectively it?s moral core is often based around the concept of -AS IF-. So in this this case we are induced to act AS IF it were possible (with a small portable scanning device) to capture, disseminate and repatriate the world?s priceless artifacts. Media acts like this are -indicative thought experiments- enabling us to premediate (ie use of media to prepare ourselves psychologically) for alternate realities. d a v i d g a r c i a [email protected] http://new-tactical-research.co.uk http://www.tacticalmediafiles.net # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
