“Men In Grey” emerge as a manifestation of network anxiety, a fearful apparition in a time of government wiretaps, Facebook spies, Google caches, Internet filters and mandatory ISP logging.
Operating at the intersection of hacking and invasive situationist action, any open wireless network becomes our stage for a reverse-engineering of network dependence and the implicit trust we place in the metal and minds that make it all work.
In the grey suit of an unidentifiable bureaucrat, carrying briefcases filled with hardware and software, the “Men In Grey” dissect wireless network traffic and then reflect it back upon its users to unsettling, yet often comical, effect. We do this using several advanced, automated hacking techniques, organized into six tactical groups:

The Glance
Any image downloaded by a user of the network will appear on the screen on the side of a briefcase.

The Utterance
Facebook, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, IRC, MSN Messenger chat will also appear on the briefcase alongside loud recital through a speaker on the case using a text-to-speech synthesizer.

The Mirror
Full web-pages browsed by a user on the network will appear on the case.

The Forgotten
Earlier browsing sessions are “replayed” to the user on their computer, with each successive click.

The Lost Identity
Web pages are manipulated, URLs redirected, chat text altered, images seen on one laptop replace those in webpages of another.

The Trace
Detailed network topology, system fingerprints, routing tables and host-names displayed on the side of a briefcase.


Importantly, the “Men In Grey” never view the output of the briefcases and nor do they store any data. All logs are destroyed by crushing the storage device—a small SD card—under foot at the point of departure. This act doubles as our calling card.

Links: http://meningrey.net

Julian Oliver (NZ/DE), is a New-Zealand-born artist, inventor, computer programmer and teacher based in Berlin. He has presented papers and projects at many museums, international electronic art events and conferences worldwide. His work has received several awards, ranging across technical excellence, artistic invention and interaction design.

Danja Vasiliev (RU/DE) is a Russian-born computer artist currently living between Berlin and Rotterdam. Working with diverse methods, technologies and materials, Danja
ridicules the contemporary affection for digital life and questions the global tendency for cyborgination. Works by the artist are often described as technological interventions, whether they are hardware, software or conceptual pieces.