VENICE, Italy — Over 17 years, David Darchicourt worked with the National Security Agency as a graphic designer and art director, illustrating top-secret documents about government surveillance programs. Now he is the unwitting central character in a new exhibition that puts the spotlight on the spy agency’s imagery.
Inside the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, a cavernous Renaissance library in Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, some of Darchicourt’s designs for the NSA have been placed on display among historic 16th-century pieces by famed Italian painters like Veronese and Titian.
The former NSA employee’s work is featured as part of a project called Secret Power, created by New Zealand artist Simon Denny for this year’s Biennale international art show. Denny has brought to life images from the trove of classified files on government spying leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, exploring an often overlooked aspect of the revelations: the visual information they contain.
The 32-year-old New Zealand artist selected a variety of graphics found in Snowden documents published by news organizations, including The Intercept, and set about incorporating them into a series of meticulously detailed installations that took him about 18 months to complete.
Denny obtained an eagle from a taxidermist in Germany and created a three-dimensional version of the emblem used by the NSA’s Special Source Operations program, which handles secret surveillance relationships with American companies like AT&T and Verizon.
He placed the bird flying through brightly lit computer server racks that stand about 10 feet tall, surrounded by other NSA graphics that were revealed by Snowden, such as the wizard associated with a mass surveillance operation called MYSTIC and a fox burning in a can of acid, a drawing that was included in documents about an NSA hacking tactic.
The artist has also reconstructed the Terminator-style metal skull that appears as an emblem for an NSA program that maps the global Internet. Another piece focuses on documents from the NSA’s British counterpart, published last year by The Intercept, that discuss the use of deception and manipulation techniques against targeted groups of people.
But Denny and his team didn’t solely rely on the work of journalists to inform the pieces they assembled. They also embarked on some investigating of their own, tracking down Darchicourt, the NSA’s former art chief, and turning him into a focal point of the project.
Darchicourt worked for the NSA between 1994 and 2012 and created images for its covert surveillance programs as well as for its public-facing work, such as a series of “CryptoKids” cartoon characters, intended to educate children about the agency.
The CryptoKids feature in a coloring book the NSA produced for children, and they also have their own section on the agency’s website. The animal-based characters include “Rosetta Stone,” a globe-trotting, multi-lingual fox who makes and breaks codes, and “T. Top,” a computer-obsessed turtle who likes programming and the Internet.
After he left the NSA, Darchicourt became a freelance graphic designer and started using websites like LinkedIn and Behance to network and promote his work, which is how Denny found him.
In the display at the Venice library, the New Zealand artist included a large cartoon-like picture of Darchicourt, details about his background, and examples of his work for the NSA, all of which were mined from his online profiles and portfolios.
Denny also commissioned Darchicourt to draw him a map of New Zealand and a cartoon of a lizard that is native to the country, and featured these in the Secret Power exhibit, too. But he didn’t tell the former NSA art chief he was being hired to work on a Snowden document-related exhibition; he kept that as a surprise for later.
“They are an insight into the environment the programs are maintained and proliferated within.”
Denny says he wanted to place Darchicourt at the center of Secret Power as a way to help people think about the authorship of the Snowden documents. Graphic designers working in the visual departments of the agency have inadvertently become, because of the revelations, “some of the most powerful image creators we have,” he says. Yet almost nothing is known about who they are.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about these programs, but the visuals of the documents haven’t been unpacked,” says Denny, speaking to The Intercept on the phone from his base in Berlin.
“The images contain different kinds of information than the text. They give us a hand in understanding more about the culture — the office culture, let’s say — behind the surveillance programs, and therefore the kinds of interests and values of the people working on them. They are an insight into the environment the programs are maintained and proliferated within.”
Much of the NSA’s imagery, according to Denny, is rooted in depictions of magic, fantasy, military history and Internet meme culture. The agency’s documents often contain maps and globes, crudely symbolizing the reach of its spying apparatus. But sometimes the graphics it chooses contain more subtle meanings and cultural references. In one top-secret PowerPoint presentation on an NSA hacking operation, for instance, an agency employee inserted an image of a monkey fighting a robot, derived from a role-playing card game called Shadowfist in which conflicting factions wage a secret war against each other.
Denny was not particularly aware of issues around government surveillance prior to the Snowden disclosures, but the revelations piqued his interest. It was a shock for him to learn, in particular, about New Zealand’s key role in the Five Eyes, a global spying alliance that the country is a member of alongside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
He started researching the topic and found inspiration in New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager’s 1996 book, Secret Power, a seminal exposé of the Five Eyes network. Denny paid homage to Hager by naming his art project after the book; he also recruited Hager to work with him on the project as a content adviser. (The Intercept has recently been collaborating with Hager on a series of stories about New Zealand’s role in the Five Eyes, based in part on the Snowden documents.)
Now, Denny is passing on what he’s learned, helping to educate others about the surveillance revelations. His project, which runs until late November and also features a temporary installation at the Venice airport, has attracted visitors from all age groups.
“We’ve had a number of people who’ve never even heard of Snowden in there,” Denny says, “and there have been amazing responses in the visitor book talking about the issues. It’s a really rewarding thing for me to see — that you can start a substantial conversation through a visual medium with people who are less inclined to read news media.”
As for Darchicourt, he says it was “quite a surprise” to learn about how his work was going to be used when he found out about Denny’s project and its link to the Snowden revelations, but the irony of the situation was not lost on him.
“I guess that was one of [Denny’s] little aims,” Darchicourt told The Intercept. “To show how he could get my information and use it without my knowledge, the way NSA does.”
Darchicourt says he did not design most of the images from Snowden documents featured in Denny’s exhibition, such as the Special Source Operations eagle. But he acknowledges that he did create the image of a peanut emblazoned with a skull and crossbones used as the logo for POISON NUT, a top-secret NSA hacking program exposed in the leaked documents and included in one of Denny’s pieces.
The 55-year-old former NSA art chief is not planning on visiting the exhibition in Venice because he doesn’t want to be seen as somehow endorsing it on behalf of the agency. But he has reviewed photographs, and while he says he neither approves nor disapproves of it, he admits he finds it interesting to see his designs in the Renaissance setting.
“It’s kind of flattering, but it’s also kind of creepy,” Darchicourt says, adding that he’s now considering deleting some pictures from his online portfolios to prevent them from being used by anyone else in the future. “Anything that has to do with the NSA will be removed; it’s old and I don’t really identify with that organization anymore.”
Photos: Nick Ash courtesy of Simon Denny
Jobs in the MIC specifically associated with artwork are scarce, although there’s actually some degree of artwork associated with almost every MIC program – even if just its specific logo/patch, usually then replicated onto coffee mugs, souvenir coins, shirts, etc.
For decades, both military and contractor sides of a program are known to hold contests for best logo idea when producing these collectibles, though if the military side produces a logo/patch it’s always considered the official one. Lifetime MIC engineers often have collections of this memorabilia decorating their office or cubicles for projects they were personally a part of, right along side of any personal achievement awards.
The rarely discussed National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) publicly released one of my favorites, for sheer audacity, just a few months after Ed changed all Big Brother discussions forever. It was an Earth enveloping octopus that seemed to intentionally foster mental associations with Big Brother’s empire of the greediest, rather than anything taxpayers actually want.
T-shirt anyone? I found this online but have no idea if it’s still available:
http://www.spreadshirt.com/nrol-39-nothing-is-beyond-our-reach-nro-octopus-t-shirts-C3376A14118773
Kudos to artist Simon Denny for this interesting and provocative exhibition, and to THE//INTERCEPT for reporting on it. Such a use of creative artistic expression to further accent and illuminate the self-assumed methodically dark and ubiquitous license employed by the “FIVE EYES cabal should be heralded by everyone the world over who opposes those who employ their privileges of power, rather derived from private wealth or public trust, to violate the basic tenets of ethics, morality, and law in order to further their own interests.
That this miscreant element of humanity would consider, let alone construct and implement, a propagandistic “disinformation” program targeting children should demonstrate, even to the most callus and indifferent, that such a global enterprise is a sociopathic degradation of human society; and is absolutely antithetical to any claim that it serves to protect and defend the greater good.
In pertinent part Ryan Gallagherr’s article states:
If one chooses to click on his hyperlink “own section”, underlined above, and elects to read the balloon text, it becomes obvious that there is something more sinister afoot than, as Mr. Gallagherr’s abbreviated description infers, that the NSA merely “..intended to educate children about the agency.”
In my considered opinion this is NOT about educating children, it is completely a product of the NSA’s self-defined mission to indoctrinate their target audience; every bit as much as the now infamous “Joe the Camel” was condemned for targeting children by the tobacco industry.
The question every adult citizen should be asking themself is, Do I want my government’s time and resources being used to mind-fuck the children of my country?
“Work is love made visible.” KG
As Usual,
EA
Glad to see the fellas that are listening on the other end of my phone to my most intimate of conversations are finding a use for all those doodles that are mounting up on their writing pads…death heads and dirty caricatures….ART! blah…I don’t think so.
But I like Mussolini’s comment, I think he might be right.
As far as IC “art” is concerned, the hubris of the insidious logo of the National Reconnaissance Office is beyond evil. I don’t know who these scumbags are that create these creepy images, but I know one thing. They are shameless, repulsive and soulless. I guess that’s why they work for the IC. Just like the rest of the creeps who work there.
https://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/headlines-of-the-day-spies-security-threats/
It appears the Italians are willing to sink to any depth to rehabilitate the reputation of Veronese. Their motivations are pretty transparent – put NSA art in a room full of paintings by Veronese and the patrons will look around and say, “You know, Veronese wasn’t that bad”. And it’s true. He always suffered from having his paintings displayed next to ones by Titian, which made Veronese’s art seem boring and derivative.
But does boosting Veronese justify exposing the NSA to ridicule for their art? The NSA is known more for hiring mathematicians than artists, and they knew their art wasn’t up to world standards. That’s why they made all those documents top secret. So it is almost an invasion of their privacy, to take their second rate doodles and display them in a museum to be mocked by bored tourists in Venice with nothing better to do.
I am glad to see that the NSA publishes children’s books. If their mandate is reformed by Congress, and this spying thing doesn’t work out, they have a fall back position. Although they might not be able to retain all 50,000 of their employees, since the kids’ book market isn’t that big. But I wish them success; it would be nice to see kids reading again.
I’m not so sure you’re ‘total artistic license’ here (which you will need when Glenn’s hounds get a-hold of ya.) applies for critiquing old 15th century Italian art works, benitoe. *I find it hard to believe any artist could be more gloomy and colorless than Titian.
Anyway, since you’re the only one around here w/ an artistic license can you please tell me what this represents: https://prod01-cdn00.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2015/06/foxacid1.jpg
*note. of particular interest on the side of the spam can it says ‘please recycle …. poop in your garden’ ?
You’re thinking of Rembrandt.
FOXACID spam is a spear-phishing attack used by the NSA. As the nutrition facts on the side of the box say ‘Sadism 4 whacks 50%’ and ‘Total Crap 10g 100%’. But while the nutrient value may not be exemplary, the NSA’s commitment to recycling is certainly commendable. However, had the art work been approved for public release, the NSA might have chosen to use less honesty in labeling.
bah: In the US, artistic license is handled by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Micah & others:
Sometimes when I open this site I see a horizontal scan line across my browser window going from top to bottom, just like a photocopier, except that its thinner and happens quite randomly. I don’t see this in any other website or window of any program, so I am certain my screen is not misbehaving. In fact, the line is restricted to the width the the Tor browser and does not spill outside it.
Anyone else notice this or am I hallucinating? It wasn’t there before but started a few weeks back. I keep changing the aspect ratio and fonts to be safe in case there is some tracking going on.
I also see this. But when I’ve gone to open the image at its own URL, it doesn’t do it (then again, usually it doesn’t do it on the page either). The problem is, even when you have a reason to be paranoid, most of the time you’re still barking up the wrong tree with this kind of stuff.
It would be awesome if this outstanding exhibition would travel the globe; London would definitely be one place …
Thanks for that very thorough description. Here in NZ there seems to have been very little coverage, apart from prominent people hastily removing their patronage when they learnt that our heroic journalist Nicky Hager was to be involved.
Let’s call the exhibition “Sunday in the Park with George W”.
What does the cryptographer fox say?
YIKG OQFFT LOPR4 78JJW K7TTE EEWNJ WQSTH
or decrypted,
Ning aning aning aning aning aning aning aning.
Wow, it’s all ugly and banal. [email protected] art is tasteful and deep by comparison.
Also don’t miss Metahaven’s great video for Holly Herndon, turning NSA logos into disturbingly emoji art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3mCDJ_iWc