Interactive network installation “WannaScry!” commissioned by the LABORATORIA Art&Science Foundation with the support of Kaspersky Lab. Artist Danja Vasiliev, together with the chief technology expert of Kaspersky Lab — Alexander Gostev, created WannaScry! for the exhibition “May the Other Live in Me”. 

WannaScry! makes us think about privacy, including the risk of our personal and biometric data being intercepted online, for example by a video conferencing system.

By scanning the QR code, you become a participant in the video conference together with other visitors. The process of analyzing your data begins immediately, the ‘palantir’ collects all information: portraits of current and past chat participants, transcripts of communication, biometric data and geo-locations. You see the world of digital footprints and become a part of it.

The name of the project and the term ‘palantir’ were carefully chosen. WannaScry! refers to the magical crystal ball that helps people to ‘scry’ or see the future. It is also a reference to the outbreak of the infamous ransomware WannaCry (2017), which encrypted user data in order to demand ransom for their decryption.

WannaScry! mixes the past and the present in the user’s eyes and forces us to think about protecting our personal data, because any of our action does not remain invisible on the Internet. 

The project was created specifically for the LABORATORIA Art&Science Foundation with the support of Kaspersky Lab.