00000000  50 4b 03 04 14 00 00 00  08 00 86 88 7a 51 6e 94  |PK..........zQn.|  00000000  ff d8 ff e0 00 10 4a 46  49 46 00 01 02 01 00 77  |......JFIF.....w|  00000000  d4 c3 b2 a1 02 00 04 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
            00000010  2e af 81 06 00 00 f0 0c  00 00 08 00 1c 00 73 69  |..............si|  00000010  00 77 00 00 ff e1 0d 62  45 78 69 66 00 00 4d 4d  |.w.....bExif..MM|  00000010  ff ff 00 00 69 00 00 00  7a 4a e3 5f 50 22 09 00  |....i...zJ._P"..|
            00000020  6e 6e 6c 6f 73 32 55 54  09 00 03 fc d1 bf 5f 3a  |nnlos2UT......_:|  00000020  00 2a 00 00 00 08 00 09  01 0e 00 02 00 00 00 70  |.*.............p|  00000020  10 00 00 00 10 00 00 00  b4 00 46 12 12 b0 14 5d  |..........F....]|
            00000030  b8 d6 5f 75 78 0b 00 01  04 e8 03 00 00 04 e8 03  |.._ux...........|  00000030  00 00 00 7a 01 12 00 03  00 00 00 01 00 01 00 00  |...z............|  00000030  8f a1 38 10 d5 91 21 6e  7a 4a e3 5f 63 22 09 00  |..8...!nzJ._c"..|
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            00000050  a5 70 74 e6 1f c2 3e d0  53 e5 72 79 6c 35 45 02  |.pt...>.S.ryl5E.|  00000050  00 00 00 01 00 00 00 f2  01 28 00 03 00 00 00 01  |.........(......|  00000050  8f a1 38 10 d5 91 21 6e  7a 4a e3 5f 73 22 09 00  |..8...!nzJ._s"..|
            00000060  20 c8 29 c9 6a b0 ba ad  65 ab c5 6a b6 f2 f4 9a  | .).j...e..j....|  00000060  00 02 00 00 01 31 00 02  00 00 00 1c 00 00 00 fa  |.....1..........|  00000060  10 00 00 00 10 00 00 00  b4 00 46 12 12 b0 14 5d  |..........F....]|
            00000070  c1 d6 b2 98 ac 2d 2b d1  4a b3 9b ec 16 eb dd ea  |.....-+.J.......|  00000070  01 32 00 02 00 00 00 14  00 00 01 16 01 3b 00 02  |.2...........;..|  00000070  8f a1 38 10 d5 91 21 6e  7a 4a e3 5f 80 22 09 00  |..8...!nzJ._."..|
            00000080  b4 70 ac 1c 7b c1 52 b4  9d fc cb cf 4e b5 b1 6c  |.p..{.R.....N..l|                                                                                  00000080  10 00 00 00 10 00 00 00  b4 00 46 12 12 b0 14 5d  |..........F....]|
            00000090  6f 9b 55 67 38 9f b7 c5  68 6f d9 29 56 b2 7d cd  |o.Ug8...ho.)V.}.|  00000000  7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |.ELF............|  00000090  8f a1 38 10 d5 91 21 6e  7a 4a e3 5f 8e 22 09 00  |..8...!nzJ._."..|
            000000a0  02 c7 82 ee 2a 55 e7 cf  b6 1e ad 76 dd 38 c8 a1  |....*U.....v.8..|  00000010  03 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00  70 12 00 00 00 00 00 00  |..>.....p.......|  000000a0  0a 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00  c4 00 0c 11 38 10 d5 91  |............8...|
            000000b0  d9 fc ac 37 6b c3 56 b2  c9 fb b0 d1 95 c9 7a ba  |...7k.V.......z.|  00000020  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  10 41 00 00 00 00 00 00  |@........A......|  000000b0  21 6e 7a 4a e3 5f a9 22  09 00 0a 00 00 00 0a 00  |!nzJ._."........|
            000000c0  22 2f 85 dd 4b 8f 4f 12  1e f6 15 6b c7 6a b4 71  |"/..K.O....k.j.q|  00000030  00 00 00 00 40 00 38 00  0d 00 40 00 20 00 1f 00  |....@.8...@. ...|  000000c0  00 00 d4 00 00 00 38 10  d5 91 21 6e 7a 4a e3 5f  |......8...!nzJ._|
            000000d0  f5 54 7a d6 a7 65 d2 4e  16 83 e5 4f 99 94 65 69  |.Tz..e.N...O..ei|  00000040  06 00 00 00 04 00 00 00  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |........@.......|  000000d0  b7 22 09 00 10 00 00 00  10 00 00 00 b4 00 de 06  |."..............|
                                                                                            00000050  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |@.......@.......|  000000e0  12 b0 14 5d 8f a1 38 10  d5 91 21 6e 7a 4a e3 5f  |...]..8...!nzJ._|
            00000000  25 50 44 46 2d 31 2e 35  0a 25 d0 d4 c5 d8 0a 31  |%PDF-1.5.%.....1|  00000060  d8 02 00 00 00 00 00 00  d8 02 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|  000000f0  c5 22 09 00 10 00 00 00  10 00 00 00 b4 00 de 06  |."..............|
            00000010  33 20 30 20 6f 62 6a 0a  3c 3c 0a 2f 4c 65 6e 67  |3 0 obj.<<./Leng|                                                                                  00000100  12 b0 14 5d 8f a1 38 10  d5 91 21 6e 7a 4a e3 5f  |...]..8...!nzJ._|
            00000020  74 68 20 35 31 32 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 0a 2f 46  |th 512       ./F|                                                                                  00000110  d3 22 09 00 0a 00 00 00  0a 00 00 00 c4 00 a4 05  |."..............|
            00000030  69 6c 74 65 72 20 2f 46  6c 61 74 65 44 65 63 6f  |ilter /FlateDeco|                          ____        _                                                                                                                         
            00000040  64 65 0a 3e 3e 0a 73 74  72 65 61 6d 0a 78 da 9d  |de.>>.stream.x..|                         | __ ) _   _| |_ ___  ___                                00000000  89 50 4e 47 0d 0a 1a 0a  00 00 00 0d 49 48 44 52  |.PNG........IHDR|
            00000050  54 4d 6f d3 40 10 bd fb  57 8c ca c5 41 78 bb b3  |TMo.@...W...Ax..|                         |  _ \| | | | __/ _ \/ __|                               00000010  00 00 07 80 00 00 04 38  08 06 00 00 00 e8 d3 c1  |.......8........|
            00000060  9f 5e 81 38 20 51 a4 de  00 df 92 1c ac d8 6d 2c  |.^.8 Q........m,|                         | |_) | |_| | ||  __/\__ \                               00000020  43 00 00 00 01 73 52 47  42 00 ae ce 1c e9 00 00  |C....sRGB.......|
            00000070  39 09 38 2e 3d 20 fe 3b  b3 de 4d b1 4d 8a 42 a5  |9.8.= .;..M.M.B.|                         |____/ \__, |\__\___||___/                               00000030  00 04 67 41 4d 41 00 00  b1 8f 0b fc 61 05 00 00  |..gAMA......a...|
            00000080  28 91 66 de bc f7 66 76  32 1c ee 81 c3 a7 84 c7  |(.f...fv2.......|                                |___/                                             00000040  00 09 70 48 59 73 00 00  0e c3 00 00 0e c3 01 c7  |..pHYs..........|
            00000090  df 0f 45 72 7d 23 1c a0  62 52 19 01 c5 1d 68 64  |..Er}#..bR....hd|                                    ___                                           00000050  6f a8 64 00 00 00 12 74  45 58 74 53 6f 66 74 77  |o.d....tEXtSoftw|
            |               |                                           |                                                    ( _ )                                                 |                                                                     |
            |               |                      _____________________|                                                    / _ \/\                                               |                                                                     |
            |               |                     |                     |                                                   | (_>  <                                               |                                                     ________________|
            |               |_____________________|                     |                                                    \___/\/                                               |                   _________________________________|                |
            |                                                           |                                ____  _                   _                                               |                  |                                 |                |
            |     2 3 4 5 6 7       30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120    |                               / ___|| |_ _ __ _   _  ___| |_ _   _ _ __ ___  ___                         |__________________|______                           |                |
            | -------------      ---------------------------------      |                               \___ \| __| '__| | | |/ __| __| | | | '__/ _ \/ __|                        |                         |                          |                |
            | 0:   0 @ P ` p     0:    (  2  <  F  P  Z  d   n   x      |                                ___) | |_| |  | |_| | (__| |_| |_| | | |  __/\__ \                        |                         |                          |                |
            | 1: ! 1 A Q a q     1:    )  3  =  G  Q  [  e   o   y      |                               |____/ \__|_|   \__,_|\___|\__|\__,_|_|  \___||___/                        |                         |                          |                |
            | 2: " 2 B R b r     2:    *  4  >  H  R  \  f   p   z      |                                                                                                          |                         |__________________________|                |
            | 3: # 3 C S c s     3: !  +  5  ?  I  S  ]  g   q   {      |__________________________________________________________________________________________________________|                         |                          |                |
            | 4: $ 4 D T d t     4: "  ,  6  @  J  T  ^  h   r   |      |                                                                                                          |                         |                          |                |
            | 5: % 5 E U e u     5: #  -  7  A  K  U  _  i   s   }      |                                                                                                          |_________________________|                          |                |
            | 6: & 6 F V f v     6: $  .  8  B  L  V  `  j   t   ~      |                                                                                                                                    |                          |                |
            | 7: ' 7 G W g w     7: %  /  9  C  M  W  a  k   u  DEL     |____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________|                          |                |
            | 8: ( 8 H X h x     8: &  0  :  D  N  X  b  l   v                                                                            |                                                                                             |                |
            | 9: ) 9 I Y i y     9: '  1  ;  E  O  Y  c  m   w                                                                            |                                                                                        _____|                |
            | A: * : J Z j z                                                                                                              |                                                                                       |                      |
            | B: + ; K [ k {                                                                                                              |                                                                                       |                      |
            | C: , < L \ l |             _________________________________________________________________________________________________|_______________________________________________________________________________________|                      |
            | D: - = M ] m }            |                                                 |                                                                                                                                       |                      |
            | E: . > N ^ n ~            |                                                 |                                                                                                                                       |______________________|
            | F: / ? O _ o DEL          |                                                 |                                                                                                                                       |                      |
            |___________________________|_________________________________________________|_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________|______________________|

    
.+:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::/
.//`+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++// s
-+/.h+..................................-os s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h/                                   ss s
-+/.h+                                   ss s
-++-yo////////////////////////////////////y`s
-+o-:--------------------------::::-:://:---s
-+/                            :-.: +:oo-   s
-+/```````````````````````````````````:-````s
./o//////////+o:::::::::::::::::s+/////////::
``://////////+s:::::::::::::::::y+/////////:.
  s                        .::::/osso::::. .+
`.y                        +yyyyhNNNmyyyy+ .+
`:h:::::/+:::::::::::::+:///////////////////+--------------------
 .o                    s s::::::::::::s.+ - +
-/y     .o             s ::::::::::::oss+::.+
`-y     .o             y            `+//:  .+
`.+/y/::/+:::::::::::::+:::::::::::::::::++:.
    `////////////////////////////////////:/.       


    

Structures and logic can serve as artistic material. However, not their visually perceptible form, as expressed in abstract painting, but their invisible and abstract essence in itself. The structure and logic as such can be experienced through art.

A system consists of boundaries. They are like contours, without which the delimited and categorized states would not be perceptible. Digital information is nothing but an indeterminable sea of ones and zeros. Only the systems structures makes it possible to give meaning to the bits.

Somewhat more generally phrased, a system is the inherent desire of human beings to search for artificial and natural patterns, orders and connections and to never finally find them in a meaningless universe, because everything is constantly changing.

This leads to a single concluson:

Where there are boundaries, action can be taken against them.

                   __      ___  ___  __             
 /\  |    |       |__) \ /  |  |__  /__`            
/~~\ |___ |___    |__)  |   |  |___ .__/            
                                                    
      __   ___     __   __   ___      ___  ___  __  
 /\  |__) |__     /  ` |__) |__   /\   |  |__  |  \ 
/~~\ |  \ |___    \__, |  \ |___ /~~\  |  |___ |__/ 
                                                    
 ___  __                                            
|__  /  \ |  |  /\  |                               
|___ \__X \__/ /~~\ |___  


Let's dive into the ocean of bytes. Since the binary system is difficult for humans to read and therefore not necessarily suitable for direct interaction, an encoding is needed that makes it possible to better represent binary numbers.
For this purpose, eight bits are combined into one byte and converted into the hexadecimal notation. The hexadecimal system makes it possible to translate a long and confusing series of bits (00110000) into a shorter representable number (30).

To the numbers 0 to 9 from the decimal system the letters A to F are added (0123456789ABCDEF). This results in 16 possible numbers and therefore perfectly complements the dual binary system to represent a byte. A byte with 255 possible values can be represented with the numbers 00 to FF. Hexadecimal 00 is 0000 0000 in bits and hexadecimal FF is 1111 1111. For example, a part of a binary file would look like this:

68 61 63 6b 69 6e 67 2e 61 72 74

Some bytes within a certain value range can be converted again into another state, namely into printable characters, for example letters. The row of bytes shown here would result in the string hacking.art if converted.
This translation of bytes into letters is only possible because it was agreed upon by means of the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). The standard defines which letters should be represented by which bits. But in the end it's just a table where we can find the corresponding hexadecimal values.

 
      __   __     
 /\  /__` /  ` | |      
/~~\ .__/ \__, | |      
                        
___       __        ___ 
 |   /\  |__) |    |__  
 |  /~~\ |__) |___ |___


Oct   Dec   Hex   Char                        Oct   Dec   Hex   Char
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
000   0     00    NUL '\0' (null character)   100   64    40    @
001   1     01    SOH (start of heading)      101   65    41    A
002   2     02    STX (start of text)         102   66    42    B
003   3     03    ETX (end of text)           103   67    43    C
004   4     04    EOT (end of transmission)   104   68    44    D
005   5     05    ENQ (enquiry)               105   69    45    E
006   6     06    ACK (acknowledge)           106   70    46    F
007   7     07    BEL '\a' (bell)             107   71    47    G
010   8     08    BS  '\b' (backspace)        110   72    48    H
011   9     09    HT  '\t' (horizontal tab)   111   73    49    I
012   10    0A    LF  '\n' (new line)         112   74    4A    J
013   11    0B    VT  '\v' (vertical tab)     113   75    4B    K
014   12    0C    FF  '\f' (form feed)        114   76    4C    L
015   13    0D    CR  '\r' (carriage ret)     115   77    4D    M
016   14    0E    SO  (shift out)             116   78    4E    N
017   15    0F    SI  (shift in)              117   79    4F    O
020   16    10    DLE (data link escape)      120   80    50    P
021   17    11    DC1 (device control 1)      121   81    51    Q
022   18    12    DC2 (device control 2)      122   82    52    R
023   19    13    DC3 (device control 3)      123   83    53    S
024   20    14    DC4 (device control 4)      124   84    54    T
025   21    15    NAK (negative ack.)         125   85    55    U
026   22    16    SYN (synchronous idle)      126   86    56    V
027   23    17    ETB (end of trans. blk)     127   87    57    W
030   24    18    CAN (cancel)                130   88    58    X
031   25    19    EM  (end of medium)         131   89    59    Y
032   26    1A    SUB (substitute)            132   90    5A    Z
033   27    1B    ESC (escape)                133   91    5B    [
034   28    1C    FS  (file separator)        134   92    5C    \  '\\'
035   29    1D    GS  (group separator)       135   93    5D    ]
036   30    1E    RS  (record separator)      136   94    5E    ^
037   31    1F    US  (unit separator)        137   95    5F    _
040   32    20    SPACE                       140   96    60    `
041   33    21    !                           141   97    61    a
042   34    22    "                           142   98    62    b
043   35    23    #                           143   99    63    c
044   36    24    $                           144   100   64    d
045   37    25    %                           145   101   65    e
046   38    26    &                           146   102   66    f
047   39    27    '                           147   103   67    g
050   40    28    (                           150   104   68    h
051   41    29    )                           151   105   69    i
052   42    2A    *                           152   106   6A    j
053   43    2B    +                           153   107   6B    k
054   44    2C    ,                           154   108   6C    l
055   45    2D    -                           155   109   6D    m
056   46    2E    .                           156   110   6E    n
057   47    2F    /                           157   111   6F    o
060   48    30    0                           160   112   70    p
061   49    31    1                           161   113   71    q
062   50    32    2                           162   114   72    r
063   51    33    3                           163   115   73    s
064   52    34    4                           164   116   74    t
065   53    35    5                           165   117   75    u
066   54    36    6                           166   118   76    v
067   55    37    7                           167   119   77    w
070   56    38    8                           170   120   78    x
071   57    39    9                           171   121   79    y
072   58    3A    :                           172   122   7A    z
073   59    3B    ;                           173   123   7B    {
074   60    3C    <                           174   124   7C    |
075   61    3D    =                           175   125   7D    }
076   62    3E    >                           176   126   7E    ~
077   63    3F    ?                           177   127   7F    DEL

As you can see it is divided into the columns Oct, Dec, Hex and Char. Char is the human readable letter and Hex is the number that is processed in the computer internally.
Furthermore there are a number of special characters (NUL, CR, LF) and not all bytes from 0 to 255 or 00 to FF are also an ASCII character. Therefore there are "non-printable" bytes.

HINT: In a Linux console, this ASCII table can be invoked with the command: man ascii

The small excursion to the hexadecimal system is only to understand the following part better. You only have to remember: In the computer everything consists of bytes, no matter in which notation they are read.



 ___         ___                                
|__  | |    |__                                 
|    | |___ |___                                
                                                
 __  ___  __        __  ___       __   ___  __  
/__`  |  |__) |  | /  `  |  |  | |__) |__  /__` 
.__/  |  |  \ \__/ \__,  |  \__/ |  \ |___ .__/ 


Number was the substance of all things is a 2012 project by Julian Oliver. On his website he describes it as follows:

Here the program calc.exe, the most popular digital calculator used worldwide, is steganographically embedded in a screenshot of itself. The image of the program contains the program.
https://julianoliver.com/output/number-was-the-substance-of-all-things.html

The tool he uses, steghide, is a steganography program that is capable of hiding data in various types of image and audio files. The main functionality is to hide text or files in the already existing bytes of an image or audio file. The whole thing happens with a random number generator and encryption. This makes it practically impossible to extract the hidden data without knowledge about the hidden file and without the password for the encryption. The bytes of the image file are also the bytes that make up the hidden file. It depends only on the program that reads the bytes. If the program knows the correct structures, one or the other file can be read from the bytes.

With steghide and the correct password, the information can be displayed:

"calc.jpeg":
  format: jpeg
  capacity: 157.1 KB
Enter passphrase:
  embedded file "calc.exe":
    size: 222.5 KB
    encrypted: rijndael-128, cbc
    compressed: yes

Therefore the question arises, what the file actually is. A picture of a program or the program itself?

The question cannot be answered definitively, because it basically depends only on the correct perspective. In the memory of the computer are the ones and zeros. Any further classification into files, programs, images and so on, is done by a system. This opens up not only fundamental problems of media theory, but also the question of what files actually are and how they are processed. A file has a beginning and an end, otherwise it could not be clicked on the desktop, for example. This means that there must be some kind of notion of it in the operating system. A structure that ensures that a file can be opened and thus processed in the right way.



      ___       __   ___  __   __  
|__| |__   /\  |  \ |__  |__) /__` 
|  | |___ /~~\ |__/ |___ |  \ .__/


This information about itself, usually at the beginning of a file, is called a header. They determine the structure of the file and provide information about how the file should be read and structured.

To examine the bytes of files, a hex editor can be used. This is a program which simply makes the contained bytes visible. Hex because the bytes are usually displayed in hexadecimal notation.

00000000  ff d8 ff e0 00 10 4a 46 49 46 00 01 02 01 00 77  |......JFIF.....w|

On the left is the position of the bytes and on the right the output in ASCII. The magic bytes of the JPG file are \xFF and \xD8. In a part of the header you can read the letters JFIF.

The beginning of a PDF file and a ZIP file can look like this:

00000000  25 50 44 46 2d 31 2e 36 0a 25 e2 e3 cf d3 0a 33  |%PDF-1.6.%.....3|

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

00000000  50 4b 03 04 14 00 00 00 08 00 86 88 7a 51 6e 94  |PK..........zQn.|


 __                  __          __  
/  ` |__|  /\  |\ | / _` | |\ | / _` 
\__, |  | /~~\ | \| \__> | | \| \__> 
                                     
 __      ___  ___  __                
|__) \ /  |  |__  /__`               
|__)  |   |  |___ .__/               


The header of a Windows bitmap image file (.bmp) is usually 54 bytes long. This is followed by another block of information about the file and then the actual image data. The pixel values are written to the file one after the other without compression, depending on the color channel. A 5x5 pixel white BMP file looks like this in the Hex Editor:

bitmap file in a hex editor

5x5 pixel white BMP file in hexeditor

The hexadecimal values FF FF FF show that the pixels are all white. If the values are changed, a new image can be created. In the hex editor the bytes can be easily rewritten. For example, instead of FF, AC or AB can be written. The originally white pixels are now processed as pixels with the corresponding color value, which is calculated from the new bytes.

edited bitmap file in a hex editor

Edited bytes in hexeditor

The changed values are marked here in orange. The structure of the content has been changed, but the header, which describes the structure of the file, has not. It must not be changed in this case, otherwise no image program would still recognize the file as a bitmap image. With the correct header, however, a display program recognizes that it is a bitmap file and goes through the bytes in the contents in order.

The result of the changed formerly white pixels looks very colorful in this case:

result of editing at byte level

So the program doesn't seem to care what values the pixels have, they are simply read, processed and displayed in order. The main thing is that they fit into the structure that is to be processed.

Editing the bytes in image files can create interesting glitches. This is because the previous structures are ignored. However, the system processes according to old patterns and so it seems that the elements have "slipped" and are no longer placed correctly...



 __         ___  __       
/ _` |    |  |  /  ` |__| 
\__> |___ |  |  \__, |  |


A glitch, in the context of digital signals, is a distortion that, among other things, causes artifacts to form in images or videos. These can be colorful or differently colored boxes and patterns that often make the viewer aware of how fragile and unreliable the digital data and transmissions are. Glitch art can therefore also be understood as a kind of media critique. Apart from that, deliberately staged and artistically provoked glitches offer a very unique aesthetic.

Applied directly onto the architecture of the building, the glitch misaligns the elements of the façade, bringing disturbance to an otherwise settled structure.
https://wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.bitnik.org/h3333333k/

In their work H3333333K from 2015, the !Mediengruppe Bitnik transferred the phenomenon of glitch to the facade of the House of Electronic Arts in Basel. On the website of their project, they write that the glitch refers to current art production, which is about reflecting on its underlying technological and social conditions. It also alludes to the intrusion of chance, temporality, and playfulness caused by faulty data transmissions. The glitch, normally a very short-lived digital phenomenon, is here transported into a long-term work of art, set in stone, so to speak.

Picture from !Mediengruppe Bitnik

H3333333K !Mediengruppe Bitnik
 __   __       __  ___  __  
/  ` |__) \ / |__)  |  /  \ 
\__, |  \  |  |     |  \__/ 
                            
      __  ___               
 /\  |__)  |                
/~~\ |  \  |      


Recently, we have been hearing more and more about so-called crypto art in the art scene. This refers to the possibility of verifying the authorship of digital artworks by means of blockchain technology. In this way, digital works of art are supposed to gain a new market value. The word crypto is derived from cryptocurrency. However, the word crypto has another meaning and can also stand for cryptography, i.e. encryption.

Encryption ensures the confidentiality of data. This is usually done by encrypting a file with a password. Of course, a password that is easy to guess does not provide reliable protection. But cryptographic algorithms can also have weaknesses on their own.

In many cases, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is used to encrypt data. This encryption method in turn has various operation modes. One of these is the Electronic Code Block Mode (ECB). In this mode, the bytes of the file to be encrypted are divided into blocks of equal size, which are then encrypted with the key. This means that the same blocks are encrypted in the same way even after encryption. Thus, despite encryption, structures can become visible to a certain degree that allow conclusions to be drawn about the original data. This is also the reason why this mode is generally regarded as insecure and is not recommended.

The weaknesses of the ECB mode combined with the just shown properties of the BMP files can create but visually interesting glitches. For this only the original header of the BMP file must not be encrypted. The rest of the encrypted image file is processed by the correct BMP header as pixel values, although it is actually the encrypted bytes. The structures are recognizable because the AES-ECB algorithm turns the same colored areas into the same encryption blocks .

Here is the bash script for a crypto artwork that is not baked into the resource-wasting blockchain and can be copied as you like. It's name is: Rembrand in AES-ECB-128. Also check out this for more Crypto-Art

wget https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/↵
Johannes_Wtenbogaert_by_Rembrandt_van_Rijn.jpg -O rem.jpg 
convert rem.jpg -quality 10 t1 && convert -resize 30% t1 t2
convert t2 t3
openssl enc -aes-128-ecb -e -in t3 -out enc -K 00000000
head -c 54 rem.bmp > header
dd if=enc of=bytes skip=54
cat header bytes >> rembrand-ecb128.bmp
rm header bytes enc t1 t2 t3
Rembrand in AES-ECB-128

Rembrand in AES-ECB-128
 ___                               
|__  |  | |\ | |__/ \ /            
|    \__/ | \| |  \  |             
                                   
 ___         ___                   
|__  | |    |__                    
|    | |___ |___                   
                                   
 ___  __   __             ___  __  
|__  /  \ |__)  |\/|  /\   |  /__` 
|    \__/ |  \  |  | /~~\  |  .__/ 

First, you must realize that a file has no intrinsic meaning. The meaning of a file - its type, its validity,its contents - can be different for each parser or interpreter.
https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/pocorgtfo07.pdf

Ange Albertini takes the game with file formats and their headers and byte structures to the extreme. He also calls his byte arrangements schizophrenic files, since they are read differently by different parsers and thus one and the same file is interpreted as different files. Whereas the correct term for a so-called multiple personality would actually be dissociative identity disorder. The illness schizophrenia is often misunderstood and wrongly associated with the idea of multiple personalities. Medically, however, schizophrenia rather describes a kind of episodic, paranoid delusional state.

Programs that unpack ZIP archives, for example, are usually written in such a way that they do not care where the ZIP headers are located. They simply go through the file byte by byte until the correct bytes are found. This leads to the possibility of writing a zip file inside a JPG file. The program displaying the image reads from the beginning of the file, which correctly contains a JPG header, to the place specified in the structure as the end of the JPG image, and does not notice that there is still a ZIP file hidden right behind it. On the screen the image is displayed normally. Nevertheless, the file can also be unpacked as a ZIP. Thus, under the guise of a supposedly harmless JPG file, additional files can be hidden in the ZIP archive.

Also some PDF readers are quite flexible about this and allow the PDF headers to appear somewhere in the first 1024 bytes of the file. What precedes this can therefore be used for other file headers, for example a ZIP file. This means that a file can be a PDF and a Zip file at the same time, depending on which program reads it and which headers it looks for.

The following image shows nested headers of a ZIP file and a PDF file. The header of the PDF file is written into a header field of the ZIP file that is not important for processing.

Rembrand in AES-ECB-128

Rembrand in AES-ECB-128

 __      ___  ___               __                           
|__) \ /  |  |__     |  |  /\  /__`                          
|__)  |   |  |___    |/\| /~~\ .__/                          
                                                             
___       ___     __        __   __  ___            __   ___ 
 |  |__| |__     /__` |  | |__) /__`  |   /\  |\ | /  ` |__  
 |  |  | |___    .__/ \__/ |__) .__/  |  /~~\ | \| \__, |___ 
                                                             
 __   ___                      ___              __   __      
/  \ |__      /\  |    |        |  |__| | |\ | / _` /__`     
\__/ |       /~~\ |___ |___     |  |  | | | \| \__> .__/     


Now, finally, all these techniques are to be combined once again for this part and, at the same time, reference is to be made to the project by Julian Oliver mentioned at the beginning. The following is to be understood as a not quite seriously meant, tongue-in-cheek homage to Number was the substance of all Things, but without the calculator, because it is to be saved for this work.

Below you can download an animated GIF file. This file is a screenshot of Julian Oliver's Number was the substance of all things project description on his website. By manipulating the bytes, a glitch aesthetic was created. The file is also an encrypted ZIP archive and can be decrypted with the password "Byte was the substance of all things." The ZIP archive contains a PDF file on which the Critical Enigineering Manifesto can be read. This file is also a JPEG image file with the Twitter profile picture of Julian Oliver himself.

    calc.gif
        |
        └── archive.zip
                    |
                    └── manifesto.pdf
                                |
                                └── julian.jpg
    



calc.gif a file with multiple personalities