Malware isn’t meant to be entertaining, and yet, many of the viruses that sneak their way into our computers are really just malicious displays of extreme creativity. We’ve said it before: There’s a strange beauty to computer viruses (especially the old-school DOS variety). And their backstories are even better.
Bas van de Poel, a creative director living in Amsterdam, has long been fascinated by the nefarious subculture. “I’ve always been interested in the dark side of computing,” he says. “And I wondered how could I explore this area in a creative way?”
Van de Poel sent out a bunch of emails to his favorite illustrators with a proposal: Did any of them care to illustrate some of the most notorious viruses from the last few decades? They did, and the Computer Virus Catalog was born.
Twenty-three artists from around the world interpreted the viruses; some more literally than others. “I think a lot of them were inspired by the super interesting backstories,” says van de Poel. There’s the Melissa virus, a dirty little worm that spreads via an attached email document. In 1999, the virus (named after its creator’s favorite exotic dancer) cause enough damage to prompt Microsoft to shut down outgoing email for a stint. Saimon Chow, a Brooklyn illustrator, depicted the virus as a collage of stripper heels and abstract nods to the female form.
Then there’s the Selectronic DOS virus, which embeds itself in your computer’s memory and is activated on Friday the 13th. “Countdown to Extinction” would display, then you’d see an 8-bit grim reaper marching across your screen. Instead of illustrating the reaper himself, artist Mike Perry envisions what the virus might look like from the inside of the screen.
Van de Poel says this is just the beginning of the ongoing project. He has a few more virus illustrations in the works, and already has an idea of what he’d like to see. “The stoned virus,” he says, referring to the late 1980s virus that infects your computer before displaying “Your PC is now Stoned!” “It’s a super funny virus. And I’m from Amsterdam, so it’s my heritage.”
