WHAT: The CyberArts 2024 Exhibit, funded by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI), will launch its grand opening. Virginia researchers from higher education institutions and artists are shaking up the way we see cybersecurity in a new art exhibition, showing how our personal information, images, emotions, and more can be used against us or to create connections. 

“The CyberArts Exhibit offers an engaging take on a serious topic,” said Luiz DaSilva, CCI executive director and the Bradley Professor of Cybersecurity at Virginia Tech. “Virginia artists and researchers created an array of insightful projects, which I hope will leave people better informed and inspire future cybersecurity professionals.”

This will be a unique opportunity to engage with the creators of the exhibits about their projects. The exhibit’s opening reception will be held on Oct. 18 from 6-8 p.m. Registration is required.

WHEN: Media are invited for an early preview of the exhibit on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024 from Noon – 2 p.m. Demos will be offered and researchers will be available onsite for interviews.

WHERE: Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA

WHO:   

John Delaney, Managing Director, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Ben Knapp, Executive Director, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology 

Researchers and creators of the exhibits

Media RSVP: Media should RSVP for the early preview and/or the opening reception to Michele McDonald at mmcdonald@vt.edu or 703-201-3454 by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 17.

BACKGROUND ON PROJECTS: 

  • Designing Next-Gen Security Warnings to Mitigate Social Media Misinformation from James Madison University wants to prevent us from skipping cybersecurity alerts. The team is developing new warning designs, in this case specifically for misinformation alerts on social media, incorporating brainwave data to make sure the warnings have your attention.  

  • Hidden Within from Virginia Tech interprets steganography, which can be used in a cyberattack and involves hiding a message by embedding it within a digital picture or music. The Hidden Within team created a multimedia art installation featuring Dancer Davian Robinson and the Gregory Guard. 

  • SentimentVoice: Integrating Emotion AI and VR in Performing Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University flips the script on emotion-tracking artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which analyzes emotions based on facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Our emotions can be used for commercial purposes or surveillance, including creating monitored environments. Instead, this project uses virtual reality and emotion-tracking technology to cultivate empathy and connections based on authentic stories from immigrants in the Richmond community. 

  • Steal Your Face — Image Recognition of People Captured and Sold Without Their Knowledge from Blue Ridge Community College mirrors technology used by retail stores, law enforcement, and various organizations to track people, prompting us to consider how privacy, consent, and bias are reflected in this project and how you might be tracked. This exhibit is part of a larger CCI-funded project by Blue Ridge Community College, Cyber Insecurity: Exploring Vulnerabilities of Artificial Intelligence Through Visual Art.

  • UNDELETED from George Mason University will make you think twice about not deleting everything from your smart device before selling it. All those photos, texts, voicemails, and other personal information could end up in the wrong hands or in an art installation. 

  • Unveiling Invisible Sight from Old Dominion University uses AI, a camera, and a fun cyberpunk avatar of you to show how something as simple as a brightly colored piece of paper can make you disappear, creating a cybersecurity risk. 

  • The CyberArts Program also funded the interactive theatre performance “This Is Not a Scam!!” based on victim interviews that discuss scams and the strategies to counter them. It was performed on Blacksburg campus and at other locations in the New River Valley.

The Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Virginia Tech provided guidance for the CyberArts exhibit and research program.

Contact:

Tags

Share this story