What is it?
This imagined device purports to cure viruses in both humans and machines. In reality, it does nothing.
“MacAffy’s Anti-Viral Revigorator” is my response to quack medical devices: a fictional predecessor to a real-world antivirus software product.
There is an interesting dynamic in cybersecurity: those who make the “bad things” and those who make the “good things” are sometimes the same people at different stages of their careers. Youngsters might make a virus in their youth, only to become a professional security researcher. I feel that the software techniques of some commercial antivirus products may reflect these roots.
Computer viruses are definitely real, and antivirus software is real too. I don’t mean to suggest otherwise.
The core of this artwork is a found object, a Weston 603 light meter which was in very poor condition. I created its medallion, pamphlet, and labels, and aged it further with waxes, dyes, and paint.
