Modern cryptography can seem daunting, but once you get into it there is a lot of beauty to be found. One example is the Diffie-Hellman exhange, a way of securely generating a shared secret number (such as a cryptographic key) while under surveillance.In order to have people experience this mathematical wonder, and give them a little insight into a proces that is used all over the web, I decided to sell French Fries with a twist.
The video below formed the inspiration for this installation. It explains how the Diffie-Hellman exchange works by mixing paint:
Crypto Fries works the same, but lets people mix mayonaise instead of paint. When three people wanted french fries the game could begin: the two outer people tried to create a secret colour of mayonaise, while showing the eavesdropper in the middle which colour they were exchanging. If all went well, the eavesdropper would have a different colour mayonaise than the two people who were creating their shared secret colour.
Yami Ichi
This all took place at the Yami Ichi market, a festival challenged artists to take concepts form the virtual online world and turn them into physical products and experiences. All the money made form selling french fries was used to buy art from other participants.
Colofon
Thanks to the Brakke Grond restaurant for baking the french fries. Photos by Sebastiaan ter Burg.
