Data Entry 2014

Directed by James Benning

Data Entry (2014) extends Benning’s interest in the complex cipher systems Kaczynski developed to encrypt his journals. The video focuses on the artist’s own hand entering two-digit numbers from a notepad into a computer, where they are decoded by a program written by Benning. The archival materials accompanying the work include the notepads Benning copied from, a dot-matrix printout of his input, and other documents related to the decoding process.