Materials related to the fruit-fly gene that provided the raw feed (the “ACGT” DNA sequences) for the body text in Agrippa (a book of the dead)

Other archival materials related to the creation, publication, and reception of Agrippa (a book of the dead)

Documents, code, analysis of the code, and an emulation related to the functioning of the Mac diskette containing William Gibson’s poem in Agrippa. The diskette contained a custom-built set of programs that decrypted a pre-encrypted copy of the poem, rendered it as black text on white background scrolling up the screen at an unstoppable pace, and then created the illusion of re-encrypting the poem and making it “disappear” forever after it had been seen once. (In reality, the “Cracking the Agrippa Code” contest showed in 2012, there was no encryption program on the disk. Instead, the decrypted text was left behind in computer memory, while a simple cipher substitution generated through a reuse of the decryption routine created the appearance of reencryption on the screen.  A brute-force algorithm initiated at the start of running the disk also destroyed the disk’s stored routines by overwriting them with the alphabetic ACGT letters of faux-DNA code.) In the documents related to the creation of the code in 1992, the hired programmer’s name and signature have been blacked out due to his wish (according to Agrippa’s publisher) to remain anonymous.

Materials related to “Agrippa – The Transmission” (Dec. 9, 1992), which was originally planned as a multi-location “fibre optic and modem line” simulcast of live readings and images of the scrolling text of William Gibson’s poem. Not all the planned sites, events, and technologies of the “Transmission” actually occurred; and some sites, such as the Americas Society in New York City, featured only a local screening of Gibson’s poem.

Early anticipation and discussion of Agrippa on the New York City-based ECHO BBS.

Press releases for the publication and exhibition of Agrippa (a book of the dead).

Letters related to the design, publication, and exhibition of Agrippa (a book of the dead)

Exhibition announcements, catalog material, and other documents related to showings of Agrippa. See also “The Transmission”

Biographies or writings that profile the creators of Agrippa.

Image and video Resources relating to Agrippa or its creators.