First Look: Net Evil Artwork Previews + Presale Details
Seven Deadly Sins reimagined for the digital age, opens August 26 on Feral File
Opening August 26, Feral File is thrilled to announce Net Evil, a group exhibition curated by Mackenzie Davenport. Seven artists take on the Seven Deadly Sins through the lens of the internet—a world wide web where temptation is just a click away.
This newsletter offers a first look at the exhibition: previews of each artwork, details on the presale and online collecting, plus information about our launch talk with programming partner Rhizome, which will coincide with the exhibition opening.
Ancient vices, networked present
Our last exhibition, Console Spirituality, explored how video games—their logics, aesthetics, and immersive worlds—shape identity and connection. Net Evil zooms out to consider the broader networked present, looking not at a single medium or genre but at the internet as a whole.
The Seven Deadly Sins, rooted in religious tradition, evolved over centuries as a way of naming and categorizing human temptation. Three decades into the internet era, the web has become our dominant arena for communication, learning, and expression. Yet beneath its immense utility run familiar undercurrents—vanity, manipulation, excess—echoing ancient vices across the digital sphere at scale.
Net Evil brings together seven artists to examine how these sins persist and mutate within digital culture.
Artwork previews
Lorna Mills, Diatriber (Wrath)
In Diatriber, Lorna Mills reworks found footage of weapons testing on ballistic gel dummies, meticulously sculpting each frame into her signature GIF style. Bursts of blood, gel, and fake bone explode across high-contrast backdrops, transforming violent demonstrations into frenetic digital collages. Described by the artist as a “giant temper tantrum,” the work pulls viewers into its chaotic spectacle of wrath. The series includes 7 GIFs, each released in an edition of 10, available to collect for 0.15 ETH each.
Dadabots, Phat Phonk (Gluttony)
For Phat Phonk, Dadabots has generated a 50-part mixtape in the hip-hop subgenre Phonk, marked by heavy bass and aggressive percussion. Though each fragment is only a short preview, the full tracks require massive hardware space—ranging from 89GB to 29TB—making the 25-minute mixtape nearly impossible to assemble. Delivered with a tongue-in-cheek Surgeon General warning, the work turns musical excess into a commentary on overindulgence and digital consumption. The series of 50 software works (HTML) will be available to collect at a price of 0.1 ETH each.
Steve Pikelny, Money Vortex (Greed)
In Money Vortex, generative visuals and ambient soundscapes inspired by YouTube abundance videos promise wealth through affirmation and repetition. Running as live code, the works loop endlessly, channeling hypnotic mantras like “I am open to infinite wealth” into infinite digital space. The result is a system where financial aspiration takes the form of generative ritual. The series of 50 software works (HTML) will be available to collect at a price of 0.15 ETH each.
Ann Hirsch, Phantom Obsessions (Lust)
In Phantom Obsessions, Ann Hirsch re-engages with her younger self through A(nn)i, an AI personality based on her at age twelve. A(nn)i directs her affections toward imaginary crushes—AI boys, girls, and non-human entities—expressed in zines, diary entries, and collages. Constrained by technical limits much like Hirsch’s own memory, these works explore desire as something both mediated and diminished by the systems that shape it. The series of 50 PNG works will be available to collect at a price of 0.03 ETH each.
Maya Man, Hard Copy (Envy)
In Hard Copy, each artwork is drawn from official court filings in the so-called “Sad Beige Lawsuit,” where one social media influencer accused another of replicating her online persona. The pages—electronically signed by the artist—juxtapose legal text with screenshots, websites, and hyperlinks, transforming bureaucratic documents into reflections on authorship, imitation, and identity in digital culture. The series of 70 PDF works will be available to collect at a price of 0.03 ETH each. Collectors can opt in to receive a hard copy (physical) of their work.
Damjanski, Napster 24 (Sloth)
In Napster 24, each artwork reflects a nap taken by Damjanski within a single 24-hour period, with data from a sleep tracker used to generate abstract visuals. While the imagery appears bright and fluid, it encodes the fractured rhythms of a sleep schedule shaped by internet use and remote work. The work embodies both the performance of rest and the disruptions that define contemporary digital life. The series of 24 PNG works will be available to collect at a price of 0.05 ETH each.
Shl0ms, VANITIES (Pride)
In VANITIES, celebrity mirror selfies are digitally reconstructed to remove the celebrity while restoring their surroundings with photorealistic fidelity, echoing Paul Pfeiffer’s erasure from spectacle. The resulting videos flicker the absent subject back into the frame in strobing sequences that encode their name, with duration determined by their Instagram following. The work transforms images once saturated with celebrity into reflections on banality, status, and what viewers project into the void. The series of 66 MP4 video works will be available to collect at a price of 0.15 ETH each.
Presale, opening, and online talk details
Collectors who would like to acquire a full exhibition set (all seven artworks for 0.66 ETH) are welcome to select and purchase their works during the promotional period.
If you’re interested in participating in the presale or want to learn more about the artworks, please email lauren@feralfile.com. Online collecting will open with the exhibition on Tuesday, August 26 at 16:00 UTC (12:00PM ET).
To mark the occasion, we’ll host an online conversation with curator Mackenzie Davenport and the artists, moderated by Michael Connor of Rhizome—our programming partner for this exhibition.
Set a reminder to view, collect, and join the conversation here.