Artists

Sophie Kovel

Press release

The US state is constituted by both public and private gatherings. The most secure of these meeting spaces—intended for top secret information—are called SCIFs (Secure Compartmented Information Facilities).  Famous examples include the White House Situation Room (which contrary to its name, is actually a complex). But SCIFs are far more nuanced: they can be portable, modular, exist in embassies, and even near sites of combat. SCIFs are structures that require US government sanctioned assembly. Images of them are quite rarefied, with few notable exceptions.  SCIFs are a part of security infrastructure, and as such, are relatively unknowable.  From the limited public information that does exist, Demos considers the parts that make the whole.