2022.
EnBW (client of Gazprom Germania) electricity contract, rack case, open frame server including four Nvidia 3090 GPUs, custom water loop, Ethereum Blockchain.
Hashterms
A custom-built supercomputer installed in a gallery in Berlin is supplied with energy from a German provider known as the largest importer of Russian gas, which is burned to create electricity. The computer runs the Ethereum blockchain by mining currency directly into the official address of the Ukrainian state. Consequently, Russian gas is converted directly into humanitarian aid for the people of the invaded state. It comments on the hypocrisy of the German economy in relation to its politics, as it simultaneously finances both sides of the armed conflict.
The gallery in Berlin, where the installation was initially exhibited in May 2022, was requested by the artist to sign an electricity supply contract with the energy provider EnBW. The company is known for being a client of Gazprom Germania, a daughter company of a major Russian state-owned multinational energy corporation ranked as the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world. EnBW generates electricity for the German market by burning Russian fossil fuels. This electricity is then supplied to a powerful computing server set up by the artist as part of his exhibition in the Berlin-based gallery. Custom-assembled hardware components perform the energy-consuming algorithmic process of validating blocks on the Ethereum blockchain, a so-called cryptocurrency mining operation, throughout the entire duration of the exhibition.
This network participation is rewarded with Ethereum tokens, tradable at their market price. While the machine is mining, these tokens are being transferred to the official Ethereum wallet address for donations to the government of Ukraine, an invaded country at war. Via this chain of events, the installation suggests a strategic diversion at perhaps the largest issue within the European economies today - dependence on Russian fossil fuels as an infrastructural necessity despite the apparent misalliance with Russian outward politics, its agenda regarding Ukraine's political inclination towards Europe, and the resulting atrocious armed conflict.
Lies, Half-Truths & Propaganda [The Bad, the Worse, and the Worst], alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
Tweet with the official cryptocurrency wallet of the Ukrainian State
2022.
EnBW (client of Gazprom Germania) electricity contract, rack case, open frame server including four Nvidia 3090 GPUs, custom water loop, Ethereum Blockchain.
Hashterms
A custom-built supercomputer installed in a gallery in Berlin is supplied with energy from a German provider known as the largest importer of Russian gas, which is burned to create electricity. The computer runs the Ethereum blockchain by mining currency directly into the official address of the Ukrainian state. Consequently, Russian gas is converted directly into humanitarian aid for the people of the invaded state. It comments on the hypocrisy of the German economy in relation to its politics, as it simultaneously finances both sides of the armed conflict.
The gallery in Berlin, where the installation was initially exhibited in May 2022, was requested by the artist to sign an electricity supply contract with the energy provider EnBW. The company is known for being a client of Gazprom Germania, a daughter company of a major Russian state-owned multinational energy corporation ranked as the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world. EnBW generates electricity for the German market by burning Russian fossil fuels. This electricity is then supplied to a powerful computing server set up by the artist as part of his exhibition in the Berlin-based gallery. Custom-assembled hardware components perform the energy-consuming algorithmic process of validating blocks on the Ethereum blockchain, a so-called cryptocurrency mining operation, throughout the entire duration of the exhibition.
This network participation is rewarded with Ethereum tokens, tradable at their market price. While the machine is mining, these tokens are being transferred to the official Ethereum wallet address for donations to the government of Ukraine, an invaded country at war. Via this chain of events, the installation suggests a strategic diversion at perhaps the largest issue within the European economies today - dependence on Russian fossil fuels as an infrastructural necessity despite the apparent misalliance with Russian outward politics, its agenda regarding Ukraine's political inclination towards Europe, and the resulting atrocious armed conflict.
Lies, Half-Truths & Propaganda [The Bad, the Worse, and the Worst], alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
'Decentralised Embargo' exhibited in alexanderlevy Gallery, Berlin, DEU, 2022.
Tweet with the official cryptocurrency wallet of the Ukrainian State
Tokyo, Mishuku, JPN
Vienna, Neubau, AUT
Egor Kraft – artist-researcher, founder
Anna Kraft – researcher, director
mail/at/kraft.studio
Tokyo, Mishuku, JPN
Vienna, Neubau, AUT
Egor Kraft – artist-researcher, founder
Anna Kraft – researcher, director
#ReverseArchaeology #SyntheticHistories #Cognitecture #AIsthetics #Engistemics
Initiated in 2017, ongoing.
Marble, polyamide, machine learning algorithms, custom software, original dataset, multichannel video installation.
A critical and technical exploration of the capacities of AI models to reconstruct missing fragments of objects from classical antiquity and generate synthetic historical documents carved in stone. This work questions the epistemological qualities of AI-accelerated historiography, akin to 'reverse archaeology'.
#Infodemics #Infollution #Knowlegistics #EngineeredTruth
Initiated in 2011, ongoing.
5-channel video installation; HD film; website: thenewcolor.net; book, edition of 50.
An online mystification concerning a parascientific breakthrough discovery of a never-before-seen colour. The digital myth took the form of a fictitious company's website, video adverts & mockumentary interviews to become a viral sensation attracting mass attention online.