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
mail[at]kraft.studio
Egor Kraft – artist-researcher, founder
Anna Kraft – researcher, director
Content Aware Studies, 2017-2025
The New Color, 2011-2018
1 & ∞ ⑁ One & Infinite Chairs, 2023
Hashd0x. Proof of War, 2022
Decentralised Embargo, 2022
Ais Kiss, 2017
Chinese Ink, 2018
PropaGAN, 2022
URL Stone, 2015
The Link, 2015
Twelve Nodes, 2019
Scatterchive
I Print, Therefore I Am, 2014
Kickback, 2014
Unfolding, 2011
The Moment, The Past, 2014
Site Index