Installation
variable dimensions
mixed media
Project highlights the colonial legacies of technocratic experimentation in South Caucasus. The immersive time-based installation unites an API software and a research publication.
Project highlights ideological extremism of cryptocurrency mining, colonial legacies of experimentation in the developing world and transboundary mediums of war through telling a story of indigenous communities that financially support themselves with cryptomining.
Located in south Caucasus and only populated with 3,8 million, Georgia became the second largest cryptocurrency mining country in a short time span due to unregulated energy laws, geo-political unrest and social polarization. Grey areas in laws and cheap electricity have attracted more foreign investors to take ownership of the energy generated by Georgian hydro power plants. Consequently, Georgia has been buying most of its electricity from long-time invader Russia.
Through investigation of the Georgian energy sector, it is evident that energy suppliers have only been visually presented as national while sustaining interests and energy security of imperial powers And while cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have been falsely advertised to financially help ‘forgotten’ nations (as stated in report “Bitcoin for Governments.”), it has only tricked people into committing to short-term small scale oligarchy and giving away their resources and land to the neo-colonial expansion.
Damaged socio-economic infrastructures turned the region of south Caucasus into a capitalist playground, on which westerners and indigenous communities got entangled through value extraction. Understanding Georgian cryptocurrency users enables them to map the systems that sustain obscurity in the Caucasus region.
Research connected stories, values and dreams of 30 cryptocurrency miners all across Georgia, mapping these stories with factual information to investigate the myths that circulate in the energy sector.
The installation depicts a time span of 6 hours of an average Georgian cryptocurrency miner through their perspective. Installation consists of 7 elements (bitcoin mining rig (hydraulic machine), table, chair, computer, framed picture, water tub, plug) that have been taken out of the research participants room‘s and modified to simulate the alchemical processes that take place in their spaces.
variable dimensions
mixed media
Project highlights the colonial legacies of technocratic experimentation in South Caucasus. The immersive time-based installation unites an API software and a research publication.
Project highlights ideological extremism of cryptocurrency mining, colonial legacies of experimentation in the developing world and transboundary mediums of war through telling a story of indigenous communities that financially support themselves with cryptomining.
Located in south Caucasus and only populated with 3,8 million, Georgia became the second largest cryptocurrency mining country in a short time span due to unregulated energy laws, geo-political unrest and social polarization. Grey areas in laws and cheap electricity have attracted more foreign investors to take ownership of the energy generated by Georgian hydro power plants. Consequently, Georgia has been buying most of its electricity from long-time invader Russia.
Through investigation of the Georgian energy sector, it is evident that energy suppliers have only been visually presented as national while sustaining interests and energy security of imperial powers And while cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have been falsely advertised to financially help ‘forgotten’ nations (as stated in report “Bitcoin for Governments.”), it has only tricked people into committing to short-term small scale oligarchy and giving away their resources and land to the neo-colonial expansion.
Damaged socio-economic infrastructures turned the region of south Caucasus into a capitalist playground, on which westerners and indigenous communities got entangled through value extraction. Understanding Georgian cryptocurrency users enables them to map the systems that sustain obscurity in the Caucasus region.
Research connected stories, values and dreams of 30 cryptocurrency miners all across Georgia, mapping these stories with factual information to investigate the myths that circulate in the energy sector.
The installation depicts a time span of 6 hours of an average Georgian cryptocurrency miner through their perspective. Installation consists of 7 elements (bitcoin mining rig (hydraulic machine), table, chair, computer, framed picture, water tub, plug) that have been taken out of the research participants room‘s and modified to simulate the alchemical processes that take place in their spaces.