DESCRIPTION

The Crypto Miner Car is a blockchain-based installation. Central to the work is a crypto mining rig with GPU units hacked to recover waste heat and fuel little electric cars, whilst cryptocurrency is being mined. The piece is an experimental work exploring the shifting nature of the digital economy in the light of the ecological and social crisis. The work presents a prototype for wealth redistribution that confronts today’s technological and environmental challenges with disruptive thoughts on an alternative vision for the use of energy.

The car, once status symbol of modernity, acts here as a visionary trigger probing possible visions of the future between reality and fiction. Ideas about modernity are shattered and technological challenges are approached in a playful and provocative manner. Visions of sustainable energy production and self-driving vehicles are brought together here in a disruptive scenario.

The Crypto Miner Car brings a car that moves towards a new, contemporary and disruptive form of mobility. Within the critical discourse on climate change, CO2 emissions and global warming, this work explores how the computational process and massive computing power involved in the mining process of cryptocurrencies can be deployed in the urban and social fabric, within the context of climate change.

Crypto Miner Car is supported by Innovatieve Partnerprojecten, Flanders. The artwork is produced by Larbitslab in partnership with Thomas More University of Applied Science Mechelen, Diabatix, EAVISE Research Group KU Leuven and GLUON Art & Research Platform.

With thanks to Koen Geyskens, Bert Moens, Kars Claeys and Frederik Vogeler from Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Lieven Vervecken from Diabatix, generative thermal design software and Toon Goedemé, Dries Hulens and Kristof Van Beeck from Eavise Research Group KU Leuven.