This work in a form of a website is an iteration of Cryptoheaven – Letta Shtohryn’s artistic speculation about the digital afterlife of Gerald Cotten. The second chapter of this work, Before They Delete This, is the result of a collaboration between the artist and curator Kat Zavada. Our collaborative speculation will look at Cotten through a bespoke methodological framework inspired by conspiracy theories.
The research behind the work was expanded on during an online residency at Isthisit
in Aug 2019
Death is a rare phenomenon in the cryptocurrency world, although exit scams are not. Here, the corporeal event of bodily death suddenly clashed with – and superseded – the seeming immateriality (on the first glance) of the crypto world. The crypto-realm seem to function on a quasi-religious premise of belief in digital money – money that only exists when enough people assert and legitimates its realness via the blockchain.
This work looks at crypto heaven and crypto haven as places where “deceased” CEOs go. Gerald Cotten’s remarkable ability to be both alive and dead in the mind of the redditors transforms him into a Schrödinger’s quantum phenomenon. Leaving a space for speculation on whether Cotten can be found in the cloud of afterlife or in a safe haven with a new identity mixed in between digital nomads, whose life in the video consists of aimlessly filling their time with self care between crypto price jumps.
Scaffolding 180 cm x 5 pieces, four UV printed synthetic curtains 180 x 180 cm, silver fabric, chocolate (consumable) bitcoin, Video : single channel, 4K, 12 min
3/05 – 16/06 2019
Object, Objetc, Objecc
(group show with Liza Eurick and Katri Kempass) @Spazju Kreattiv (MT)