Jakub Nepraš: Scepter

Scepter, a Mixed Media Sculpture by Czech artist Jakub Nepraš revolving around the subject of Bitcoin – available online at UNPAINTED, the digital art platform.

It is the year 2018. It is difficult to find your position in a society where all working citizens are gradually replaced by intelligent systems. A temporary alternative to work is the mining or trading of cryptocurrency. But this is largely dominated by a few big players who use artificial-intelligence systems to do so. For ordinary enthusiasts who play the “global roulette of the planet”, this trading is like trying to predict the weather for many days ahead. Their intuition and estimation are subject to chaos, and it all changes into a natural element. But the secure Blockchain system, which runs all of that, despite all that unclearness, gives people hope for an interesting alternative and belief in “freedom and independence”, if the expected instability or financial crisis comes.

In honor of this phenomenon of “players” who do not create any real value, the artifact “Scepter” was created. This video object currently displays the fluctuating status of bitcoin against the US dollar. It is like a bizarre electric pole or crazy device by Nikola Tesla, and it also points to the problem of huge electricity consumption that is needed to ensure that the whole system can be quickly and safely verified.

Link for the artwork conception, preview, and documentation: