Baseball cap with hidden video camera, bought from a darknet market by the bot. Photographs: !mediengruppebitnik
For the past three months, an art exhibition in Switzerland has been displaying random items that were bought on the Darknet by an automated bot; most controversially, one of the items was a bag of ecstasy. According to the artist’s collective behind the piece, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, the artwork was seized by authorities under confusing circumstances last Monday. Via @DiggArt
More Info:wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.bitnik.org
About The Work
The Random Darknet Shopper is an automated online shopping bot which we provide with a budget of $100 in Bitcoins per week. Once a week the bot goes on shopping spree in the deep web where it randomly choses and purchases one item and has it mailed to us. The items are shown in the exhibition «The Darknet. From Memes to Onionland» at Kunst Halle St. Gallen. Each new object ads to a landscape of traded goods from the Darknet.
The Random Darknet Shopper is a live Mail Art piece, an exploration of the deep web via the goods traded there. It directly connects the Darknet with the art space (exhibition space). By randomizing our consumerism, we are guaranteed a wide selection of goods from the over 16’000 listed on Agora market place.
