Misting Miner

2017 - Installation (Installation)

24 x 24 x 24 inches

Urban Fauna Lab


Misting Miner is a vapor sculpture by Alexey Buldakov from the Urban Fauna Lab collective that gives material form to the invisible phenomenon of mining cryptocurrency. The work is comprised of a water cooling system attached to technology that continuously mines cryptocurrency, and in the process also generates an extraordinary amount of heat. As a latent and untapped source of energy, the artist harnesses the heat and reveals its transformative potential by turning it into fog through the water cooling system, which he then reroutes to follow a cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Unlike banks and other financial institutions, digital currencies such as Ethereum — the type used by the Miner — rely on encryption techniques to generate ‘coins,’ which are then bought and sold. For Buldakov, these new systems of generating value exist much like a virus, replicating their genetic codes by hashing long mathematical equations which populate servers producing more and more excess heat around the world. As bitcoin ATMs slowly roll out across San Francisco, the Misting Miner reveals the unseen impact of online economies and cyber-punk utopias through the alchemical process of mining digital gold.


Urban Fauna Laboratory is a collective founded by Russian artists Alexey Buldakov and Anastasia Potemkina in 2011. Conceived of as a long-term research project, several of their initiatives have studied the relationships—parasitic, symbiotic, mutual adaptation—between the thousands of species that populate urban environments around us. Whether focusing on crows, sparrows, pigeons, rats or stray cats, the collective explores the negotiations between biological systems and the social, cultural and ontological relationships they have to our own history. Described by the artists as “the experimental space of new biopolitical utopia,” their research addresses the ecological impact we have as species as well as the instability of the parasitic urban fauna that has somehow adapted to exist between nature and the built world.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Apuntes para panorama Catatumbo
© » KADIST

Nohemí Pérez

2016

A rich and isolated region, El Catatumbo is located near the border with Venezuela...

Sea Painting, Dunwich, September
© » KADIST

Jessica Warboys

2013

The ongoing “Sea Paintings” series is central to the practice of Jessica Warboys...

Zemlya (The Soil) (Our Grandmothers’ Gardens series)
© » KADIST

Olga Grotova

2022

Our Grandmothers’ Gardens by Olga Grotova is based on the history of Soviet allotment gardens, which were small plots of land distributed amongst the families of factory workers to compensate for poor food supply in a country that was over-producing weapons...

Turner Prize Winner Jesse Darling Claims the Spotlight
© » ART CENTRON

Turner Prize Winner Jesse Darling Claims the Spotlight - Artcentron Home » Turner Prize Winner Jesse Darling Claims the Spotlight ART Dec 15, 2023 Ξ Leave a comment Turner Prize Winner Jesse Darling Claims the Spotlight posted by ARTCENTRON Jesse Darling, Turner Prize Winner with Delirious at Towner Easbourne...

Two biennials in the Americas
© » KADIST

Kadist hosts a conversation about the evolution of two biennials in the Americas, with Dominic Willsdon, curatorial fellow for the 9th Bienal do Mercosul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Candice Hopkins, co-curator of SITElines , Santa Fe, New Mexico (formerly Site Santa Fe Biennial)...

Collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos on His Decision to Donate His Collection to Four Museums - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

A distinguished collector considers how best to present his holdings to new eyes—and to support existing museums in the process...

Laurent Le Deunff — Easter Eggs
© » SLASH PARIS

Laurent Le Deunff — Easter Eggs — Semiose Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Laurent Le Deunff — Easter Eggs — Semiose Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Laurent Le Deunff — Easter Eggs Exhibition Drawing, sculpture, mixed media Laurent Le Deunff, vue de l’exposition Easter Eggs, galerie Semiose, Paris Courtesy of the artist & Semiose, Paris — Photo : DR Laurent Le Deunff Easter Eggs Ends in 19 days: November 18 → December 30, 2023 The sculptures featured in the exhibition Easter Eggs are totem-like forms, made up of a combination of unexpected objects, both natural and cultural, that the artist has put together with a great sense of freedom...

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (17 – 23 December 2018)
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (17 - 23 December 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Weekly To Do December 17, 2018 Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali and Solofrom 17-23 December 2018 The year is coming to a close but there are still a few exciting art events that might brighten your holiday season...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Caetano de Almeida

2013

Caetano de Almeida’s abstract compositions in acrylic use delicately-rendered swirls of overlapping, colorful lines...

New Bedford Whaling Museum Restores Rare Panorama Painting
© » HYPERALLERGIC

New Bedford Whaling Museum Restores Rare Panorama Painting Skip to content Conservation efforts to restore Charles Sidney Raleigh’s “Panorama of a Whaling Voyage” (1878–80) This December, the New Bedford Whaling Museum revealed the groundbreaking restoration of one panel from Charles Sidney Raleigh’s “Panorama of a Whaling Voyage” (1878–80)...

Untitled (Given a wall, what's happening behind it?)
© » KADIST

Cristóbal Lehyt

2016

Cristóbal Lehyt has conducted thorough research on the historical and cultural complexity of the northern region of Chile where the Atacama Desert is located...

Her Discrepancies with Oaxacan textile (2)
© » KADIST

Leonor Antunes

2018

Discrepancies with Oaxacan Textile II by Leonor Antunes is a hanging sculpture composed of three elements made of brass...

Donde empieza el cuerpo y acaba la tierra
© » KADIST

El programa presenta siete piezas audiovisuales realizadas por artistas quienes ponen de relieve la relación de los seres humanos con el entorno natural y la tierra...

Collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo to Turn Venetian Island into Arts Space
© » ARTNEWS

Collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo to Take Over Venice Island – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All April 25, 2022 3:06pm The Isola di San Giacomo...

Plan to Restore Ancient Pyramid with Granite Provokes Criticism
© » ART & OBJECT

Plan to Restore Pyramid in Granite Draws Criticism | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

2012.11.4 Takata-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

‘Hold Me Now” explores the urgency of care-politics, healing and togetherness.
© » FAD MAGAZINE

'Hold Me Now" explores the urgency of care-politics, healing and togetherness...