There Is No Perfect Spell没有完美的咒语
HEK, Basel | Co-presentation with We=Link, an online exhibition platform initiated by CAC, and virtual.hek.ch, a new digital exhibition and social space under the framework of Transformationsprojekt
2023.9.14 – 2023.12.31
Artist: 0xSalon, Cullen Miller & Gabriel Dunne, Ilja Karilampi, Lauren Huret and LI Hanwei
Curator: Milia Xin BI
With the support of Pro Helvetia Shanghai
The alienated crypto culture features certain occult overtones. From blockchain Evangelists to DAO Summoners, from Oracles, which are hybrid smart contracts that bridge and interoperate on-chain codes and off-chain infrastructures, to Sybil Attacks, which aim to gain the majority influence in the network by simultaneously operating multi-falsified identities on single nodes, thus further undermining the authority or power in reputable systems; even Satoshi Nakamoto, who published Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, is a mysterious being with a unknown identity. Tokens act as the social contract of spiritual identities in order to enforce native incentives and governance, while NFTs, as the new subzeitgeist totems, represent the spirit of crypto culture.
At the technical level, crypto technologies also lurk in the shadows of dark associations. The Internet and cryptographic technologies have gradually evolved from weapons of war to computer science, but in practice, they maintain the appearance of a varied "dark" form - complex code and obscure technical logic sealed behind friendly interfaces for which their purpose remains ambiguous. Has the popularity of encryption brought a wider sense of transparency and security to society, or has it merely created a greater divide, more ubiquitous surveillance, and a new class of monopoly? "As we shall see, more tech breeds more encryption, and with it, Mehr Dunkelheit," [1] as curator and art historian Nadim Samman states, the encrypted body is gloomy and treacherous, containing paradoxes, while preserving poetic aesthetic imaginary.
There Is No Perfect Spell is an exhibition that explores occult knowledge, transmuted ideologies, and the subzeitgeist of blockchain-related creation, emerging one's self in the darkness, entangled with ancient languages, mythological figures, rituals, symbols, and pixels, becoming the meta-spirit indwell in the Ether. Peering into the tenet of distributed technologies, what shall you scry from such a transparent yet cloudy orbuculum? A dream? A hope? Or a forever externalizing indifferent entropy engine? [2] Does it prophesy another enchanted revelry? Or a crypto winter all over again? Perhaps, there is no perfect spell. The problem created by blockchain, as dramatized by Bitcoin and as James Bridle mentioned, "is fundamentally inseparable from the political situation from which it emerged: the eternal battle between power structures and individual rights." [3] How can we imagine a fairer society for the wider population when programming, re-inventing, hacking, and rebooting are the privileges of only a small group of individuals? Does shared faith matter when more power is returned to the individual? Can we tolerate the collapse of the planet's ecology for the sake of an immaculate Bit-lief? Nevertheless, does the necessity for ecological balance even matter for people who can resist the encroachment of totalitarian politics on individual power through crypto/distributed technology? Sacrifices accompany the creation of a spell. Perhaps more important than asking what we desire from technology is to challenge ourselves deep within our hearts - what we can, or we are willing to, and what we can afford to sacrifice.
[1] N. Samman, Poetics of Encryption, Art and the Technocene, Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2023.
[2] W. Alsindi and D. Breitling, the expression is inspired by Wassim Alsindi's interview with Dustin Breitling, [Online]. Available: https://diffractionscollective.org/an-entropy-engine-forever-externalising-w-wassim-alsindi/.
[3] J. Bridle, "Introduction," in The White Paper, by S. Nakamoto, with a guide by J.K. Brekke,, Ignota, 2019, p. xxii.
HEK 巴塞尔电子艺术中心 | We=Link与virtual.hek.ch联合呈现
2023.9.14 – 2023.11.1
艺术家：0xSalon，库伦·米勒&盖布里埃尔·邓恩（Cullen Miller & Gabriel Dunne），劳伦·胡雷特（Lauren Huret），伊利亚·卡里兰皮（Ilja Karilampi），李汉威
策展人：毕昕
该项目由瑞士文化基金会上海办公室支持
异化的加密文化带有特定的神秘学意味。从区块链布道者（blockchain Evangelists）到DAO召唤师（DAO Summoners）；从串联并协同操作于链上代码到链下基础设施之间的混合智能合约——神谕机（Oracles），到通过在单个节点上同时运行多重伪造身份，从而造成51%投票的系统安全威胁——女巫攻击（Sybil Attacks）；甚至连发布了《比特币：一种点对点的电子货币系统》的中本聪也是身份不明的神秘存在。代币作为精神身份的社会契约实施着原生的激励与治理，而NFT则作为新的次时代精神图腾凝聚着加密文化的意志。
论技术层面而言，加密科技亦潜伏在冥暗关联的阴影里。尽管随着历史演进，互联网与密码学逐渐从战争武器进化为计算机科学，但在实践中，它们依然以一种“黑暗”的形式呈现——复杂的代码与晦涩的技术逻辑被封印在友好的交互界面之下，其目的也保持暧昧不明。加密技术普及的结果是更广泛的安全性与透明性，亦或者仅仅创造了更大的分歧、愈发无处不在的监控，以及一种全新的垄断？“正如我们所看到的，更多的技术孕育了更多的加密形式，而在其中，更多深渊。” [1] 如策展人与美术史学家纳迪姆·萨曼（Nadim Samman）所言，加密的对象阴郁而诡谲，充满悖论，但同时又维护了诗意的审美想象。
展览“没有完美的咒语”探索了区块链相关创作中的隐秘知识、嬗变的意识形态与次时代精神；沉浸在晦暗中，与古老的语言、神话人物、仪式、符号以及像素缠绕，成为居住在以太的元灵。窥探分布式技术的信条，你将在这透明却又浑浊的水晶球中占卜到什么？是梦想，或希望？还是一个不断在外化的、冷漠的熵引擎？ [2]它预示着附魔般狂欢的卷土重来？还是重蹈覆辙的加密寒冬？或许，不存在完美的咒语。恰如作者詹姆斯·布来多尔（James Bridle）所提及的那样，“区块链所制造的问题，也正如比特币所呈现的戏剧性，从根本上说，都与权力结构与个人权利之间的永恒斗争密不可分。” [3]当编程、再发明、骇入与重启成为少数人的特权时，我们如何想象一个对于大多人来说更加公平的社会？我们是否能够为了完美无瑕的比特信念而容忍地球生态的崩溃？然而，对于那些能够通过加密及分布式技术抵抗极权对于个人权力侵蚀的人来说，生态平衡又是否迫在眉睫？咒语的创造伴随着牺牲，或许比起许愿从技术中有所获得，我们更需要的是要扪心自问：什么是我们能够，我们愿意，以及我们承担得起的牺牲？
[1] N. Samman, Poetics of Encrption, Art and the Technocene, Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2023.
[2] W. Alsindi 和 D. Breitling, 该描述参考Alsindi与Breitling的对谈,. Available: https://diffractionscollective.org/an-entropy-engine-forever-externalising-w-wassim-alsindi/.
[3] J. Bridle, “Introduction,” 出处 The White Paper, by S. Nakamoto, with a guide by J.K. Brekke, London, Ignota, 2019, p. xxii.
