Bitcoin is surely taking over the world and it is easy to know it once a museum decides to buy an artwork by paying with bitcoin. In what happens to be the first case, the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK) has bought a work of art titled ‘Event Listeners (2015)’ from a Dutch artist Harm van den Dorpel by paying with bitcoins.
‘Event Listeners is a limited edition screensaver that will be displayed at the upcoming “24/7 – The Human Condition” at the MAK Design Lab from June 11 to October 4, 2015 as part of the Vienna Biennale 2015: Ideas for Change. Vienna Biennale 2015 is first of the kind event organized by MAK in association with University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architekturzentrum Wien and departure – the creative unit of the Vienna Business Agency and Austrian Institute of Technology.
The Vienna Biennale 2015 brings together art, design and architecture to promote creative ideas that can change the world. The artwork was created originally created for a panel – “MAK NITE Lab Digital Superposition – The File as an Object” held last month. The “Event Listeners” has been authentication cryptographically using blockchain, determining attribution of the artwork.
In another case, Random Darknet Shopper, an automated online shopping bot designed as part of an artwork by !Mediengruppe Bitnik got into trouble with Swiss law authorities after it bought and sent ecstasy. The bot was designed to randomly buy stuff valuing less than $100 from the deep web at weekly intervals. The items bought by the bot were put on display at Kunst Halle St Gallen. It was confiscated by the authorities after the art group put ecstasy procured through Random Darknet Shopper on display. It was released earlier this month.
READ MORE: The Adventures of Random Darknet Shopper
Bitcoin is gradually being accepted around the world. Few countries are spearheading in creating and framing regulations for the use of bitcoin. Also among the firsts, the Starbucks chain in Hong Kong started to accept bitcoins and there are many more who will soon follow suit.
