Crypto NYC Hosts Jessica Angel
On Tuesday, July 17th Crypto NYC hosted Jessica Angel for our weekly lunch. Every Tuesday, Crypto NYC hosts a lunch where a member of the blockchain community gives an update on their project. Our lunches typically feature developers or founders who are working on innovative technology projects. Today’s lunch was unique as Angel is an artist who is working on a blockchain inspired art installation. Tuesday’s lunch featured over thirty attendees, including many from the art world in addition to regulars from the blockchain community.
Angel is a visual artist who is creating the Dogethereum Bridge Art Project, a physical representation of the Dogethereum bridge (see below). The project is sponsored by TrueBit, a platform and marketplace for scalable, off-chain computation.
Angel is a New York City-based artist whose work has focused on designing interior spaces. She has developed numerous large-scale works using mural painting, wallpapering and large-scale drawing. Angel’s previous work depicted immersive landscapes which explore the relationship between urbanism and computer design.
Angel was approached by Jason Teutsch, one of the founders of TrueBit, who had developed the Dogecoin to Ethereum bridge. Teutsch had seen one of Angel’s pieces and wanted to enlist her to build a visual representation of the technology he built.
TrueBit has built a scalable verification solution for blockchains. TrueBit used this technology to build a “bridge” between Dogecoin and Ethereum that allows Dogecoin holders to convert their coins into Ethereum without using an exchange. This will enable Dogecoin holders to utilize Dogecoins in Ethereum smart contracts. This technology could help to solve some the issues of scaling currently present with Ethereum.
The idea for the project was bold: the TrueBit team originally wanted an actual bridge built to represent their digital bridge. The original inspiration was the “Mobius Bridge,” a bridge that was inspired by a Mobius strip. A Mobius strip is a surface with one continuous side created by joining the ends of a rectangular strip after twisting the strip 180 degrees.
Eventually, Angel decided on using a structure based on the Klein Bottle, rather than a Mobius Strip, for her representation of the Dogethereum Bridge. Like a Mobius Strip, a Klein bottle has a single unified surface. The Dogethereum Bridge will measure 23 ft. high, 30 ft. wide, and 40 ft. long, with over five hundred and fifty square feet inside the installation.
The Klein Bottle is currently being fabricated in Vermont, and the pieces of the project will eventually be shipped to Vancouver where they will be installed in a city park in time for the 2018 Vancouver Biennale. The installation will be made available for the public and will have a meeting space as well as numerous exhibits that explore different aspects of blockchain technology. The project will remain in Vancouver for a year after the Biennale.
The bottle will be able to accommodate up to forty-seven people at a time. Visitors will have the chance to interact with community-curated content as they walk through the bottle. The “jug” of the bottle will hold the events space.
Angel explained that the piece will continue to interact with the Dogecoin and Ethereum Blockchains once it has been completed. Angel and her team are exploring various methods for this, including the creation of graphical and audio signals for work being completed on the two blockchains. One innovative idea is that noises of different pitches would be emitted when new blocks on each blockchain are mined, creating a “symphony” that represents the blockchains.
At ETHDenver, Angel led a workshop to create pieces that will be installed in the bottle. She highlighted a piece called “Proof of Work” in which attendees would tap a box with a stick repeatedly to physically mine Ethereum in real time. Pieces like this are designed to explore concepts related to the blockchain, making them understandable for a wide audience.
Angel’s presentation was a big hit with the audience. She and her team are still searching for collaborators to help build the exhibits that will fill the bottle. The project is still raising funds to complete the project in time for the Vancouver Biennale. You can reach out to Angel and her team if you are interested in contributing to the project.
On Tuesday, July 24th, Crypto NYC will host Seth Feibus from Nifty.supply. You can register for the lunch here. As always, the lunch will be held at the Crypto NYC headquarters in TribeCa. Please follow us on Medium to get continuous updates on the exciting projects our community members are building!
