The Future Behind Us: Solidarity, Perils and Ethics on Darknet Markets
<p>Darknet markets, identity shielding, bots and cryptocurrencies have revolutionised commerce and society, each in its own way. What happens when you bring all these disrupting ingredients together? Doma Smoljo and Carmen Weisskopf from !Mediengruppe Bitnik created a piece of software that randomly buys goods and services on the darknet and then gets them shipped to an art gallery. Alongside the passport scan and the odd pair of fake designer sneakers, the artists gained insights into who or what is legally responsible when a bot buys illicit goods, the emergence of new grey zones and the quality of the services provided by sellers on darkmarkets.</p>
Authors: Régine Debatty
Contributors: !Mediengruppe Bitnik
Audio Engineer: Gašper Torkar
Producer: Marcela Okretič
Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art
Part of: Tactics&Practice [podcast]