INLAND + Hito Steyerl

„Cheesecoin models a gift economy that mimics neighborhood and p2p exchange systems in which things are given away to create a complex web of relations. It is neither a product nor a currency but results from digital abundance. In contrast to digital artworks whose value is increased by creating artificial scarcity, cheesecoin highlights the plenitude and multiplicity of digital proliferation. Instead of being a means of payment, cheesecoin maps an “internet of stink” that arises when fungi, molds, and bacteria communicate with one another via smell. The result is partly cheese. In the Inland Cave, cheesecoin is “mined” by cheese ripening. Real-time sensors monitor its environmental conditions and control the display of Al-generated paleolithic animal paintings on the cave walls. If conditions are favorable, cheesecoins are generated. But other data are also relevant for this system: fires in grazing areas due to climate change, the amount of wolf attacks on the flock this year, the number of mice caught by the village cat, the decisions of the central Cheesecoin committee, etc. Technology is thus controlled by natural and social processes- not the other way around. The creation of cheesecoin is monitored on a gift stick that inverts the function of a traditional tally stick recording debt. Around 500 cheesecoins are around. If you happen to find one, congratulations!“

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