Hot Aisles (Cryptocurrency Farm)
Medium: Archival Pigment Canson Platine Print
Year: 2018
This photograph belongs to the series, "Absolute Powers / ex nihilo." These photographs dive deeper into the taboo and controversial topic of money by showcasing an array of intriguing real-world historic and contemporary objects (some worthless, others immensely valuable), while examining how societies perceive, express, and destroy value. Like something out of a sci-fi space flick, these dark hot rows contain their own micro-climate. They are the back sides of thousands of droning computers endlessly mining bitcoin, stacked in racks multiple stories high, right here on Earth. They are so loud that one has to shout to communicate a mere one-foot away. Each machine's fan expels tremendous heat from its internals, ultimately rising to powered ceiling fans on out into the atmosphere. Heat is a byproduct of intense computer processing required to maintain uptime and viability of the distributed blockchain. Christos is a 1st-gen Greek-American fine-artist whose photographs probe themes of socioeconomics, culture, history, and architecture. As strong symbolic sparks in a frenetic 21st-century tangle, his creative intrigue is informed by identity, connection, nostalgia, and isolation.