In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in response to the financial crisis. This text was the birth of a new paradigm, the blockchain. Based on Nakamoto's vision, people around the world have created new infrastructure that can be used to transfer wealth, information and much more. Since then, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and applications such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have become particularly popular. But only initiated people understand the exact connections between these abstract concepts.
In order to shed visual light on the cryptic darkness, Danny Franzreb set out on a year-long journey during the boom phase of cryptocurrencies between 2021-2022 to miners, investors and fortune hunters who wanted to take advantage of the opportunities offered by these digital currencies early on. The resulting work documents places and people who are involved in the crypto world with impressive images; from small basement miners to industrial mining farms, from installations, cooling units, cable forests and industrial ruins in Russia to the first high-tech factories with sustainable production in Sweden. The images by Danny Franzreb are complemented by texts by the authors Holly Roussell (specialist in contemporary art and photography, curator at UCCA, Center for Contemporary Art, China) and Anika Meier (curator and author with a focus on digital art and NFTs, Hamburg)
Danny Franzreb (*1979) is a photographer and professor of design at Neu-Ulm University. In his award-winning works he deals with the transformative effects of modern society.