Temporal Secessionism: Timezone#4
osmo/za (Slovenska cesta 54), plazaprotocol.si and Zoom
22 November 2021 – 31 December 2022
Timezone#4 is a new node in the Temporal Secessionism – an infrastructure presenting alternative time counting systems that are based on a selection of technological processes.
Access the Timezone at www.plazaprotocol.si (Seed: temporal)
Temporal Secessionism is an infrastructure presenting alternative time counting systems that are based on a selection of technological processes, including informational consensus systems, numerological computation and state machine replication algorithms. Each node in a series functions as a terminal that catalyzes a different experience of time in its local area.
Timezone#4 is a new node in a series and an experimental visualization of an immanent time counting system of blockchain technologies. It is focusing specifically on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – unique and non-interchangeable units of data stored on a digital ledger (blockchain), which can be sold and traded on digital markets.
For their ability (afforded by the blockchain technology) to assure a unique signature and ownership of a digital asset, NFTs offer opportunities for artists (especially in digital art and music) to tokenize their work as non-fungible tokens and thus seem also as a promising tool to bypass existing (art) market dynamics and hierarchies. The svg data held in each token, modified by the progressive addition of new blocks to the blockchain, allows for each NFT to visually represent the block frequencies of the hosting medium with no abstraction necessary.
Timezone#4 derives its timekeeping mechanism from the block frequencies statistics of the Ethereum mainnet that are visually depicted in the form of NFTs, which were programmed by Nascent. These contracts live on the ethereum chain, meaning they are completely on-chain and not dependent on external resources. The contracts calculate the average blocktime from the token’s time of minting, and translate this into a simple svg animation, thus giving the user of Timezone#4 an intuitive understanding of a pulse – a morphing motion. Every single NFT has an individual minting block. Because of this, every pulse is different in the beginning but through accumulation the blocks merge together in an endless process, one that will literally take forever. Even if the individual NFTs are never completely in sync they nevertheless arrange around really similar intervals.
The online work is accompanied by a digital publication edited by Nascent and designed by Johannes Wilke. The publication includes texts by Wassim Alsindi, Amy Ireland, Kei Kreutler, Nascent, and an interview with Anna Greenspan.
The launch event is organized in collaboration with Wassim Alsindi, who is the founder and host of the 0x Salon, conducting experiments in post-disciplinary collective knowledge practices.
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Timezone#4 has been commissioned for the Plaza Protocol platform run by Projekt Atol and Šum journal and curated by Tjaša Pogačar. Plaza Protocol is developing new formats and plots for and from an unfinished construction site of an underground shopping mall on the outskirts of the city. It happens through a series of collaborations with artists, designers, scientists, writers and engineers to create ways of engagement with this locality and accelerating economic and ecological processes of global scale that inform its transformations.
0x Salon: Temporal Secessionism edition
Monday, 22.11.2021, 7 pm (CET)
The 0x Salon provides an informal space for unstructured discussions of unusual topics and collectively authors’ outputs based on these conversations.
This special edition of the salon focused on techno-time production, transcendental time-machines, and weird temporalities.
Colophon
Nascent (Max Hampshire & Paul Seidler):
Temporal Secessionism: Timezone#4, 2021
Production: Zavod Projekt Atol
Texts: Wassim Alsindi, Amy Ireland, Kei Kreutler, Nascent, Anna Greenspan (interview)
Design of the publication: Johannes Wilke
Curator: Tjaša Pogačar
The launch event is organized in collaboration with 0x Salon and Wassim Alsindi. The publication is published in collaboration with Šum journal. The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and The Municipality of Ljubljana – Department of Culture.
Bio
Nascent (Paul Seidler and Max Hampshire) is an EXIT TECH production studio investigating alternative infrastructures. Delving into the nature of games, economics and consensus systems, they create theory-based computational experiments and tools to prototype technological secessionism and spark discussion about the base layers of current stacks. Nascent also consults on tactics and strategies for building p2p economies and spatial- and socio-economic structures via prototyping minimal viable solutions.
Paul Seidler is a Berlin based artist and researcher exploring economic systems, arithmetics and formal languages. His works have been shown or discussed at Schinkel Pavillon, Transmediale and KW Institute for Contemporary Art.
Max Hampshire is a technical writer and researcher based in Vienna working on experimental minimum-viable systems, privacy and novel temporalities.
Nascent (Paul Seidler and Max Hampshire)