CÉSAR ESCUDERO ANDALUZ

César Escudero Andaluz is an artist focused on digital culture, interface criticism and their social and political effects. César’s research addresses issues such as dataveillance, algorithm governance, tactical interface and critical mining. His practices combine interfaces, electronics, images, interactive installations robotics with critical design, media archaeology and digital humanities.

His artworks have been shown in international electronic-art events, museums and galleries including ARS ELECTRONICA (at) / ZKM Center for Art and Media (de) / WRO, Media Art Biennale in Wroclaw (pl) / Science Gallery Detroit / HANGAR. ORG (es) / AKSIOMA Institute for Contemporary Art (svn) / DRUGO MORE (cr) / CHRONUS ART CENTER (chn). AMRO Art, hacktivism & open culture (at) / TABAKALERA International Centre for Contemporary Culture (es). NODE Forum for Digital Arts (de) / KIKK (be) / ADAF (gr).

Escudero’s work is used as practical and theoretical support on scholarly publications and journals including: APRJA stands for “A Peer-Reviewed Journal About” / Artnodes / Interface Politics International Congress. He has also presented this work in conferences such as ISEA, International Symposium on Electronic Art / RE:TRACE The 7th International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology / MONEYLAB#8 Minting a Fair Society. Aksioma + Institure of Network Cultures. / AMRO Art, hacktivism & open culture / POM, Politic of Machine conferences.

His artworks are discussed in numerous books by himself and others, including: The Metainterface, The Art of Platforms, Cities, and Clouds By Christian Ulrik Andersen and Søren Bro Pold, The MIT Press. / Artist Re:thinking Blockchain: Critical mining blockchain and bitcoin in contemporary / THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF ITS TECHNOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION edited by: Kairus.org / How The Arts Can Help Tangible Interaction Design: A Critical Re-Orientation, by Enrique Tomás, Interface Culture, University of Art and Design Linz, 2017. 2018

His artworks have been featured in NEURAL, Critical digital culture and media art 2013 // 2018/ 2018 / We make money not art, // CASTING SCREENS, a digital exhibition space of artistic screencasts // Unisons, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) EL PAÍS, blog Arte y Tecnología,Archivos sobre lienzo digital. Roberta Bosco y Stefano Caldana. 2011/ 2012 /2013. Link.

Escudero is Ph.D. Candidate and Lecturer in Postmedia Practices and Journal Club in the Interface Cultures Department at the Art and Industrial Design University of Linz, Austria. He has been guest lecturer in the Digital Aesthetic Department at Aahus University, in the Visual Art and Multimedia Master at UPV University, and the National University of Colombia. He organises the annual event Sankt Interface.

Featured
Cesar Escudero Andaluz and Martín Nadal

Bitcoin of Things (BOT), 2017

Repurposed coffee grinder with Wi-Fi microcontroller with sensors

Unique

Description:

The Bitcoin was conceived as an electronic decentralised system for capital transactions. Each node (user) had the same opportunities to get a reward when validating a transaction. In the last years, this system has triggered in a competitive struggle in which computing power is the most important variable for earning Bitcoins. This involves the use of large equipment, computers farms spending physical and environmental resources. A dispute that benefits only the owner of the most powerful and efficient technology. Causing A BIG WASTE OF ENERGY!!!! Bitcoins of Things (BoT) transforms this “Crazy” way of producing Bitcoins into a playful Lottery.

HOW!!!!?? The Bitcoin mining process consists of finding a random number called “Nonce”, which added to the Headerblock and through a Hash function returns a number (hash value) that if starts with a sufficient number of zeros (difficulty) can be validated by the Blockchain network. When this number is found a reward of 12.5 Bitcoins (approx 4300€) is earned by the miner.

The BitCoin of Things (BoT) miner combines a Wi-Fi microcontroller and different sensors such as an accelerometer, microphones or buttons, generating a “Nonce” from its reads try to validate all the Blockchain pending transactions. The possibilities are lower, but it decreases the use of energy of the calculation processes making it more sustainable.

Finally, the microcontroller is attached to daily life objects, like keyboards, computer mice or salt-shakers, by using them the object can potentially generate a big number of Bitcoins, playing with the idea of finding the philosopher’s stone.

Exhibited at POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Kate Vass Galerie Booth A18, September 2024

Cesar Escudero Andaluz and Martín Nadal

Bittercoin failed transaction bills, 2017

Edition of 100

Description:

Bitttercoin is an old calculator machine hacked to be used as a miner validating the pending bitcoin transactions in the blockchain. It combines Internet of Things (IoT), media archaeology and economics, and works as the most basic computer, increasing the time needed to produce bitcoins to almost an eternity.

The operations are displayed on the calculator screen and printed afterward, the paper accumulates around the machine making visible the amount of calculation required, as well as, the natural resources expended in the process, often covering the whole room and the calculator itself.

Bittercoin talks about the effort, resources and the working time expended that is conditioned by technological devices. In terms of efficiency, the artists paid a lot of effort to develop the slower miner ever; Bittercoin is able to calculate one hash per ten minutes, consumes 80mA, Watts 220V * 0.08A = 17.6W and 10m of paper per hour.

Although highly unlikely, in the case of a successful mining of a block, the nonce would be sent back to the server and the corresponding bitcoins from the reward would be deposited in the artists’ bitcoin wallet.

Exhibited at POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Kate Vass Galerie Booth A18, September 2024

Cesar Escudero Andaluz
sold out

Guerrilla NFT, 2022

This is a Workshop addressed to those who have concerns with NFTs, blockchain, the metaverse, media Art, digital culture, critical economy and hacktivism. Theoretically, it introduces concepts, examples, art-works and books in order to understand NFTs and Blockchain world in contemporary art. Practically this workshop is included in the ongoing art project Metamanteros, digital activist in Web3 and it proposes; a) to collaborate in a digital narrative, by creating an avatar able to sell pirate NFT in Second Life; b) to collaborate in a real life performance by selling pirated NFT in public spaces. The participant will get all the information to start a new “business”. No prior knowledge required. Please bring your computer and blanket.

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sold out

Inter_fight, 2015

The extraction and monetization of private data is a reality that directly affects all citizens of the world today. It is a business model based on the capture, processing and prediction of human behavior, known as “Surveillance Capitalism” (Zuboff, 2015). The project Interfight (2015) is a series of physical bots, (DataPolluters) that interacts freely through touch-screens accessing to social networks, browsers and webs. These untraceable bots, behaves as intruders: taping, clicking, scrolling randomly, opening and closing applications or taking decisions, in order to provide wrong information for tracking and website analysis. Inter- fight obfuscates the mechanism of data capture and data analysis in platforms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, or Aliexpress, being an important ally in the fight against Surveillance Capitalism. Interfight is a playful and artistic installation where users can interact with small robotic interfaces, at the same time these robots scroll and move on a touch-screen located on the floor of a cage where is displayed an interactive map. It works by taking the human body capacitance as input, through conductive material, and interacts with another graphical interface on capacitive surfaces like touch-screens. They are a paradoxical method to emphasizes the presence of the interfaces in our lives.

Cesar Escudero Andaluz and Martín Nadal

Bittercoin, 2016

Repurposed calculator machine used as bitcoin miner

Size: 40 x 30 x 10 cm

Edition of 10

Description:

Bitttercoin is an old calculator machine hacked to be used as a miner validating the pending bitcoin transactions in the blockchain. It combines Internet of Things (IoT), media archaeology and economics, and works as the most basic computer, increasing the time needed to produce bitcoins to almost an eternity.

The operations are displayed on the calculator screen and printed afterward, the paper accumulates around the machine making visible the amount of calculation required, as well as, the natural resources expended in the process, often covering the whole room and the calculator itself.

Bittercoin talks about the effort, resources and the working time expended that is conditioned by technological devices. In terms of efficiency, the artists paid a lot of effort to develop the slower miner ever; Bittercoin is able to calculate one hash per ten minutes, consumes 80mA, Watts 220V * 0.08A = 17.6W and 10m of paper per hour.

Although highly unlikely, in the case of a successful mining of a block, the nonce would be sent back to the server and the corresponding bitcoins from the reward would be deposited in the artists’ bitcoin wallet.

Exhibited at “Perfect and Priceless” show, Zürich, Kate Vass Galerie, 2018-2019

Exhibited at POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Kate Vass Galerie Booth A18, September 2024

Cesar Escudero Andaluz and Martín Nadal

Bitcoin of Things (BOT), 2017

Repurposed stamp with Wi-Fi microcontroller with sensors

Size: 10 x 10 x 15 cm

Unique

Description:

The Bitcoin was conceived as an electronic decentralised system for capital transactions. Each node (user) had the same opportunities to get a reward when validating a transaction. In the last years, this system has triggered in a competitive struggle in which computing power is the most important variable for earning Bitcoins. This involves the use of large equipment, computers farms spending physical and environmental resources. A dispute that benefits only the owner of the most powerful and efficient technology. Causing A BIG WASTE OF ENERGY!!!! Bitcoins of Things (BoT) transforms this “Crazy” way of producing Bitcoins into a playful Lottery.

HOW!!!!?? The Bitcoin mining process consists of finding a random number called “Nonce”, which added to the Headerblock and through a Hash function returns a number (hash value) that if starts with a sufficient number of zeros (difficulty) can be validated by the Blockchain network. When this number is found a reward of 12.5 Bitcoins (approx 4300€) is earned by the miner.

The BitCoin of Things (BoT) miner combines a Wi-Fi microcontroller and different sensors such as an accelerometer, microphones or buttons, generating a “Nonce” from its reads try to validate all the Blockchain pending transactions. The possibilities are lower, but it decreases the use of energy of the calculation processes making it more sustainable.

Finally, the microcontroller is attached to daily life objects, like keyboards, computer mice or salt-shakers, by using them the object can potentially generate a big number of Bitcoins, playing with the idea of finding the philosopher’s stone.

Exhibited at “Perfect and Priceless” show, Zürich, Kate Vass Galerie, 2018-2019

Exhibited at POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Kate Vass Galerie Booth A18, September 2024