Kevin Abosch
THIS IS A BANK
2019
Mylar foil pouch, toner on paper (Ethereum private key), permanent marker, thread, needle, safety pin
25.5 × 12 cm
In THIS IS A BANK, the artist engages with the mechanics of storing and transferring value by presenting a work that
confronts the traditional notion of what a bank is. By positing a decentralized network of less-understood and abstract
value systems, Abosch explores commodifiable value in everyday objects as well as human beings. The artwork
consists of a Mylar foil pouch containing a laser-printed Ethereum private key, identical to the one referenced on the
project's website (thisisabank.com). The pouch is inscribed with permanent marker and pierced with thread, a needle,
and a safety pin—materials that suggest makeshift care, fragility, and a bodily relationship to repair. A length of thread
is stitched across the top of the pouch, securing the opening to some degree, while a safety pin punctuates the act.
Together, these elements evoke a gesture of protection that is both inadequate and intimate—an improvised
safeguard over something at once profoundly vulnerable and potentially valuable.
By making the private key to a blockchain wallet public and declaring it a "bank" open to anyone with the technological
means to access it, Abosch creates a complication that speaks to issues around public engagement in trust systems.
The work challenges traditional power structures by highlighting the potential of decentralized technologies to
redistribute authority and value. THIS IS A BANK invites viewers to reconsider the nature of value, ownership, and
trust in the digital age.
This ERC-20 NFT shall serve to confirm that STUDIO KEVIN ABOSCH confirms that the physical artwork pictured and described is authentic.
