AndOtherThingsYouCanBuyOnTheInternet: Attempted E-Waste Gold Recovery and References (2017-2022)

While researching issues around e-waste and recycling I happened to find YouTube videos showing how to chemically isolate gold from scrap electronics. I was intrigued. I began dissembling old computers or electronics I found in the building trash and saving metallic parts likely to contain gold. While an artist in residence at JTHAR, I attempted to chemically extract gold from the e-waste using household chemical products. The final sample, of a small bead of melted Borax laced with an orange metallic substance, is shown with stop motion photography. The metal content, less than a gram, is roughly 18K purity.

Digital artifacts, such as NFTs, are not disconnected from the material world. They are stored, transacted and experienced on digital devices with material impacts. Maintaining the blockchain itself requires intensive computation also performed by physical electronic equipment. All these devices contain precious metal and minerals, obtained through extractive practices, which often end up as waste products. The work depicted in this video questions the afterlives of the stupendous amount of technology required to maintain our digital dreams and desires, while also proposing alternative futures to a system of unchecked consumption.

This work is an award winner for the New York Foundation For The Arts (NYFA) NFT Award Program, and exhibited with "Demystifying NFTs: The Award Exhibition" inside Voxel's Metaverse at the BRIDGE ++ space from December 15th – December 31st, 2022, curated by Laura Ó Reilly and presented by NYFA.

Collector Rights: Includes permission to digitally exhibit in galleries, museums, and the collector's home. This does not include the right to print or duplicate the work for commercial purposes.

Artist reserves all rights and copyright.

Digital conservation MD5 checksum: 71044d6f3a0cf2eac06086c3f7c4c8d1