Technology is developing its own new, improvised
and sometimes awkward design language, and
this is one of the ‘rawest’ objects in the exhibition.
‘It’s more or less an exposed, cobbled-together
circuit board,’ explains Hyde. ‘There’s been almost no
consideration for its aesthetic. Precisely because of
that, it somehow ends up being extremely beautiful.’
The robot-shaped creation was assembled for the
V&A out of elements easily available on the internet,
including a Raspberry Pi 3 miniature computer and
GekkoScience USB miners, and programmed to earn
Bitcoins (although, due to its modest size, the
amount is likely to be negligible), a digital currency
issued via peer-to-peer networks on completion
of complex maths problems.
Invented in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi
Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency is now the subject
of scepticism and hype in equal measure, and has
become the de facto currency of the Dark Web.
DIY Bitcoin Miner, comprising a Raspberry Pi 3; 32GB
SD card; Adafruit Pi B+ case; Adafruit RGB 16x2 LCD +
keypad kit; and GekkoScience Compac USB minersR ASPBERRY PI, ADAFRUIT
AND GEKKOSCIENCE
DIY BITCOIN
MINER
London’s V&A Museum is engaging in a spot of reverse archaeology.
For its latest exhibition, ‘The Future Starts Here’, it has scoured labs the
world over – from Silicon Valley giants to Scottish start-ups – to collate
more than 100 objects that point the way ahead.
Filled with prototypes, ongoing experiments and finished products,
the exhibition avoids sci-fi fantasy and shaky speculations and is
thoroughly grounded in ‘the real’, explain curators Mariana Pestana
and Rory Hyde. With the input of expert advisors, they have assembled
a collection of objects, from personal-use satellites to home DNA labs,
that promise to change the mechanics of everyday life. And soon.
Tech titans such as Apple and Google are here in numbers, alongside
a catalogue of smaller crowdfunded projects that have a chance of
becoming Google-sized tomorrow. ‘The exhibition doesn’t aim to position
good technology against bad, or big against small – all of it is exciting,’
says Pestana. ‘Contemporary technology spans the human and
the interplanetary – and we want to represent all increments of it.’
By presenting new developments in their infancy, the exhibition
hopes to demystify the future, not cower from it. It’s what the V&A has
been doing since its inception – its original collection was formed of
the cutting-edge products of the Industrial Revolution, first displayed
at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Now, we’ve come full circle; the age of
technology fizzes around us. Here is our pick of eight objects displayed
in the exhibition that outline the shape of things to come.
‘The Future Starts Here’, 12 May-4 November, V&A, vam.ac.uk
Technology