Hello everyone. I thought I would share a current art piece I am commissioning. It is a bespoke cold storage wallet, carved by hand in Zimbabwe from some 300 pounds of Spring Stone. The artist, Stanley Mutanga, is pictured in the colorful hat. I will update this thread as it takes shape.
Above, Stanley is using charcoal to draw guides on the rock that help him see where to carve. The circle on top will be a globe.
Above is an earlier version, showing the front, and the Bitcoin logo. The globe was only roughed-in at this point:
Here is Stanley loading up the raw stone at the mine where the rock is quarried. Also in the picture is Sam Mabeu, a colleague sculptor and neighbor to Stan. Here is a profile of Sam’s recent work, released by Kanyoka Arts run by Mind Kanyoka a sculpture critic and curator who currently resides in South Africa.
Here’s another picture of Sam at the quarry. See all the huge boulders? Those are sculptures waiting to emerge for future generations.
Curious about the technical details? The sculpture will display a BIP-38 encrypted key so that it will be publicly viewable, but not usable without my secret password. Stanley will also put his public key on the sculpture so that he can receive tips from all the Bitcoiners that ever see his piece!
Here is the test swatch that we made of a hand-carved QR code. Do you think a cellphone will be able to read the final version? What is the least labor-intensive (least total carving required) way to encode a wallet address? QR code? Text string?
This is what the sculpture looks like at the moment, though there is still a lot of work to do. We are hoping that it becomes the inaugural piece of an exhibition that will explore "money through the ages." It will explore themes including cryptocurrency, mobile money, paper money, gold, cattle, hyperinflation, etc. We have about five sculptors who will participate.
Any questions or comments? Hopefully Stanley will sign up to this forum so he can answer questions directly. We'll also try to get him a Bitcoin wallet set up so that he can receive tips. What's the best wallet choice for someone using a Nokia X6? It's using Symbian OS.
