THIS IS A BANK

Description: 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. 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.