Opening: Trickle Down: A New Vertical Sovereignty by Helen Knowles

Opening​ Thursday ​23 January 2020,​ 6-9pm
Exhibition runs 24 January - 26 February 2020

arebyte Gallery are pleased to announce ​Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty, ​a new body of work by UK based artist Helen Knowles.
Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty is a tokenised four-screen video installation and generative soundscape attached to the blockchain, which explores value systems and wealth disparity.
The artwork is composed of auction scenes, performances and choral interludes by different communities such as prisoners, blockchain technology employees, market sellers, and Sotheby’s auction bidders. ​Trickle Down, A New Vertical Sovereignty ​draws on technological and financial power structures which traditionally scaffold the disparity between a wealthy elite and everyday working people but looks to re-imagine our vertically stacked digital ecosystem to horizontally distribute wealth.

The installation commences when a visitor drops a pound coin into a machine designed to expose the mechanisms needed to convert fiat currency into crypto-currency. Each and every member of the Trickle Down community, who has helped the work come to fruition, will receive a share of the ETH via a smart contract on the blockchain.

What are the technological and financial power structures governing value and the distribution of wealth in our society? And who really stands to benefit?