[phylum]
Polluted soil
(from the Vacuum Oil site in Rochester's PLEX neighborhood),
compost, custom software and hardware,
vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
TerraRete
Polluted soil, custom software, custom hardware,
single-channel video, vials of cleaned soil
2023
Brownfield Tokenization Prototype is an experimental project exploring tokenization and verification of environmental remediation processes and ecosystem services as art. Contaminated soil taken from a brownfield site in Rochester, NY is used as a medium for generating cryptocurrency via bioremediation (the removal of environmental pollutants using biological systems such as bacteria, fungi, or plants). In a manner similar to the mining of cold for the use as a medium of exchange, Brownfield Tokenization Prototype utilizes the bioremeidation and electricity generating capacity of bacteria as the marker of value.
Using a formula that converst the amount of remediated soil per cubic meter and the amount of electricity produced into cryptocurrency tokens (known as "TerraRete Credits"), we store and verify the value of this process on the Ethereum blockchain via what is known as a "hybrid smart contract". The system is part of a larger vision wherin bioremediation and its conrtibuation to environmental health, sustainability and urban renewal is rewarded via "tokenized brownfield offsets", traceable, transparent, and automated systems that empower communities to take part in their own rejuvenation. Furthermore, the analogy to mining – often used to describe energy intensive process of creating certain cryptocurrencies – is inverted. Here, "mining" is not extractive but restorative. Money, value, and captial can now be created by ecological restoration, rather than degredation.