The Nouveau Riche Yukichi is a work in which a QR code containing the authentication information (secret key) for the virtual currency Bitcoin is written on a current 10,000 yen bill. It is based on a mechanism called a hardware wallet, in which virtual currency traded over the Internet is stored in a physical object. Each bill is assigned a bitcoin that can actually be transferred and used through virtual currency exchange applications. The amount in Japanese yen, converted from the current bitcoin-yen market circulation price, is also displayed in real time at the bottom of each bill. The original value of a 10,000 yen bill should be no more or less than 10,000 yen, but the special bills presented in this work have the monetary value of the allocated bitcoin added to them. In addition, the monetary value of each of the apparently unchanged banknotes is slightly different. In recent years, the emergence of new technologies such as virtual currencies and NFTs (non-substitutional tokens) has created a trend toward assigning economic values to various things, whether real or virtual, material or immaterial. This work suggests the fluidity and uncertainty of value under these circumstances.
Excerpts from the introduction of the works in his solo exhibition "hogehoge" at Gallery Muryo, Toyama, Japan.
This text was translated with DeepL.com.
