Remains II

About This Work

Remains II is a hybrid physical and digital work in which a painting and a Bitcoin Ordinal are structurally bound into a single object. To preserve one form, the collector must destroy the other. The digital component consists of exactly 210,000 pixels, matching the number of blocks mined during a Bitcoin halving epoch. Beginning at the next halving in April 2028, the inscription begins to decay in real time: one pixel dies for every block the network mines. If the collector does nothing, the image will be entirely consumed by the end of the epoch, leaving only a black square. The only way to halt the decay is sealed beneath the surface of the physical painting: a unique alphanumeric code, retrievable only by destroying a meaningful portion of the work. Once retrieved, the collector must inscribe it as a child of the Ordinal, thereby permanently halting the decay. The work cannot be fully preserved in both forms simultaneously. The collector cannot remain passive. Inaction is itself a choice — to let the digital die and keep the painting intact. Intervention preserves the Ordinal but destroys part of the physical work. Neither outcome is neutral, and the blockchain makes both permanent. Bitcoin is the most consequential permanence system produced in the digital age. Its architecture assumes that what is recorded cannot be lost. Remains II takes that assumption seriously enough to test it. In asking what is worth preserving and what must be destroyed to preserve it, the work forces a reckoning with a fundamental asymmetry between physical and digital culture: one forgets by nature, the other records permanently regardless of intent.

Provenance