Digital Doubtinside the circle
Rethink
HARVEST
2018 By Julian Oliver
Built to harness two elements of our changing climate — wind gusts and storms — HARVEST was designed by artist and engineer Julian Oliver to use renewable energy to mine cryptocurrency. Oliver originally envisaged the device as a prototype that could be scaled to donate the funds it generates to climate-change research; however, as the negative environmental impacts of mining cryptocurrency became increasingly clear, Oliver no longer endorsed the concept. As a work of critical engineering, HARVEST is a reminder that whilst each technological advance initially holds such promise, their impacts change as they are scaled and commercialised.