the þit (pronounced thit |ˈθɪt|) is a self-sufficient system that produces natural and financial resources for local community use. The project started in April, 2014, at a rented 1,200 m2 private lot with a caravan surrounded by a green area in the center of Oer-Erkenschwick city. A sign was installed at the þit, declaring it a private reserve of natural heritage. This concept was imported from Brazilian law to encourage owners to open their properties as parks for communal use.
Three cryptocurrency mines were installed in the caravan to generate a fund that supported the creation of a temporary communal park and its activities, including paying rent. The rent was agreed to be one third of the produced fund, to be paid monthly in bitcoins.
The lot #7 of Ludwigstraße had little activity for a long time. By evoking characters from local mythology and history and by engaging citizens of Oer-Erkenschwick, authorities, and groups from the Ruhr, the þit explored the lot’s strong potential for being a vivid place again. From April to July, five open events took place at the þit.
This venture, initiated as a work of art, will continue. Although the þit ended in August, the self-financing model for communal spaces goes on. One mine flew to Brazil and will be used there by the artists in future experiments. The other two were handed over to two different initiatives in the Ruhr that were selected through online voting.

Bitcoin (฿) is a currency based on distributed computing. It is decentralized, digital, and global. Bitcoins are created without banks’ or states’ control. They are traded online and can be spent worldwide. All transactions are fast and of low cost.
A developer with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto created the original bitcoin algorithm in 2008 and published it in a discussion forum. However, the currency itself is created, traded, and controlled by bitcoin users, rather than by a central authority like a bank or a government.
Bitcoin is based on the principle of public verification of transactions: if many users see that a certain number of coins have been given by A to B, then this transaction is verified and recorded in a general ledger (the blockchain).
People who do this virtual bookkeeping are called miners. They have two crucial roles: to maintain the security of the system and to create (mine) new bitcoins.
Each bitcoin transaction is encrypted into a mathematical problem that the miners need to process. This work involves millions of calculations per minute, thus requiring strong mining hardware (or ‘rig’).

10. May 2014

the þit
Ludwigstraße 7, 45739 Oer-Erkenschwick

7. - 14. July 2014

the þit: Vote für die Zukunft der Bitcoin Farm
Oer Erkenschwick

20. May - 27. June 2014

the þit - OpenCall für den Betrieb der Bitcoin Mine
Ludwigstraße 7, 45739 Oer-Erkenschwick

22. June 2014

the þit: Workshop
Ludwigstraße 7, 45739 Oer-Erkenschwick