Hong Kong Apple Daily archive saved by artist Kevin Abosch

From June 20, 1995 to June 23, 2021, Hong Kong people worried about China’s growing influence in the Special Administrative Region had at least one local media.

Apple Daily Known for its pro-democracy stance, it does not report sensational tabloid news-two editorial innovations that distinguish it from almost all other media organizations in Hong Kong when it was launched.

Although the publication survived an office raid in 2020, when the CEO, chief operating officer, editor-in-chief and other executives were arrested by the police on June 17, 2021 on suspicion of violating Article 29, but in Hong Kong With the support of the Chinese government, a law was passed in 2020 to prevent “collusion with external forces to endanger national security”. Apple Daily finished.

But Irish artist Kevin Abosch intends to ensure that even Apple Daily It has passed and will not be forgotten.

His new work, Persistence, Is a USB drive with more than 11,000 news articles Apple Daily, And executable files that can be used to start Koii nodes protected by the Arweave blockchain.

“The struggle to maintain freedom of the press will be carried out through technological weapons,” Abosch claimed.

Many organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, record on file Implied that the relevant national security law was “a symbolic figure of the Hong Kong government… which banned freedom of the press”.Spokesperson for EU Foreign and Security Affairs Say shut down Apple Daily “Seriously undermines media freedom and pluralism, which is essential to any open and free society.”

“Understandably, dictators are afraid of decentralized technology because they are afraid of anything they cannot absolutely control,” Abosch went on to describe what he described as “the Hong Kong government controlled by China.”

“Persistence More than just an artistic intervention-it is a proof of concept of a weapon designed to deter censorship journalists’ attempts. “

Abosch has become Famous artist In the field of cryptography, he is famous for his experiments on cryptography and codes.He previously told telegraph “My truth, and the promise of cryptocurrency, is that privacy is a human right.”

related: NFT makes it possible for gamers to own digital property rights.

This is his second time with Koi Lab, It is developing decentralized protocols for a large number of transparent activities in the fields of public archives management, reputation systems, and digital media rights.

Koii founder Al Morris said: “Whether it is an armed conflict or a cultural conflict, history books are usually written by dominant forces. Decentralized technology enables all participants in the human struggle to retain their voices forever.”

Abosch had discussed his plan Equipping the orbital CubeSat with Koii nodes, the purpose is to provide researchers with climate change maps.At that time, he also disclose He wrote the reference code for the location of the Xinjiang Uyghur “concentration camp” in the artwork he submitted to the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Abosch also includes an encryption key that indicates ownership of the non-fungible token (NFT) and a set of hacking tools Persistence The driver “may prove useful in certain situations.”

This artwork will be in London Pippi Holdsworth Gallery July 9 to August 6, 2021.