Blockchain: Unchained

→ Crafting a Playful Exhibition Exploring DAOs, Blockchain, and the Future of Decentralization at the MAK Vienna.

Two people standing in exhbition — Exhbition View © MAK/Stella Riessland

New Tools for Democracy

Blockchain:Unchained, New Tools for Democracy invites you to explore and experiment with design strategies and new technologies as tools for democratic participation in an interactive and playful way.

As the design collective Gemeinde-Bau (Katja-Anna Krug, Max Kure, Leo Mühlfeld, Anton Posch) we demonstrate how blockchain technology and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can be applied to diverse areas to envision the future—whether in a private shared living arrangement, for public use of a museum garden, or as a tool for open discourse.

colorful cubes in grass picture of an illustration

The exhibition employs interactive elements and visual storytelling to promote a new understanding of designing democratic decision-making processes while making complex topics like blockchain and DAOs accessible and tangible. At its core is the question of how digital tools can be used to activate participation within museums—especially the MAK—and beyond. Visitors are invited to collaboratively develop ideas for decentralized co-creation, experiment with speculative approaches, and discuss the opportunities and challenges of digital tools.

colorful exhibiton room — Exhibition View © MAK/Stella Riessland

Designing a Playground

When designing this exhibition, we envisioned dividing the space into stations that build upon one another conceptually. The journey begins by contextualizing DAOs and blockchain as one of many "Tools for Democracy," placing them alongside innovations such as the printing press, protests, and the internet. As visitors progress, they are invited to engage interactively, exploring whether and how this tool can be useful—or even revolutionary—in democratic processes. To facilitate this exploration, we developed three interactive stations…

Octopus cuddly toy Exhibition during setup

1. Smart Contracts

The first station, titled "Smart Contracts," bridges the gap between democratic processes and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). To illustrate this, we drew upon a democratic process that occurs privately and is familiar to everyone in some form: managing one's own home. Visitors find themselves in a recreated "living room" setting. Surrounded by plants, cozy cushions, and a sofa, a tablet on a coffee table introduces the concept of smart contracts—code-based agreements stored on the blockchain that execute predefined actions (IF, WHEN, THEN) automatically once conditions are met.

Exhibition View Person typing on a tablet

Visitors are invited to propose the purchase of new furniture for the fictional apartment. A custom-developed AI-powered application simulates a voting process involving five virtual roommates, taking predefined conditions into account. The results of the vote are displayed in a visually engaging way on the living room's television.

2. Vote on the Blockchain

Building on the knowledge gained in the first station, the focus now shifts to the underlying blockchain technology. It was important to us to create a voting scenario based on a real-life context. This naturally involves complex questions of responsibility and accountability, which led us to the following collaboration with the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts).

Three proposals for the use of the MAK Garden—a semi-public outdoor space shared and managed by three stakeholders—were pre-evaluated for feasibility and presented as options at this interactive station. Visitors, standing on artificial grass to simulate the outdoor setting, are required to pair up with another person to participate in the decision-making process.

Once paired, participants position themselves at two separate tablets. Together, they select one of the three options and log it in. Player A is then tasked with communicating a randomly generated pattern to Player B. Without being able to see each other’s screens, Player B must recreate the pattern. If the recreated pattern matches the original, the vote is counted!

This game serves as a highly abstracted demonstration of how a hash— a unique checksum—functions. For any change to be validated, the hash must be verified across multiple instances (over 50%). As a spatial element, two massive mirrored walls are positioned to reflect the two "blocks" of the "blockchain" into infinity, evoking the sense of an interconnected and vast system.

3. Plenary

With a foundational understanding of DAOs and blockchain now established, visitors are invited to participate in a plenary discussion on the potential applications, benefits, and drawbacks of this technology. A "word wall" serves as a conversation starter, featuring over 6,000 letters arranged to reveal up to 300 words. These words range from those directly related to blockchain to others that may seem unrelated at first glance.

Person standing in exhibition — Plenary © MAK/Stella Riessland

During workshops or guided tours, the collaborative process of discovering these words is designed to spark meaningful discourse. This section of the space is furnished with the exhibition's sole tangible artifact: freely rearrangeable seating blocks by designer Ettore Sottsass, encouraging both flexibility and creativity in group discussions.

Person drawing on wall — Finding Words © MAK/Stella Riessland

Illustrations

The interactive experience is complemented by thoughtfully designed illustrations and graphics displayed on the walls. These visuals provide an accessible overview of the topics covered, presented in a cascading level of detail. For instance, they explain voting mechanisms and the role of tokens, as well as draw playful connections, like how dominoes relate to blockchain.

Additionally, the exhibit introduces existing DAOs and showcases some of their real-world implications, including the humorous results of letting the internet name a boat.^[1]

Illustration of a figure typing — Rendering of Projection

Illustration explaining smartcontracts — Rendering of Wall Prints

What's the catch?

In the so-called "Room within a Room," where both the ceiling and floor are mirrored, the shifting infinity axis creates an unsettling sensation, as there is no clear bottom or top in sight. Here, critical perspectives and issues surrounding blockchain technology are visually presented. This immersive space not only highlights the limitations and challenges of the technology but also advocates for a resilient and robust democracy.

Chains lying on the floor Two person standing in mirror-room

Strong Democracy

Now more than ever, it is essential to promote democratic education and empower citizens to thrive in strong and resilient democracies. Together with the MAK, we aimed to make a small contribution by contextualizing DAOs and blockchain as tools for democracy.

Our goal was not simply to provide a factual overview but to create a space where visitors can engage in informal discussions, exchange ideas, and linger thoughtfully. We hope we’ve succeeded in this endeavor.

For more information and tickets, please visit mak.at/blockchain.

Colorful graphics — Peek inside… © MAK/Stella Riessland

Credits

Concept and design: Katja-Anna Krug, Max Kure, Leo Mühlfeld, Anton Posch (Design collective Gemeinde-Bau)

Curator: Marlies Wirth, Curator of Digital Culture, Curator of the Design Collection Assistant: Felix Kofler, Design Collection

Educational concept: Janina Falkner and Laura Pirgie, Education and Outreach

In 2016, the British Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) held a public vote to name a research vessel. While "Boaty McBoatface" won, authorities deemed it inappropriate and named the main ship Sir David Attenborough instead, assigning the humorous name to an autonomous lifeboat. New York Times ↩︎