The Scream of the Body in the Metauniverse

Action: At about 3 p.m. on December 23, I found the private key to my only cryptocurrency wallet: twelve English words securing cryptocurrency worth more than RMB 10,000. I wrote the key on paper, deleted every digital record of it, and memorized the words for more than ten minutes under the gaze of others. I then swallowed the paper, leaving the key only in my memory.

Objects: computer, paper, pen, my body.

Condition: A lost private key makes the wallet irretrievable. I could also fail to memorize it during the performance. Doubt, embarrassment, and the fear of forgetting are part of the work.

Interpretation: Web3 imagines that each person can own part of a network, yet a wallet's twelve-word key should never remain on a connected device. Many users return to paper because phones and computers can be hacked. As cyborgs, we already treat electronic devices as external memory. The work forces me to abandon that second memory and return to a vulnerable body, making privacy, fear, and dependence physically present.