BitVase

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  Some printed vases, as a proof of concept during the 12 hours we had

Inspiration

We wanted to explore how humans assign value to art, since it's inherently subjective, beyond the materials of the art.

What it does

We married two paradoxical concepts - Bitcoin, a virtual currency that although there is nothing physical backing it, has been assigned a lot of value by humans, and vases, a more classic representation of valuable art. BitVase accepts a transaction hash of a Bitcoin (for example, the hash representing the transaction resulting from someone sending their friend some amount of Bitcoin), and breaking down the hash to create a unique looking vase which you can then 3D print.

How we built it

We built BitVase using a web application (backed by three.js and physi.js) which accepts a bitcoin hash and generates unique attributes of a vase (size of the neck, how big the opening is, etc.). From there you can visualize the creation of the vase with three.js, and then we convert the visualization into a file that you can use to 3D print the vase.

Challenges we ran into

What defines a vase is surprisingly difficult to reason about.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We have a lot of BitVases now.

What we learned

We thought a lot about the meaning of value and how many things are meaningful because humans attribute value to it. We learned how Bitcoins work, some Unity, and what a nice vase looks like. And some not so nice vases.

What's next for BitVase

We'd like to contact sculptors and artist to set up a community for these Bitcoin exchanges represented as vases, as well as offer a way to make more personalized vases that are more complex then just a 3 inch tall plastic vase.

Built With

• javascript