Materialities of modern Cryptography

Following the tradition of RIAT’s decentral archive of process artefacts a new edition of the RIAT cabinet has been created for HCPP and Japan Blockchain Week, in the context of Open Hardware Month.

In a tangible micro-showcase key objects, items and hardware relating to modern-day cryptography are displayed and are put in a museum setting of a speculative future. These objects tell individual stories between DIY and industrial manufacturing, and further position themselves as artefacts of an Opt-Out society.

Different trust models of the current hardware landscape in modern cryptography are on display. Open Hardware in this context offers traditional opt-out possibilities of the old vectors of traditional supply and demand. The deep knowledge of the underlying processes, techniques and materialities at hand do not only offer novel forms of attack (side channel-attacks, etc.) but can ultimately enlighten us about yet unknown methods of “exit”, if we accept them as elements of future cultural techniques.