The Random Darknet Shopper is an automated online shopping bot which we provide with a budget of $100 in Bitcoins per week. Once a week the bot goes shopping in the deep web where it randomly chooses and purchases one item and has it mailed directly to the exhibition space. Once the items arrive they are unpacked and displayed, each new object adding to a landscape of traded goods from the Darknet.
The Random Darknet Shopper is a live Mail Art piece, an exploration of the deep web via the goods traded there. It directly connects the Darknet with the gallery. By randomizing its consumerism, the bot is guaranteed a wide selection of goods from the thousands listed on deepweb markets.
In its first run from October 2014 - January 2015, Random Darknet Shopper bought 12 items from the deepweb market Agora, which were displayed at Kunst Halle St. Gallen in the exhibition «The Darknet - From Memes to Onionland. An Exploration». Since Agora discontinued its services in September, Random Darknet Shopper will now order items from Alpha Bay, currently the largest deepweb market place.