Despite its important contribution to the global digital economy, the gold business remains uneven and opaque. This is particularly problematic for global gold workers, around 80 percent of whom work in so-called artisan and small-scale mining in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Estimates vary greatly but overall, a total of 45 million workers across 60 countries are occupied in artisan and small-scale mining of different minerals. Goldmining entails about half the share of total workers. Between 10-50% are female and under-aged workers, with numbers varying widely across geographical areas. Women and children are usually occupied with the processing of the ore, while adult males are generally involved in digging it and control the mines. Around 150 million people around the world are estimated to be economically dependent on small-scale goldmining.

In the mines, accidents occur frequently and health conditions are poor due to exposure to mercury and dust. At the same time, mining provides an essential contribution to millions of livelihoods: artisan mining generates capital that is, in turn, invested into retail, real estate, restaurants and hotels and household consumption.

The irony of digital gold as an enabler and inhibitor of global privilege forms the central entry of the exhibition segment «Kamituga | Digital Gold». We invite visitors to look beneath the shiny surfaces of the mobile tech industry and engage with the concrete challenges and living conditions of artisanal miners. The visitors can follow the concrete stages of gold extraction and its global entanglements. On the other hand, we also have the opportunity to communicate with each other across distance through the use of digital technology. The visitors – and at the same time the small-scale miners in Kamituga – are invited to share their insights and perplexities in the Visitors' Comments of this website.

The physical space of the exhibition embodies the tension between modes of display and the social and ecological impact of rare minerals extraction. In the middle of the space is a brightly lit display of smartphones and tablets, reminiscent of retail luxury. A circular corridor leads around the central space. From there, the visitors can enter smaller spaces where they may experience the reality of small-scale gold mining. Here, digital technology comes to the fore and blends into the spatial design.

The starting point for all digitally-based experiences are the photographs, videos and 3D scans that PhD candidate Gabriel Kamundala recorded in Kamituga in the summer of 2021 using a latest-generation smartphone. In this way, a ubiquitous device, itself containing gold and rare minerals, provides insights into the living conditions of artisanal mine workers and, at the same time, draws attention to the many challenges of the mobile tech industry.

In the circular corridor, visitors also encounter texts that draw their attention to the global context of the experiences they have just had. With the help of QR codes, they can also view supplementary information on their smartphones. Thus, awareness of both how our digitalized lives are dependent on rare minerals and of the problematic interrelation of supply chains in the mobile tech industry is promoted.