AudioVisual Bitcoin Art
On September 3rd, 2020, I released the AudioVisual Bitcoin Art Collection. It was a milestone in my art career: the first time I combined animation and full audio design into a complete body of work, built from the ground up to spread one message. Bitcoin is better money.
The collection consisted of 6 unique NFTs across 3 artworks. For each of the 3 pieces, there was one full-length 1/1 auction and one shorter looping version of the "money shot". All 6 tokens were video format with full audio tracks.
Each of the 3 auction pieces included the #1 Artist Proof print, matted, framed, and shipped to the collector.
The Three Pieces
1) Quantitative Hardening (1/1): Full animation with audio effects (1:03) walking through the history of Bitcoin's monetary policy, with individual animations for the 4 key events: Bitcoin Genesis, First Halving, Second Halving, Third Halving.
Read the full story in the Quantitative Hardening post.
2) Gold With Wings (1/1): Full animation with audio effects (1:37) focused on the narrative of bitcoin as a better version of gold, with individual animations for 4 characteristics of money where Bitcoin outshines gold (with quotes and a tribute to the Winklevoss twins): Verifiability, Portability, Divisibility, Scarcity.
Read the full story in the Gold With Wings post.
3) Freedom Money (1/1): Full animation with audio effects (1:35) focused on bitcoin as a fundamental freedom for society, with individual animations for 4 fundamental freedoms and their relation to bitcoin's history: Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, and Money.
Read the full story in the Freedom Money post.
4) Quantitative Hardening (edition of 3): Shorter animation with audio effects and looping visuals, a living version of the final printed artwork.
5) Gold With Wings (edition of 6): Shorter animation with audio effects and looping visuals, a living version of the final printed artwork.
6) Freedom Money (edition of 9): Shorter animation with audio effects and looping visuals, a living version of the final printed artwork.
Why "AudioVisual Bitcoin Art"?
I'll set the tone for my explanation with Merriam-Webster's definition of audiovisual: designed to aid in learning or teaching by making use of both hearing and sight.
Since embarking on this mission to educate the masses about bitcoin using visual art, I've contemplated long and hard about how best to impact people with combinations of images and words.
I've studied the words and practices of experts in social psychology and propaganda, from the likes of Gustave Le Bon, Edward Bernays, Friedrich Nietzsche, and others.
The voice of Gustave Le Bon in particular seems to always ring in my head as I make certain creative decisions, in the moments when I question whether an image will resonate with "the crowd":
"The imagination of the crowds … is impressed above all by images. … It is possible to evoke them through the judicious use of words and formulas."
So here was my formula:
Three pieces of art using the same structure, each with its own narrative, to propagate the base idea "bitcoin is better money" with three different groups of people: 1) the fundamentals-driven and economically focused, 2) the risk-averse and wealthy, and 3) individuals who value freedom above all.
4 key points for each narrative, animated with full audio tracks to create a more immersive viewing experience.
Repetition and reinforcement of the overarching phrases and easy-to-understand aspects of the message in each piece.
Looking Back
This collection marked the moment my work stopped being still images with captions and became full audiovisual propaganda: moving, sounding, teaching. Everything I've released since, from Novus Moneta Seclorum to Moneta Divina and Cypher Deos, builds on the formula I proved out here.
All three pieces were also released as collector's edition prints. Explore what's currently available in the collector editions.
Better money, better world.
Leave a comment