Quiet Bitcoin Revolution: The New Renaissance – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Stefan Dzeparoski, an award-winning international director and creative producer.
This article owes its inspiration to the essay “A Quest for Social Truth” from “Bitcoin is Venice” by Allen Farrington and Sacha Meyers.
“You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be disconnected. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.” — Morpheus
From the 14th to the 17th century, a significant shift in consciousness occurred in the Western world. This shift is known as the Renaissance. During this period, the church was gradually removed from its role as an intermediary in the citizens’ lives. The Church was the epicenter of all political, monetary and social power. In the Renaissance, a social class of merchants emerged as the dominant one. This class did not need an intermediary to direct their daily lives and dictate the distribution of wealth. The merchants introduced double-entry bookkeeping as the first manifestation of decentralized money. Merchants also led the way in decentralized communication by adopting a printing press. This class saw the value of different types of assets. The Medici family legend was not born from investing in banking and commerce, but from conscious investment in intangible cultural projects. Art and artists became a store of value that was not linked to any nation, political or ideological structure. All this will later lead to separation between state and church.
Today we are all subjects of another church: the church of the fiat bank.
The Fiat bank is the epicenter of power today. Bitcoin challenges this by being a store of value that is not tied to any nation, political or ideological structure.
It is time to take a closer look at the connection between art and bitcoin, so that we can envision and create a new reality through Bitcoin. For artists, bitcoin offers the opportunity to present a new version of reality inextricably linked to a new way of determining value. With each work of art, artists ultimately examine and reshape personal and collective identity. Each work of art allows us to recreate the world. This point of re-examination and re-creation is where artists and bitcoin meet. Works of art from the Medici era still exist and are still intriguing, exciting and inspiring. Art constantly restores and renews time by transcending the boundaries of space and time. The Bitcoin blockchain is itself an innovation of its time. The Medici family invested in the form of values that promised to withstand the limitations of time and space. Art has become the ledger of knowledge, education, information and value. Being a creator today, artists have an incredible opportunity to become their own “private” Medici family through bitcoin. Artists have the opportunity to lead a different kind of revolution and inspire a separation between state and money. As long as artists are directly dependent on monetary structures tied to and linked to national, political and economic ideologies, they will never be free.
Bitcoin is fundamentally about freedom. It was born out of the chaos of the global financial crisis of 2008. Bitcoin seeks to preserve the freedom to store value and trade freely, as it is relentlessly individualistic and libertarian. Bitcoin can be the defender of artists’ self-sovereignty.
As much as artists can benefit from educating themselves and being involved in the Bitcoin community, Bitcoin can also benefit from artist involvement. It was artists who spread knowledge and offered a perspective on ever-changing consciousness during the Renaissance. Let artists be Bitcoin’s messengers and spread awareness about it through creating music, performances, video art, films and digital art. Let’s connect Bitcoin and art. The possibilities are endless. Bitcoin seems like a natural fit for Canadian artists or any artist anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, skepticism and not enough credible education prevent artists from direct involvement. My hope for this article is that it can work its way through a diverse landscape of Canadian artists. To inspire curiosity about the sovereignty of artistic identity, which can lead to a better life for them.
In the social and economic system that systematically undermines and neglects the financial stability of artists, bitcoin has the potential to provide a sense of security in the long term. Bitcoin can serve as a defense for artists’ financial freedom. It can serve as a defense of an artist’s mental health and psychological power. Finally, bitcoin can provide a financial opportunity to artists that they probably never had. Artists do not thrive in this era of capitalism, and the dying breath of globalization affects artists’ freedoms even more. Being dependent on various centralized sources of money such as arts councils, private or state foundations, sponsors and donors means that artists are forced to satisfy a desired political ideological framework in order to continue receiving funding, even if they do not follow this ideology. . In this unhealthy system of corrosive and manipulative fiat addiction, artists lose their identity, integrity and raison d’être.
Words have power. They shift and instruct the thought that creates reality. For too long, art has operated from the perspective of ultimate existential scarcity. Art has been forced into a position of having to explain endlessly why it exists. It is not surprising that the false and destructive question “Who needs artists?” seems legit. Have the question “Who needs another used car dealer?” ever been asked with such passion and dedication to prove that it is not necessary?
The artist’s economic self-sovereignty is the basis of identity that can no longer be undermined by society. Bitcoin fixes this.
If we view bitcoin as a digital bearer asset with absolute scarcity, the artist’s share of the monetary network cannot be diluted by money printing if the artist owns bitcoin. Artists will learn that over time their wealth and purchasing power can grow.
Bitcoin is not only sound money, it is freedom and a positive ideology. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. Bitcoin itself is an idea. It is a concept and proposal for various social structures where the artist is at the center with power and creative thinking. Bitcoin is not only the economic order, but also a positive shift in global consciousness. Within bitcoin, rules have been laid down with some governing principles to enforce fairness and freedom equally for all participants. Yet Bitcoin has no ruler. Like art, Bitcoin uses the principles of long-term thinking, patience and persistence. Art and bitcoin are more connected and intricately intervened than it appears at first glance.
Let’s connect bitcoin and art. The connection between bitcoin and art should be the foundation of the world of the future. Bitcoin can support artists, and artists can spread the word about bitcoin. United, they will defy the fiat monopoly over free thought and creativity.
This is a guest post by Stefan Dzeparoski. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
