This New Zealand Artist Sees the Blockchain Differently

Simon Denny, an artist from New Zealand, is taking blockchain technology to a different level with his geeky art being displayed at the Petzel Gallery in New York City on September 8- October 22. Denny’s art exhibit features distributed ledger technology, the Risk board game, and Pokémon.

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Blockchains, Risk, Pokémon & Blythe Masters

It may seem unusual to describe blockchain technology through art. However, Denny is well known for this unconventional type of medium as he is famous for his three exhibitions called “The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom.” The artist made replica displays of Dotcom’s raid initiated by New Zealand Police. Now the 32-year-old is telling a story about blockchain technology with his artwork. The artist explains his artwork to the publication the Guardian:

I tried to make it accessible to people who haven’t heard of a cryptocurrency in a fun and easy way. — At least people are dreaming and seriously building a global financial system that is more fair to people.

His exhibition Blockchain Future States not only incorporates Pokémon, Ash Ketchum, and a Pokéball, the artwork also covers three prominent cryptocurrency advocates. This includes the CEO of Bitcoin startup 21 Inc, Balaji Srinivasan, Digital Asset Holdings, Blythe Masters, and Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin. These figures are placed among the theme of the 1959 war-based board game Risk. According to Denny, the three all have unique prerogatives and distinct characteristics in the industry as well as the game.

For instance, Blythe Masters was once referred to be messing around with “financial weapons of mass destruction” during her tenure at JP Morgan when she was in charge of derivative markets. The artist places her in a Risk game with different dice that represent world currencies. Meanwhile, Denny refers to Vitalik Buterin as the “the Luke Skywalker of the cryptocurrency circuit” in his interview with the Guardian.

New Zealand Artist Depicts Current Events & Future

Denny’s work is well known in London, the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington, and the artist was announced New Zealand’s representative at the 56th Venice Biennale. The established artist is also known for his research and art depicting the National Security Agency (NSA) through imagery. Denny’s latest exhibit shows his passion for cryptocurrency and why this technology is important. He explains:

Some of us don’t trust nation states and central banks to make our global systems work. That’s our start; the birth of Bitcoin.

The exhibit at the Petzel in New York this September should be an interesting display, to say the least. With a mash-up of the three interesting figures in blockchain-world, an old-school board game, and Pokémon features, it’s sure to make many geeks excited.

What do you think about Simon Denny? Let us know in the comments below.

Exhibit images via of bb9.berlinbiennale.de, Artwork created by Simon Denny, Cover image via artnews.com.

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