Zalman Berkowitz and the Bitcoin Ethos
Art as Decentralized Network, Creation as Proof of Work
The intersection between my artistic practice and Bitcoin’s philosophical foundation reveals surprising convergences—both systems reject centralized authority in favor of distributed participation, both require sustained effort to create lasting value, and both propose that meaning emerges from network effects rather than institutional validation. My work as painter, author, and performance poet embodies many of the same principles that drive Bitcoin’s revolutionary approach to value creation and community consensus.
Decentralized Creation vs. Institutional Gatekeeping
Bitcoin’s core mission aims to “eliminate intermediaries, democratize access to financial tools, and grant users unprecedented control over their assets.” My artistic practice operates on parallel principles, consistently working outside traditional gallery systems, art world hierarchies, and institutional validation mechanisms. Just as Bitcoin functions as “a trustless infrastructure” that “seeks to function independently of any social institutions,” my modular painting series like “Change Agents” and “Inner Changeable” create direct relationships between artwork and collector, bypassing traditional curatorial intermediaries.
The “Creative Destructions” series particularly embodies Bitcoin’s trustless philosophy by surrendering artistic control to participants. Rather than maintaining centralized authority over the final outcome, these works require collaborative completion—a distributed consensus model where the artwork’s final form emerges from collective participation rather than singular artistic vision. This mirrors Bitcoin’s revolutionary insight that value can be created and validated through network participation rather than institutional decree.
Proof of Work as Creative Methodology
Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism requires sustained computational effort to secure network transactions and create new value. My artistic practice employs similar principles of accumulated creative labor. Each geometric painting demands hours of precise mark-making, color calibration, and compositional refinement—a form of aesthetic proof-of-work that creates visual complexity through sustained effort over time.
The “Blockchain Games” series explicitly explores this parallel, investigating how sustained creative work generates both artistic and economic value through something closer to pure mathematical beauty than elaborate cultural positioning. Like Bitcoin miners who contribute computational power to secure the network while earning rewards for their efforts, my painting practice contributes visual intelligence to cultural conversations while creating objects of lasting value through accumulated creative work.
Network Effects and Distributed Meaning
Bitcoin represents “an attempt to establish an autonomous decentralised digital currency and payment system, making online transactions purely peer-to-peer without centralised mediation.” My artistic approach similarly emphasizes peer-to-peer meaning creation. The “Inner Changeable” series creates value through network effects—individual paintings gain significance through their capacity to connect and recombine with others, generating new meanings through collaborative arrangement rather than fixed institutional interpretation.
My performance poetry and “Flabbergasted Jabberwocky” mythical adventure novels extend this network thinking into literary and spoken territories. Characters like Flabbergasted Jabberwocky navigate adventures through collaborative relationships with other beings, creating meaning through distributed interaction rather than hierarchical authority. This reflects Bitcoin’s insight that the most robust systems emerge from voluntary participation by independent actors rather than centralized control.
Individual Sovereignty and Creative Autonomy
The Cypherpunk movement that birthed Bitcoin was “driven by a desire for privacy and autonomy in the digital age” and sought to combine “cryptography with libertarian ideals to challenge government control.” My artistic practice embodies similar principles of creative sovereignty. Working from my Arizona studio, I maintain complete control over artistic production, distribution, and pricing, refusing to surrender creative autonomy to gallery systems or institutional expectations.
The “conTEXTual” series explicitly explores themes of individual sovereignty by using language itself as architectural material. Just as Bitcoin empowers individuals to become their own banks, these paintings empower viewers to become active interpreters of meaning, discovering personal significance through direct engagement with text-based visual puzzles rather than relying on curatorial explanation.
Open Source Aesthetics and Transparent Process
Bitcoin’s open-source code allows anyone to verify, audit, and contribute to the system’s development. My artistic practice operates with similar transparency. The “Garagiste” series makes collaboration visible by completing abandoned student works, acknowledging multiple contributors rather than claiming singular authorship. This challenges traditional art world assumptions about individual genius while demonstrating how collective creativity can generate unexpected value.
My multidisciplinary approach—spanning painting, writing, and performance—reflects Bitcoin’s interoperability philosophy. Rather than creating isolated artistic products, I develop systems where different creative forms can interface and enhance each other, much like how Bitcoin protocols enable diverse applications while maintaining core network security.
Community Building Through Voluntary Participation
Bitcoin “epitomises a trustless system, a philosophical shift that underpins its existence” while calling for restructuring of existing institutional orders. My goal to “encourage audiences to become participants” mirrors Bitcoin’s transformation of passive consumers into active network contributors. Whether through interactive paintings that require physical manipulation, modular works that invite rearrangement, or performance poetry that depends on audience energy, my practice consistently seeks to dissolve boundaries between creator and participant.
The “Change Agents” series particularly embodies this philosophy by creating artwork specifically designed for spaces that lack traditional art world infrastructure—rental apartments, small offices, awkward corners. My aspiration to make art suitable for hanging above the toilet is not unlike Bitcoin’s mission to bank the unbanked- these works democratize access to meaningful aesthetic experience for communities and spaces typically excluded from gallery culture.
Resistance to Artificial Scarcity
While traditional art markets create value through artificial scarcity and exclusive access, my practice emphasizes abundance and accessibility. Like Bitcoin’s fixed supply that prevents arbitrary inflation, my artistic production maintains quality through proof-of-work methodology rather than market manipulation. The various series demonstrate how sustained creative effort can generate lasting value without requiring artificial limitations or institutional gatekeeping.
My work ultimately proposes that the same principles driving Bitcoin’s monetary revolution—decentralization, trustless interaction, proof-of-work validation, and network effects—can transform how we create, distribute, and value cultural production. Both Bitcoin and my artistic practice suggest that the most powerful innovations emerge not from institutional permission but from voluntary participation in systems that honor individual sovereignty while generating collective value through transparent, merit-based processes.
In embracing these shared principles, I am not simply creating art about Bitcoin but developing creative practices that embody the same philosophical foundations: the belief that decentralized networks of voluntary participants can generate more meaningful, resilient, and valuable outcomes than traditional hierarchical systems ever could.
So… that’s some of what’s been stuck in my craw lately (at least when I put my head up my ART 😉 —- What say you, eh? Is my fantasy of meaning close to how you see and feel things? What fresh insights are you dipping your toes in2? Reach out comment and share your impressions- let me know how this lands- and as always- what beauty you find, and where you are looking!
Up!
-Zal.
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