IT USED TO BE WIRED
Made 2018

Crypto Art Collection

Very few early VESA works from the 2017-2019 period on the Bitcoin movement are minted as digital originals despite him being in this space full time for nearly 7 years now. It Used To Be Wired is a tribute to the likes of Nick Spanos, who pioneered the early NY crypto scene, and had to eventually leave the land of the free not being so free after all. The work is made via painting, photography and digital collaging over multiple days.

In this art piece the iconic NY island skyline is transformed by blockchain code, but this time Philippe Petit is not walking in between the WTC buildings as the man on a wire. He is walking from the Freedom Tower to the digital unknown. There are many blockchain ventures in the city, but many are moving out of NY and the United States due to a lack of entrepreneurial support. The question remains: "Will New York keep its pioneering spirit or drive out the future of finance?"

When conceptualising this piece in 2018 VESA first thought about the lasting frontier spirit of New York, the artists who have lived there and pioneering moves in Bitcoin really starting from a humble transatlantic pizza transaction. No matter what you think about 9/11 a part of its ghost is inescapably linked to the 2008 financial meltdown and the birth of digital currency. Knowing what we know now, most people in crypto try to avoid doing any business in the US, as it is among the most restrictive countries in the world to be involved with.