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The artists used the cash as a material for their works of art.Karina Monaca has a collection of notes inspired by Bitcoin, Caracas and paintings are famous.All venezuelan has, in any part of your home, a significant number of tickets that have no value in the present. The bolivar, the national currency of Venezuela, has undergone three transformations in its cone-monetary for the past 20 years. Because of this, it lives in the everyday life of the venezuelan scenes typical of a novel of fantastic realism; where tickets useless jump out of all the places and corners to upset the citizens that despise them.The bolivar, at least in their denominations most undervalued or out-of-course, it has become paper trash that litters the streets or serves as a wrapper for the christmas presents. Today, for example, I went to take the clothes out of the washing machine and I found myself in the bottom of she a ticket of 100 bolivars. Issued by the Central Bank of Venezuela to 2017, it is an extinct “bolivar fuerte” which is no longer found in circulation and are not serving to pay absolutely nothing.The bust of Simon Bolivar, hero of independence and celebrated as the “father of the fatherland”, decorates this gallant ticket yellow which was once the largest denomination in the country. The eyes of Bolívar seem to dig into me, reminding me silently how the value of the currency has been tumbling down like a house of cards.It is not strange to get bolivars lying in the streets of Venezuela as a method of protest for their lack of value. Fuente:@cryptolobopt.En through that feeling of uneasiness, I think of the chaos in the living venezuelans, that it has to be worth of the bolivar, the us dollar, the bitcoin, and even the gold to pay for their day-to-day. The relationship of the citizens with its fiat currency is stormy, since that is a reminder of the personal tragedies and impoverishment. However, against all odds, this conflict has given beautiful fruits to handicrafts and plastic art in venezuela.Karina F. Monaca, architect and a graduate in arts, is a living example of how the cash has transformed in Venezuela to become a material for expression. Monaca, along with many other artists, practice the art of revalue the bolivar by turning it into paintings, an activity that has allowed him to make the notes alluding to Bitcoin.
The bolivar as a canvas for Bitcoin
I spoke with Monaca on his activities as an artist, admired by the parade of colourful notes that you have in your account of Instagram (@RubbyCobain). A plague doctor stands in the now defunct ticket of 100 bolivars issued for the last time in 2008, urging the people to stay at home for the pandemic coronavirus. You can also find it in your gallery a replica of “The kiss” of Klimt, of “The starry night” of Van Gogh and even of the famous “girl with a Pearl earring” by Veermer.But among their beautiful banknotes and undeniable talent, I called the attention of a ticket in particular. It is a reinterpretation of “The creation of Adam” by michelangelo, where the hand of God and man unite to take a currency of Bitcoin. Karina has formed a series of three paintings inspired by Bitcoin, all with the peculiarity of being painted in one of the currencies most undervalued in the world.Monaca says that the first time he heard of Bitcoin was from a friend, which is immersed in the world of cryptocurrencies. “It is super-enthusiastic, is in charge of exhibitions and talks,” he said. In this way, became interested in the criptomoneda created by Satoshi Nakamoto, considering that it was a project how none had ever heard before. “I was interested because it is totally independent,” he said.Karina designs of these paintings-tickets on the basis of an irony, since it considered that it was “a mixture of things that are similar but totally different at the same time”. The bolivar is a paper currency of no value, while Bitcoin is digital money that is worth so much and the price appreciates in value. The game of double meaning the hooked and has made two other tickets of masked characters with Bitcoin to express the privacy that gives this criptomoneda to its users.
It’s like “take the best of both worlds” and combine them. In addition, Venezuela is one of the countries that has more handling of Bitcoin, I want to use all this information to please.Karina F. Monaca. Artist and Architect.
The artist makes orders for custom-made, producing a bolivar cypherpunk inspired by the group of bitcoiners @satoshienvzla. Ticket markets, but also owns a private collection of paintings designed by her.
A voice in protest
Although it has been enthusiastic about his art, which deals with Bitcoin, Karina Monaca takes little time making art about cryptocurrencies, especially if we take into account that the artist paints banknotes from the year 2015. The idea started due to the frustration he felt Monaca by the hyperinflation in the country, which had left without value to the ticket of the lowest denomination of that time.
It occurred to me because -at that time – I was in classes, with a ticket of 2bs in the hand. I thought: “There can be only one of these I can’t afford to camionetica”. Then I had the thought “rebel” so to speak, and I said to myself: “if this has no value then… I want to give it to me”, and I started drawing with a ballpoint pen.Karina Monaca, Artist and Architect.
The art and the tickets have become in the way of protest of Karina, as well as other so many venezuelans who have decided to use their devalued currency to transform it into something valuable. With the hashtag #Devaluarte, Monaca paint on the surface of these battered tickets to give them a second life. And it is, by means of the ingenuity and skill of these artists, the tickets stop being bolivars empty of all value to works of art comercializables.De this way, they prevent tickets ending up in the trash, and any person takes home a strange object, a product of a difficult economic situation, political and social. The protest Karina is maintained in its canvas of banknotes, with which he emigrated to Buenos Aires for three years already. However, in speaking with Karina, and talk about your art even you can feel his tone caracas, when it is called on Twitter “the chama that pint tickets”.Then, not only Bitcoin or famous paintings of accomplished artists are part of the gallery of Karina, but also paintings about the city of Caracas and its fauna. Macaws, The Plaza Altamira and the zealous Avila are part of their designs, like the memory of a society that keeps looking for ways to recover their economy and to safeguard the value of money.A concern that also mobilizes artists such as @Sandelosmuertos, @Recortamueve and the craftsmen stationed at the borders of Colombia and Venezuela, marketing portfolios and birds made of banknotes discontinued. It is a people so distressed with their currency, that trying to find a way to reinvent and that supports the dollar, the gold or the bitcoin to stay afloat.
Bitcoin sneaks into the art
Kara Monaco considers that the banknotes and bitcoin are two materials that are to remain in their creations. Above all to continue painting tickets, because it is conceived as part of his plastic language. “When I started doing this, it was considered a crime (it still is) but in that time you could pay for things with tickets, while more time passes: least you can do. I feel that I can continue taking advantage of it artistically,” he explained.Also, consider that Bitcoin has a lot of potential in the artistic world and just starting to see this trend. People are interested in producing works of art that talk about the privacy, decentralization, and the power that has given this criptomoneda to its users. In this sense, points out that this is a topic that people want to consume.
I’m sure that the criptomoneda is a subject that can be -and is – carrying of the hand-drawn art. There are people all over the world to do so. I hope to be able to participate in exhibitions and get to know more colleagues with which to share ideas and collaborate.Karina Monaco. Artist and Architect
And is that Karina is not the only one who is doing art, which deals with Bitcoin with tickets venezuelans. The founder of Atomica, Jon Tompkins, produced a giant box with bolivars out of circulation that make up the symbol of Bitcoin. Through a tweet, he noted that the venezuelan currency was relegated to the artistic use, since they had lost their economic value.Moving away from Venezuela and their tickets, in other latitudes of the globe have been shaped galleries for art disruptive inspired by Bitcoin. Also, the artists dedicated to murals, street have also been found in Bitcoin an ally, not only for inspiration but also to receive rewards for their works. In this way, the cryptocurrencies are increasingly present in the world of art as a symbol of protest or alternative method of payment.