(0xSalon) I initiated and administer a para-institutional project named the 0xSalon, which is a collective endeavour that critically interrogates digital culture through discourse events and residencies, producing scholarly and creative interventions in the process. We are conducting an ongoing, non-profit experiment in knowledge sharing and collective cultural production. Peruse the topics we research and discuss, check out the outputs of our artistic, theoretical, and literary experiments, or listen to our occasional SalonCast audio reports.
(journal) I’m Technology Editor & write a column ‘Tour d’Horizon’ at the MIT Computational Law Report. Currently working on an article series titled ‘(Mis)adventures in Crypto-Governance’. Read here.
(consultations) I work on economics, design, and philosophy of peer-to-peer systems at BlockScience, and am a crypto-art Mentor at the Collecteurs Academy. These are the best ways to engage with me on creative, epistemic, and technical matters pertaining to digital art, tokens, peer-to-peer networks, and everything in-between. If you prefer to book in with me directly, you may do so here.
(pedagogy) I teach courses, convene workshops, and give lectures at universities, arts festivals, and conferences around the world. These cover a wide range of technical, philosophical, and creative topics. Details upon request.
(artistic residency) Myself and 0x Salon were jointly awarded a S+T+ARTS Repairing The Present residency, funded by the European Commission. We were in residence at Art Hub Copenhagen throughout ‘22, working on a critical programme of creative and speculative works titled ‘The Art of Indifference’ which resulted in a theatre production in Denmark, an interactive storytelling environment, and exhibitions at MEET in Milan and ZKM in Karlsruhe. More here.
2024
(upcoming) I’m currently working on ‘Scenes From A Memorypool’, a ‘prosaic mosaic’ of weird texts for an upcoming anthology publication. Research is ongoing for ‘Prophet Motives’ and ‘The Chain Mail Gaze’ creative and theoretical works, in preparation for presentations, exhibitions, and book projects.
I’ll be speaking, performing, and exhibiting at various things within and beside the official program of the Ethereum Devcon Conference in Bangkok in mid-November. I’m attending the conference as a sci-fi writer, and will have new works ‘études -inities’ on display at the exhibition within the conference. I’ll also be speaking at various events, including the Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress and at Devcon itself.
The Chain Mail Gaze
(October) ::: a short poetic text “المستحيل مكتوب // Al-mustahil Maktoub,“ on writing, geometry, and divinity has been published. Read on the 0xSalon webjournal.
(Early October) ::: Dissonant Cartomancies: A God That Does Play Dice @ Unsound Festival
Art and theory collective 0xSalon presents an unpredictable experience at Unsound Festival, harnessing randomness to deliberately destabilise one of the most stilted conversational forms: the panel discussion. For the past few years, 0xSalon has been developing a bespoke discourse card game, FAU0X SALON, which facilitates bizarre conversations—veering wildly between the sublime and the ridiculous—that would otherwise be impossible. An expanded and updated version of the card deck has been re-engineered to act as a chaotic stochastic moderator, shifting agency away from human facilitators and placing faith in chance and dissonance. Unsound Festival has graciously volunteered to be the test subjects for this deranged experiment—or, as the music industry would call it, a "world premiere."
(August 19) ::: The Chain Mail Gaze presentation @Web3 Summit, Funkhaus, Berlin ::: More info With their dreams of new ‘Network State’ empires, resource extraction, and colonial domination, today’s tech overlords are the descendants of Europe’s mediaeval Crusaders: well-financed, zealous fanatics remaking the world in the name of their greater good. Through a psycho-political reading of scarcity, chauvinism, and colonialism, The Chain Mail Gaze connects Crusader ideologues’ desire for blood, land, and booty, to emerging ‘frontiers’ mediated by contemporary technologies.
19/8/24 The Chain Mail Gaze @ Web3 Summit, Berlin
(August 7-11) ::: 0xSalon @Dweb Camp, California ::: More info I’ll be hosting a 0xSalon discussion on ‘The Price of Anarchy’ at Dweb Camp in California. Get in touch if you’re attending.
(July 29-31) ::: Summer School @Unsound Lab, Sokołowsko, Poland ::: More info I’ll be present as a mentor at the Unsound Lab summer school this year, facilitating discussions on technology, networks, solidarity, and community.
(July 4-6) ::: Solidiarity Program @Norbergfestival, Sweden ::: More info I’ll be curating a small discourse program and will give a talk on ‘The Chain Mail Gaze’ at the 25th edition of Norbergfestival in Sweden this summer. I wrote this festival solidarity statement.
Wassim Z. Alsindi - The Chain Mail Gaze @ Norbergfestival 2024 by 0xSalon
(July 3-4) ::: Herbert W. Franke Generative Art Summit @ Akademie der Kunst, Berlin::: More Info I’ll participate in an event commemorating the history of generative art across generations and the globe. More than 50 leading pioneers active across seven decades of generative art, working with photography, analog and digital computers to artificial intelligence.
(article) Max Haiven & myself in conversation for Outland on Bitcoin, time, and power. Read here.
(fiction) a small selection of my governance-themed fictional vignette series ‘Every Prophet Is A Loss’ were included in the third issue of NOIA Magazine, which is out now. Read here, or go here for more info & to purchase a copy.
(radio discussion) On Alternative Education with Aliaskar Abarkas :: Listen again Listen back to a discussion around pedagogical and organisational aspects of the 0xSalon on Aliaskar Abarkas' "On Alternative Education" radio show on RTM.fm.
Image: Christina Cushing.
(Sunday April 14th, 14h00) ::: Nervous Systems @Institute of Contemporary Art, London ::: More info I’ll be speaking on ideologies of scarcity and systems on the brink of failure at the upcoming Nervous Systems symposium at ICA London.
As the planet warms, and markets commoditise all that humanity holds dear, technologically-mediated systems predicated upon ideologies of scarcity threaten to destabilise our fragile planetary balance. At one extreme is the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, with its landmark invention of metaphysical finitude and leaderless operation through its proof-of-work "mining" function. The price of Bitcoin's anarchy is its unlimited desire for energy, and its indifference to the ecological and economic consequences. Far from being an autonomous system, Bitcoin relies on the constant efforts of an army of faithful human actors. These acolytes are so steadfast in their ideological and financial alignment with the network, that it would seem that they would rather see an end to the world than a change to their sacrosanct protocol.
At the other end of the scale, is the age-old contest over the physical: land, sea, and now space. Today, new cryptographic colonialisms are emerging, as an ascendant cabal of messianic technology elites attempt to reshape the world map in their favour. These would-be patriarchs are challenging the nation-state system itself, by creating counter-sovereignties and privatised zones of exception such as the emerging organisational paradigm of so-called "Network States". The desires driving new conquests in old frontiers echo throughout history, resonating particularly strongly with the 'militarised pilgrimages' of the Middle Ages best known as the Crusades.
(Thursday February 29th ’24, 19h30) ::: Digital Summit @ Art Dubai ::: More info I’ll be participating on a panel ‘How Independent Communities are Unlocking the Future of Culture’ at Art Dubai, alongside Carlota Naviera, Celine Katzman, Ana Maria Caballero, and Brian Droitcour.
DIGITAL SUMMIT: HOW INDEPENDENT COMMUNITIES ARE UNLOCKING THE FUTURE OF CULTURE
We explore the transformative role of independent communities in shaping the future of culture, highlighting their contribution to a more inclusive and participatory cultural landscape. We examine the synergy between these entities in fostering cultural innovation and address the challenges and opportunities ahead for creating a dynamic and resilient future.
(Saturday February 24th ’24, 13h-21h) ::: CYBERNETIC SERENDIPITY symposium @ Institute of Contemporary Art, London ::: More info I’ll be representing the 0xSalon in London later this month to commemorate the seminal 1968 ICA exhibition of the same name. More information and tickets available here.
01/02/24 The Immaculate Misconception Performance at panke.gallery
(Thursday February 1st ’24, 19h30-late) ::: The Immaculate Misconception Performance & Afterparty @ panke.gallery, Berlin ::: More info Join us at panke.gallery from 19h30 on Thursday 1st Feb for a gameplay/performance of THE IMMACULATE MISCONCEPTION (0xSalon, 2022): an interactive journey through a hundred years of Bitcoin’s past, present, and possible futures. To celebrate our 4th birthday, we’ll takeover the Panke Culture club space until late with friends cute white boy, urs.px, omzehn, and $HASHY.
(Saturday January 27th ’24, 16-18h) ::: Sensing The Unseeable: how scientific discovery shapes who we are ::: More info 0xSalon Discussion at Galerie Im Turm, Frankfurter Tor 1, 10243. Free entry and open to all.
This Vorspiel-affiliated event is part of the exhibition series Schwindel, of which the latest iteration Dort, wo das Nichts ist presents works by Yen Chun Lin and Tanja Nis-Hansen.
How does science represent the world? And what does the sky teach us about ourselves? In this discursive group session, we will collectively probe the ways in which the scientific image - the world picture established by centuries of methodical and formalised discovery - shatters and recomposes the manifest image: how humankind conceives of itself. Looking at the history of our understanding of space, will enable us to take stock of the implications to knowledge carried over by the paradigms we choose to interpret reality.
2023
(2023) 0xSalon Year-In-Review article just dropped ::: read it here
(event) I give a special ‘Constantinople Edition’ lecture on Prophet Motives at AVTO in Istanbul on Saturday 18th November at 19:00. Recording to follow & details here.
'Fau0x Salon' Discussion with Wassim Z. Alsindi and Max Haiven
(discussion) Myself and Max Haiven spoke ‘On Play and Pedagogy’ for the closing symposium of ‘The Seashore of Endless Worlds’ exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland. The exhibition contained a card game ‘FAU0X SALON’ which Wassim and friends have been working for for several years. More on the exhibition here.
(podcast) I recently appeared on the ‘Overthrowing The Network State’ podcast alongside The Blockchain Socialist and BlockchainGov’s Primavera De Filippi, to discuss my ongoing work on prophecy, capital, and empire-building.
Protocol Berg: Wassim Z. Alsindi - (mis)adventures in governance
The 0xSalon recorded an audio conversation recollecting and extending recent salon discussions. With Wassim Alsindi, Martina Cavalot, Jasmine Erkan, Ellie Hain, Kei Kreutler, Alessandro Longo & Karin Valis.
(writings) An essay ‘Necroprimitivism Rising’ on the cult of proof-of-work is included in the second issue of the Agorism XXI journal. Exploring the dark kernel of techno-nihilism driving the social dynamics of the Bitcoin network's most faithful adherents, I've been trying to put these sentiments into words for a very long time. Through many failed attempts, the serendipity of creative accidents produced poetry, scripture, visual art, and satirical theatre which is all fittingly embedded within the text. Read the journal here.
(interview) Did an interview in the peak of summer with Balazs from Paris-Budapest Metro, covering the origins of the 0xSalon, contemporary trends in culture and technology, the failed dream of the internet, and where techno-colonialism might be going next. Watch here.
(essay) ‘Prophet Motives &Knightwork States’ is out in the wild, published by the kind folks at Folklore. Really very happy to push this out into the world, and looking forward to discussing and elaborating upon the various threads that this text opens up. This essay, part of a larger body of work ongoing for several years now, explores entanglements between technology, capital, and spirituality, with particular emphasis on the neocolonial desires of would-be empires and their self-appointed messiahs. Read here.
(interview) Epochalypse Now? Listen back to a deep two-hour conversation exploring the theoretical underpinnings of my recent research on proof-of-work, symbolic economies, socio-technical steering, messiah complexes, and new regimes of temporal production. I regret to inform you that Baudrillard, Greenspan, Daggett, Land, Deleuze, Kant, Nakamoto, and Agamben are all in there. Thanks to Dustin Breitling and Diffractions Collective for being such considered hosts! Diffractions Collective website.
Aeonic Epochalypse w/ Wassim Alsindi by Diffractions Collective
(symposium) I participated in Amsterdam’s FIBER Festival Symposium mid-May, discussing 'Fragmented Collectivity: new ways of collective, decentralised, and careful togetherness' with fellow 0x Salon epistemic troublemaker Alice Yuan Zhang. Watch here.
(book) I co-wrote a new foreword to Anna Greenspan’s Ph.D. thesis ‘Capitalism’s Transcendental Time Machine’, for a book edition now available via Miskatonic Virtual University Press. Read it here.
Broadcast Edition ::: 22 Years of Transcendental Time Machines
(presentation) I gave a ‘Prophet Motives’ lecture at the Philosophy Department at the University of the West of England recently. Watch here.
(AMA/interview) The AMA session I did with Collecteurs Academy is available here.
(music) A recently rediscovered ancient sonic excavation: The Cave of Blue Moonlight (2013). Stream / download here.
(panel) I recently joined old friend Mad Bitcoins and The Bitcoin Group on The World Crypto Network livestream, where we discussed proof-of-work amongst other things. Watch here.
(articles) A short piece on Bitcoin eschatologies ‘In The State Machine of Nature, Nothing Will Be Lost’ was published on the occasion of 업체eobchae’s solo exhibition eoracle, at DOOSAN Gallery, Seoul. Some clippings here.
No Gods, No Master(Node)s: Decentralisation, Delegation & Dissent on the Timechain // Wassim Alsindi
(exhibitions) The 0xSalon’s interactive storytelling environment ‘THE IMMACULATE MISCONCEPTION’ was exhibited at MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan in October. A video documenting our satirical play ‘THE BLACK HOLE OF MONEY’ will be presented at ZKM in Karlsruhe in November. More information here, and some mainstream press coverage.
THE BLACK HOLE OF MONEY Theatre Premiere presented by CLICK Festival (Helsingor, Denmark, 19/8/22)
The Art of Indifference: Wassim Z. Alsindi & the 0x Salon's STARTS Residency Video (full)
(theatre premiere) The 0xSalon debuted our new satirical play about Bitcoin recently! ‘THE BLACK HOLE OF MONEY’ was presented by CLICK at the Kulturvaeftet, Helsingør, Denmark on Friday August 19th. Get in touch to discuss future presentations. More info here.
(dialogue article) Over a few weeks in spring’22, I co-authored a dialogue entitled ‘Notes on Phygitality’ with Charlie Robin Jones. The end result was published in NXS WORLD, Issue#6 which is available in print from all fine outlets. You can now read it online here.
(memes) I recently did an interview for Spectrum in Milan around Memetic Countercultures. Read here.
(consultations) Pleased to announce that I am now a Collecteurs Academy Mentor! This is the best way to reach me for discussions on creative, epistemic, and technical matters pertaining to digital art, tokens, peer-to-peer networks, and everything in-between. Book in with me here.
(radio play) The 0x Salon recently published ‘SWAN FAKE’ (February’22), an improvised radio play that was initiated by the Black Swan Working Group at Trust in early’21. Listen here.
(article) writings on the hows and whys of tokenised art ‘JPEGing The Question: Histories and Futures of Immateraliality’ (February’22) is now available on RightClickSave, a new critical discourse platform. Read here.
(article) my article ‘Bitcointingency: An Economics of Indeterminacy’ (February’22) has been published by Weird Economies, an art platform exploring idiosyncrasies of speculative finance. Read here.
(article) I wrote the feature essay ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Tokenised’ (January’22) for issue#70 of Spike Art Magazine, critiquing digital art. Read here.
(interview) Berlin Art Link interviewed me about the 0x Salon, memes, GANs and token art (January’22). Read here.
Archive Selections: 2021 and Prior
(interview) I did an extensive interview on Bitcoin and tokenisation which is in print in ‘The Speculative Issue’ of Awham Magazine (October’21). Now online here.
(articles) co-authored IPR Glossaries on Cryptoeconomics (April’21) & Mining (April’21)
(video) Vancouver-based 221a hosted a special streamed conversation for the Blockchains & Cultural Padlocks project on the theme of Patricia Reed’s recent piece ‘The Valuation of Necessity: A Cosmological View of Our Technologies & Culture’. I spoke on ‘Metrics, Limits and Externalities’ (June’21). Watch on YouTube.
Wassim Z. Alsindi PhD Wassim operates at the intersection of intersections, chronicling visions, designs, and externalities of contemporary technologies across context and episteme. Wassim holds a Ph.D. in ultrafast physics, co-founded MIT’s Cryptoeconomic Systems journal, and has performed, lectured, and exhibited in over 25 countries.
