Steve Pikelny: Crypto and the Art of Satire

Collectors Call

Steve Pikelny is a Brooklyn-based artist with a background in engineering and finance. He is known for his crypto, web-based, and generative art that combines satire, absurdism, and postmodernism. His work often involves creating fake websites and launching scams to highlight the social and economic narratives people build around digital ownership and value. His most recent project is FinSexy, a satirical art project that critiques the intersection of online fetish culture, financial exploitation, and digital economies.
Recorded on June 21, 2024 as a Space on X.
Follow the guest:
https://twitter.com/steviepxyz
Follow the host:
https://twitter.com/0x_Scooter
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:42) Working as Mutual Fund Analyst with MorningStar
(05:29) Exploring Creativity through Art and Code
(09:39) Absurdist Children's Story, "You are not Special"
(14:47) Parodying the Crypto Ecosystem with FastCashMoneyPlus.biz
(18:04) Combining Religious & Financial Themes with CryptoGodKing
(21:36) Financial Nihilism and the Crypto Space
(25:29) ETF: an Art Project that Functions as a Financial Instrument
(30:28) Questioning Instant Gratification with Dopamine Machines
(33:36) FinSexy: Experiential Art Satirizing the Extractive Nature of Crypto
(42:00) Parallels between Crypto and FinDom Communities
(49:00) Instructions for Defacement: Making PFPs out of the US Dollar
(55:06) Turning a Scam into Art with Negative Value Certificates
(1:01:10) Final Thoughts from Steve
(1:01:53) Outro