Badiucao, Chinese artist and activist, talks about the importance of NFTs for political activism, the role of China in his career as an artist, the significance of blockchain technologies to resist censorship, and much more.
Show highlights:
- why Badiucao became an artist and how the censorship in China brought him to NFTs
- how Badiucao only learned about Tiananmen Square when he was 22 years old
- why Badiucao took up work as a preschool teacher in Australia
- how anonymity is important for Chinese activists for their family’s safety
- the intention of Badiucao’s art and what is he trying to express
- the repercussions of Badiucao’s activism
- why Badicuao eventually gave up his anonymity
- why Badiucao decided to issue art as NFTs and what possibilities he sees in NFTs
- how Badiucao enabled people to write a message of protest in the blockchain with the launch of his NFT and how this represented the first large mass protest written into the blockchain
- whether the Beijing Winter Olympics is an outrage and a disgrace for the international community and how this inspired Badiucao’s NFT collection Beijing 2022
- how Niki approached the issue of the possibility of having the art taken down
- how Badiucao used NFTs to help Ukraine due to the war
- the reasons political art has so much value, and how NFTs enable possibilities for all political artists around the world
- whether NFTs are much more than just some apes, and how learning about art is important
- how to get started as a political artist and the importance to remain truthful
- the significance of using power as an artist
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EPISODE LINKS
Badiucao
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/badiucao
- Website: https://www.badiucao.com/
Niki
- Website: http://nikiselken.com/
Documentary about Badiucao:
60 Minutes interview: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/badiucao-60-minutes-2021-12-26/
Unveiling his identity: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/asia/china-tiananmen-cartoonist-badiucao.html?searchResultPosition=1
The importance of NFTs
- How Activists are Using NFTs as Civil Disobedience: https://www.jumpstartmag.com/how-activists-are-using-nfts-as-civil-disobedience/
- Nadya Tolokonnikova on NFTs with social messages: https://editorial.brytehall.com/nadya-tolokonnikova-on-nfts-with-social-messages-and-shock-value/
- Unchained Coverage: This Noble Family’s Art Was Taken by Nazis, But Is Being Saved by NFTs: https://unchainedpodcast.com/this-noble-familys-art-was-taken-by-nazis-but-is-being-saved-by-nfts/
- Unchained Coverage: Punk6529 on the Significance of Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks: https://unchainedpodcast.com/punk6529-on-the-significance-of-bored-ape-yacht-club-and-cryptopunks/
- Unchained Coverage: Why This Environmentalist Doesn’t Blame Creators for the Carbon Footprint of NFTs: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-this-environmentalist-doesnt-blame-creators-for-the-carbon-footprint-of-nfts/
Beijing 2022 Collection
- https://www.badiucao.com/nft
- Badiucao launches NFT collection to protest against China’s human rights record on eve of Beijing Winter Olympics: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/02/01/badiucao-launches-human-rights-protest-nft-collection-on-eve-of-beijing-winter-olympics
NFTs for Ukraine Collection
