Micah Johnson
‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē
Supporting a Decade of Change
Honestly, the perception of Bitcoin in the media has been eerily close to how black people have been perceived.
- Isaiah Jackson, author of Bitcoin and Black America
Micah Johnson on ‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē
“The work takes two real subjects (Jacque 8, Rayden 7) who have faced an adverse situation at a young age. The mission of this work started by simply wanting to empower them by letting them see themselves in high-art, but quickly turned into one of the most impactful use cases for Bitcoin and blockchain technology the world has ever seen.
Through the technological vision of Async and the potential growth of Bitcoin, society will be able to directly impact lives like never before.”
The Art
At first glance, ‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē is simple in its presentation: an astronaut stands on one side of an aged white door across from two boys, Jacque and Rayden, in a field. Every year on the boys’ respective birthdays, a Layer change reveals what each brother wants to be when they grow up along with a bitcoin wallet that anyone can contribute to. This symbolizes the boys’ opportunities to achieve their dreams, the door in the center opening further outward each year.
View on AsyncAbout the work
Micah Johnson’s ‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē is one of the first programmable artworks that synthesize artistic expression and call to action through his symbolic advocacy of two boys, Jacque and Rayden. A testament to the power of programmable art, the artwork documents two boys and allows its viewers to directly contribute to their cause.
At first glance, ‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē is simple in its presentation: an astronaut stands on one side of an aged white door across from two boys, Jacque and Rayden, in a field. Every year on the boys’ respective birthdays, a Layer change reveals what each brother wants to be when they grow up along with a bitcoin wallet that anyone can contribute to. This symbolizes the boys’ opportunities to achieve their dreams, the door in the center opening further outward each year.
When Jacque and Rayden turn 18, their figures disappear from the Master artwork and they receive access to their bitcoin wallets.
The astronaut on the left, a hyper-detailed replica used in some of your most favorite Hollywood films, is the only Layer that can be owned by a collector. This collector has the ability to reveal the astronaut or tease the viewers by choosing the state change that shows the astronaut removing the helmet.
Starting in 2021, a Dai wallet was also created to add another source of contribution for the boys. Dai is a completely decentralized stablecoin that is governed by the MakerDAO community. Like Bitcoin, Dai seeks to return governance and control back to its users.
The piece is a symbolic act of sovereignty, an independent solution to an ongoing national conversation about equity, diversity, and inclusion. The boys both have big dreams about who they want to be, but are required to step through a door to the other side in order to achieve their greatness. They visibly point and wondrously smile at the astronaut, a representation of their greatness, but cannot yet step over to the other side. Their birthdays present an opportunity for viewers to help them cross over to achieve their dreams, an opportunity to support and make a difference in spite of a growing national concern about fair opportunity for people of color in the United States.
Read more on our blog postBeginning on December 7, 2020, sä-v(ə-)rən-tē will be displayed on the Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The artwork will go through several unique changes based on time of day.
