019 - Martin Leskovjan: Parallel Structures, Subversive Art & Liberating Minds
Episode description
Today I'm talking with Martin Leskovjan.
Martin is a member of the subversive Czech art collective Ztohoven and co-founder of Paralelni Polis which is one of the collective’s better known projects, also the site of the world’s first bitcoin-only cafe.
This is a conversation about art and the power to influence. Ztohoven are a band of merry pranksters with a desire to provoke emotion and open minds and I talk with Martin about many of their projects and whether it is possible to create parallel social structures that can liberate people.
Martin is a fascinating and inspiring individual, one of many good people I had the pleasure and privilege to meet in Prague for this series and I sincerely hope you enjoyed the discussions as much as I did.
Enjoy the conversation:
A.I. generated summary:
00:10 - Introduction to this episode.
06:32 - Spreading awareness of Bitcoin.
13:14 - The Artistic side of the collective.
20:12 - The fetish of national and state symbols.
26:55 - How did the idea of the red underpants come about?
30:34 - Trolling on the internet vs. trolling on 4chan.
37:32 - What is Ztohoven's latest project?
41:56 - The beginnings of the art collective.
48:49 - What was the intention behind the creation of Paralelni Polis?
54:06 - Organising the Hackers congress.
1:01:36 - The price of being ungovernable.
1:09:57 - What is meme culture?
1:19:22 - Being compelled to be subversive.
1:23:58 - The tools of crypto-anarchy.
1:28:13 - The transition from centralized systems to decentralised systems.
1:33:47 - The fall of Rome.
1:37:44 - Awareness of cryptography tools.
1:44:37 - Problems with the current state of activism.
LINKS:
Liberty In Our Lifetime 2023: https://libertyinourlifetime.org/
TWITTER:
Martin Leskovjan: https://twitter.com/LeskovjanMartin
Timothy Allen: https://twitter.com/MrTimothyAllen
WEBSITES:
Ztohoven: http://www.ztohoven.com/
Paralelni Polis: https://www.paralelnipolis.cz/
Free Cities Foundation: https://free-cities.org/
VIDEOS:
The official burning of the red boxer shorts: http://shorturl.at/mqrxU
The Triggering of Shia | He Will Not Divide Us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4h3jwJob0