Artist
- BavarianHodl
AKA
- Bitkushin
About the Artist
I usually don’t speak to our guests at 21ism via video, but when I do… boy do they deliver. While graphic artist, designer & musician BavarianHodl (AKA Bitkushin) hails from the streets of Munich as his twitter handle implies, he’s in the early stages of thinking about how life could pan-out living in Costa Rica as a Digital Nomad.
Sitting with his back against a jaw-dropping countryside of Costa Rica’s rain forest and lit by the early morning sun, he was clearly delighted with his recent decision to trade the snow of Munich for the warmth of Central America.
FORGING A PATH TO HIS PERMACULTURE CITADEL
"It’s freer, they don’t have the hassles we have in Europe, it’s super warm, I just learned how to surf and I can work from here."
He hasn’t fully committed to staying – seeing himself, his girlfriend and their 3-year old child as being on a very extended vacation rather than full migration there currently – but he is keeping his eyes open for properties there. His dream? To establish a permaculture farm in his own idyllic mountain-flanked citadel – a change from how he’s making a living today as a graphic artist and designer, building websites for both large & small companies and NGOs (one of which he even recently got into accepting Bitcoin).
"I’m pretty interested in permaculture – the art of sustainable farming. You have your water circling around your property instead of passing through – you can pretty much do all of it here."
ANARCHY, INDEPENDENCE AND EDUCATION
Since an early age, BH has been naturally curious and non-conformist, flirting with the whole political spectrum from communism to anarchism. His independent mindset led him and his ex-wife to home educating their two (now grown) children despite the fact that it is illegal to do so in Germany. They managed to make it work, though, and believes it is still “totally doable” for anyone considering it today.
"I’ve been a punk, I’ve been an anarchist – since I was 10 or 11 years old. Maybe a bit of communism in there in the beginning – but didn’t we all start out as lefties? That was my journey from punk, to anarchism and growing out of the leftism…but everyone needs to care about themselves first to understand the needs of everybody else.
"
His first touchpoint with the world of Bitcoin began at the start of the Bitcoin bear market in 2018 but he forgot about it until a year later when another friend encouraged him to take another look with some well-placed resources for him to learn his way forward on his own.
INSPIRING AND BEING INSPIRED
"You need to start the Bitcoin journey by yourself – you have to wrap your head around this thing because it’s not just money – it’s so much more. You think you’re getting into a bathtub when really you’re getting into an ocean."
He dipped his toes into the thriving Bitcoin scene in Munich and connected with local Bitcoiners who helped to fan his Bitcoin flames. One of whom was Pretyflaco, not only pushed him in the right direction with his early Bitcoin learnings and helped him set-up his RaspiBlitz full-node, but worked with him on Hyperbitcoinized – a printed Bitcoin calendar that features hundreds of Cypherpunk quotes set against street art from around the globe.
He has since started another project – Dashrrr – which provides an interactive display for Clark Moody’s web-based Bitcoin Dashboard but can also be used for displaying digital art.
"I fell in love with Clark Moody’s dashboard. It’s special because it shows all the key figures of Bitcoin on one page and you don’t have to scroll anywhere. It’s constantly moving – you see Bitcoin breathing and living."
DELIVERING THE GOODS
The displays, which are driven by a range of small Raspberry Pi’s, and are designed to stimulate conversations with precoiners and to help onboard them, especially in office settings. They come in four sizes – the MINI which frames a 7” Android tablet (399 Euro), the 13.3” HD touch MIDI (599 Euro), the 27” HD touch MAXI (2999 Euro) and THE BIGGEST – a 75” 4K 24/7 signage display (7999 Euro) suited more for the large offices that some of his corporate clients have the space for. Each of them are available for around half that cost if you elect to DIY the build. He works with a carpenter who builds and paints the frame, to provide a beautifully finished product that somewhat hides the wood with its supersmooth finish but still lets it come through in parts.
I really enjoyed this conversation with Bavarian Hodl – he’s a free-thinking, defiant, William Rees-Mogg-channeling Sovereign Individual who is creating and contributing to the world of Bitcoin with his own special set of skills and creating beautiful products dedicated to one of the most noble Bitcoin causes; inspiring and educating pre-coiners.
He is still in the process of setting up his storefront, so if you want a permanent display of the Bitcoin network’s machinery doing its thing in real-time on one of his beautifully configured Dashrrr displays – even customised for your own style and needs – reach out to him on twitter @BavarianHodl.