By admin 
Parker Day and Casey Rodarmor’s FUN! Assortment is an unprecedented synthesis of photographic maximalism and protocol-level innovation—a piece that stands alone inside the panorama of Bitcoin-native artwork. Saturated with Day’s daring coloration palette, surreal personas, and layered id play, the gathering is anchored by Rodarmor’s foundational function because the creator of the Ordinals protocol. Most notably, the collection is inscribed straight below Inscription 0—the primary inscription ever made utilizing the Ordinals Protocol—marking it as an ontological outlier within the digital artwork canon. No different assortment occupies this identical foundational location on-chain, making FUN! a conceptual and technical landmark in Ordinals historical past.
Now expanded with new reflections from each collaborators, this interview explores the undertaking’s deeper ideological dimensions—from the mechanics of trustless auctions to the ethics of creative compensation, from professional wrestling and portraiture to capitalist generosity and the social roots of worth. Collectively, Day and Rodarmor kind a uncommon artistic pairing: artist and dev, photographer and protocol architect, equal components absurdity and rigor.
One of many assortment’s most iconic works—that includes Rodarmor himself—is about to headline the Megalith.art public sale, a Bitcoin-native sale construction that concludes on June third and can be showcased at each Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas and its satellite tv for pc occasion, Inscribing Vegas. The piece anchors a broader lineup that features standout contributions from main digital artists reminiscent of Submit Wook, Coldie, Ryan Koopmans, FAR, Rupture, and Harto.
It’s much less an interview than a glimpse right into a high-voltage collaboration:
Parker, your images is thought for its daring coloration, eccentric characters, and fearless exploration of id and persona. How did this collaboration with Casey come about, and what visible or cultural influences helped form The FUN! Assortment?
PARKER: Casey and I’ve recognized one another since highschool. You could possibly even say he was one in all my first fashions—I shot his portrait for my sophomore 12 months darkroom images class. We stored in contact over time, and in 2017 he inspired me to show my ICONS collection into crypto artwork. I handed on that on the time, however in 2021 I did launch an Ethereum NFT assortment of ICONS. Proper after that, Casey known as me and stated, “Yo! It’s good to go even larger! Do 10k!” And I’m like, “You realize these are all unretouched and shot on movie, proper?” However along with his encouragement and funding, we discovered produce 1,000 distinctive portraits.
The visible and cultural influences behind FUN! are too quite a few to call—only a mishmash of popular culture that’s been stewing in my mind since childhood.
The FUN! assortment was launched below a CC0 license, that means anybody can reuse, remix, or recontextualize the work with out restriction. In a undertaking so rooted in persona, authorship, and efficiency, what led you to make that call—and the way do you concentrate on authorship or creative management within the context of open licensing on Bitcoin? What would you discover fascinating to see executed with the gathering past your unique images methodology? What sorts of reinterpretations or mutations of the gathering would genuinely intrigue you?
PARKER: I like it. As an artist, when you create one thing and it leaves the studio, it’s out of your fingers. The viewers shapes the work in their very own interpretations. You don’t have any management over it. It appears foolish to say “that is my IP, you may’t do something with it.” We stay in a world of memes, of replica advert infinitum. It appears anachronistic in as we speak’s world to clutch copyright with an iron fist. And it’s completely in step with the ethos of Bitcoin to make the work CC0. When it comes to worth, the inscriptions are the scarce collectibles. Much more so than any editioned prints will ever be. Their inscriptions’ provenance is on chain, straight descended from inscription 0.
There’s nothing particularly that I’d wish to see or not wish to see executed with FUN! I simply hope individuals discover that means in it, and make that means from it.
You two have an uncommon artistic relationship: artist and protocol dev, patron and co-conspirator. Casey, you mainly invented a brand new medium to help Parker’s work. What does it imply to construct one thing enduring collectively in an area that always prizes individualism?
CASEY: I like it. I imply—I actually like it. Parker and I are tremendous complementary. We every have our personal sturdy wheelhouses, and we’re all the time partaking with one another’s work, however on this very chill, supportive approach.
Like, once we’re capturing, I’ll inform her what I believe seems cool or what may work nicely within the assortment—nevertheless it’s by no means directive. It’s extra like, “Hey, right here’s some knowledge. Do with it what you’ll.” And identical goes for the technical stuff. We’ll discuss metadata, domains, the web site format—she provides me her ideas, and it’s simply… enter. Take it or depart it.
We’re each so stable in our personal lanes that it makes collaboration straightforward. There’s no bizarre insecurity. She’s the artistic power behind the gathering—I do know that. I’m the technical spine—and she or he is aware of that. That type of readability makes it enjoyable.
And actually, I’m simply actually happy with this partnership. We’ve been in one another’s lives in a constructive approach for thus lengthy—since highschool. Parker’s given me Bitcoin haircuts. I used to be bugging her to do NFTs in 2017. Even once we’d go lengthy stretches with out speaking, we all the time checked again in.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Noticed you on Twitter.”
“Noticed you on Instagram.”
It’s simply a kind of nice, long-running collaborations that’s rooted in mutual respect—and a shared willingness to go bizarre.
Casey, did you draw on any previous modeling expertise—or take notes from Raph? And what was it like working below Parker’s route: extra Kubrick or camp counselor?
CASEY: I believe I used to be fairly self-directed for the shoot. I wasn’t drawing on previous modeling expertise precisely—extra like theater child vitality. I’ve all the time liked skilled wrestling. It’s extremely cool… and in addition extremely formulaic, so I get bored if I watch an excessive amount of. However each couple of years, I examine again in, see what the storylines are.
For this shoot, I knew precisely how I needed to ham it up—like an expert wrestler. That wild, sweaty, insane vitality. The spiked ball pressed in opposition to my face. All of the bizarre faces. American professional wrestling is tremendous operatic, actually.
The character I used to be channeling? Largely Final Warrior. Parker actually nailed the eyes—these basic, intense Final Warrior eyes. He wore wild make-up and had that jacked-up look. Ric Aptitude was one other affect—primarily for the hair. He had this lengthy blond hair, and when it bought bloody within the ring, it seemed insane.
As for Parker—undoubtedly extra camp counselor than Kubrick. She units the scene: every thing prepared, hair and make-up dialed, wardrobe laid out. We talked by way of the costumes a bit. She’ll give route, a couple of hints right here and there—nevertheless it’s actually as much as the mannequin to carry it.
You possibly can embrace that (Casey snaps his fingers.)
Yeah. You realize? You realize.
The FUN! assortment options an interactive web site the place guests can filter portraits by temper, prop, background coloration—even astrological signal. What impressed that type of performance?
PARKER: Earlier than FUN!, I had been fascinated about an exhibition that grouped images based mostly on emotional expression. Despite the fact that the personas might seem wildly totally different, the core humanity is identical. I’ve all the time tried to equate disparate identities by capturing individuals in the identical approach—with easy material backdrops that strip away time and place.
The FUN! web site (fun.film), displays this concept: distinction in sameness, or sameness in distinction. It’s a software for play—but additionally a technique to replicate on id in a fragmented age.
Casey, you’ve described your self as a capitalist—however you’ve additionally given away instruments without spending a dime and pursued an nearly obsessive magnificence in your work. How do you reconcile market perception with this ethic of generosity? And what does that stress imply for the way forward for Ordinals?
CASEY: There’s completely no stress—and that’s as a result of most individuals simply don’t perceive what capitalism is. Like, I can’t even start to unpack what individuals suppose capitalism means.
Capitalism merely means the technique of manufacturing are privately managed. That’s it. That’s the entire definition. The alternate options? You’ve bought two: both (1) violent chaos, or (2) the federal government owns and allocates all capital. That’s it. These are your three choices.
So when individuals say they’re “anti-capitalist,” what they often imply is: “I need the federal government to manage who will get what.” I’m not about that. I’m a staunch capitalist. I allocate my very own technique of manufacturing—my computer systems, my sources, my vitality—how I see match, not how the state tells me to.
And typically? That allocation contains giving issues away. That’s not anti-capitalist. If the authorities confiscated my stuff and handed it out? Certain, that’s anti-capitalist. However me selecting to make one thing—typically promoting it, typically not—is 100% aligned with the spirit of capitalism.
Folks have to get with this system.
You requested concerning the stress between generosity and revenue in Ordinals? There isn’t one. We’re social creatures. It’s nice to generate income—cash’s enjoyable. However the true magic is the individuals you meet alongside the best way. You’re not gonna be in your deathbed wishing you made extra money. You’ll want you spent extra time with individuals who matter.
The fantastic thing about capitalism is that it provides us a lot productiveness that we will afford to be beneficiant. You construct a lot surplus, you may lastly do issues that aren’t transactional—mentorship, gift-giving, bizarre artistic stuff simply because it feels good. That’s the bounty of capitalism. It permits non-market pleasure.
Actually? The most effective moments on this house haven’t been about cash. Yeah, the uncommon occasions I’ve made some have been enjoyable. However the actually nice stuff? The enjoyable initiatives, the bizarre experiments, the buddies. That’s the soul of it.
Like, if I needed to stay in some crummy little place—however had healthcare, sufficient to get by, and this unimaginable community of individuals and concepts—I’d take that any day over ten occasions the cash and no buddies.
So I hope the degens are listening.
Megalith.artwork’s public sale mannequin introduces a novel strategy by leveraging atomic swaps for settlement. May you elaborate on how this mechanism ensures trustless, on-chain finality for high-value digital artwork transactions, and the way it contrasts with the delayed, custodial settlements typical of conventional public sale homes like Sotheby’s or Christie’s?
CASEY: So, usually, once you swap items—say you stroll right into a pottery retailer and wish to purchase a pot—you hand the man a greenback. Now he’s bought your cash… however you don’t have the pot. He might simply yell, “Get out!” and poof—you’re down a buck, no pottery.
Or possibly he provides you the pot first, however you don’t hand over the greenback. You run out the door. Identical drawback. That is what we’d name a non-atomic swap—one social gathering has to belief the opposite to observe by way of.
Bitcoin adjustments that. With Bitcoin, you may arrange atomic swaps. That means: the artist provides up the artwork and the client provides up the bitcoin, and both each issues occur or neither do. Absolutely trustless.
It doesn’t assure the artwork will promote, but when it does, the artist undoubtedly will get paid. And the client undoubtedly will get the piece. No middlemen. No bizarre escrow.
What’s even higher is that on this setup—like the best way we’re doing it with Megalith—you may actually see the platform’s lower. It’s all baked in and visual. Tremendous clear. No humorous enterprise. It’s simply… an effective way to do issues.
Megalith.artwork implements fast, protocol-level break up funds to artists and collaborators, minimizing KYC publicity and lowering reliance on centralized intermediaries. How does this method improve transparency and effectivity in artist compensation in comparison with the standard post-auction invoicing and payout processes?
CASEY: Yeah, the issue with conventional auctions is that they’re simply tremendous opaque. Each artist finally ends up negotiating a unique take care of the public sale home. In case you’re promoting a high-value piece, possibly you may negotiate a greater lower. However in the event you’re a more moderen artist—or your work sells for much less—you’re in all probability giving up a much bigger chunk.
What we’re doing right here is far more clear. It doesn’t imply you can’t do variable preparations in principle—however on this case, everybody’s getting the identical lower, and you’ll see that they’re getting the identical lower. I believe that issues—lots.
I’ve executed occasions earlier than, often VJing, and typically I’ve executed it without spending a dime. Then I’d discover out later that a number of the DJs bought paid, and I didn’t. That sucks. It simply places a foul style in your mouth. Both everybody will get paid, or nobody will get paid—particularly if it’s imagined to be a volunteer factor. I really feel fairly strongly about that.
Identical goes for auctions. Some artists will promote for greater than others—that’s positive. However they need to all get the identical share lower. That must be enforced on-chain, and it must be absolutely clear.
With this method, you may truly see what every artist is getting from every public sale. That’s the way it must be.
See extra from Parker and Casey at Inscribing Vegas on Could twenty seventh, and the Bitcoin Convention Las Vegas Could 27–twenty ninth. Bidding for all Megalith.art public sale heaps concludes June third.
Need to expertise it in particular person? The Bitcoin Week go provides you full entry to each Bitcoin 2025 and Inscribing Vegas—plus top-tier afterparties: https://b.tc/conference/2025/bitcoin-week