Parker Day and Casey Rodarmor’s FUN! Assortment is an unprecedented synthesis of photographic maximalism and protocol-level innovation—a piece that stands alone throughout the panorama of Bitcoin-native artwork. Saturated with Day’s daring coloration palette, surreal personas, and layered identification play, the gathering is anchored by Rodarmor’s foundational position because the creator of the Ordinals protocol. Most notably, the collection is inscribed instantly beneath 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 mission’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 inventive pairing: artist and dev, photographer and protocol architect, equal elements absurdity and rigor.
One of many assortment’s most iconic works—that includes Rodarmor himself—is ready to headline the Megalith.art public sale, a Bitcoin-native sale construction that concludes on June third and will probably 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 identification 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 identified one another since highschool. You would even say he was one in all my first fashions—I shot his portrait for my sophomore yr darkroom images class. We stored in contact through the years, 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 referred to as me and mentioned, “Yo! You could go even greater! Do 10k!” And I’m like, “You understand these are all unretouched and shot on movie, proper?” However together with his encouragement and funding, we found out find out how to 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 beneath a CC0 license, that means anybody can reuse, remix, or recontextualize the work with out restriction. In a mission 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 performed with the gathering past your unique images methodology? What sorts of reinterpretations or mutations of the gathering would genuinely intrigue you?
PARKER: I adore it. As an artist, when you create one thing and it leaves the studio, it’s out of your palms. 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 possibly can’t do something with it.” We stay in a world of memes, of replica advert infinitum. It appears anachronistic in in the present day’s world to clutch copyright with an iron fist. And it’s completely consistent 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, instantly descended from inscription 0.
There’s nothing particularly that I’d prefer to see or not prefer to see performed with FUN! I simply hope individuals discover that means in it, and make that means from it.
You two have an uncommon inventive 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 adore it. I imply—I actually adore it. Parker and I are tremendous complementary. We every have our personal robust wheelhouses, and we’re all the time partaking with one another’s work, however on this very chill, supportive method.
Like, once we’re capturing, I’ll inform her what I believe seems cool or what would possibly work effectively within the assortment—nevertheless it’s by no means directive. It’s extra like, “Hey, right here’s some information. Do with it what you’ll.” And identical goes for the technical stuff. We’ll speak about metadata, domains, the web site format—she offers me her ideas, and it’s simply… enter. Take it or depart it.
We’re each so strong in our personal lanes that it makes collaboration straightforward. There’s no bizarre insecurity. She’s the inventive power behind the gathering—I do know that. I’m the technical spine—and she or he is aware of that. That sort of readability makes it enjoyable.
And actually, I’m simply actually pleased with this partnership. We’ve been in one another’s lives in a constructive method for therefore 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 type 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 beneath 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 cherished skilled wrestling. It’s extremely cool… and likewise extremely formulaic, so I get bored if I watch an excessive amount of. However each couple of years, I test again in, see what the storylines are.
For this shoot, I knew precisely how I wished 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? Principally 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 acquired bloody within the ring, it regarded insane.
As for Parker—positively extra camp counselor than Kubrick. She units the scene: every part prepared, hair and make-up dialed, wardrobe laid out. We talked by the costumes a bit. She’ll give route, just a few hints right here and there—nevertheless it’s actually as much as the mannequin to deliver it.
You may embrace that (Casey snaps his fingers.)
Yeah. You understand? You understand.
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 sort of performance?
PARKER: Earlier than FUN!, I had been fascinated about an exhibition that grouped pictures based mostly on emotional expression. Although the personas might seem wildly totally different, the core humanity is similar. I’ve all the time tried to equate disparate identities by capturing individuals in the identical method—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 device for play—but additionally a strategy to replicate on identification 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 virtually obsessive magnificence in your work. How do you reconcile market perception with this ethic of generosity? And what does that rigidity imply for the way forward for Ordinals?
CASEY: There’s completely no rigidity—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 assume 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 acquired 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 normally imply is: “I need the federal government to regulate 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 assets, my vitality—how I see match, not how the state tells me to.
And typically? That allocation consists of 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 rigidity between generosity and revenue in Ordinals? There isn’t one. We’re social creatures. It’s nice to make cash—cash’s enjoyable. However the actual magic is the individuals you meet alongside the way in which. You’re not gonna be in your deathbed wishing you made more cash. You’ll want you spent extra time with individuals who matter.
The great thing about capitalism is that it offers us a lot productiveness that we are able to afford to be beneficiant. You construct a lot surplus, you possibly can lastly do issues that aren’t transactional—mentorship, gift-giving, bizarre inventive stuff simply because it feels good. That’s the bounty of capitalism. It permits non-market pleasure.
Truthfully? One of the best 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 tasks, the bizarre experiments, the associates. 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 unbelievable community of individuals and concepts—I’d take that any day over ten occasions the cash and no associates.
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 acquired 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 offers you the pot first, however you don’t hand over the greenback. You run out the door. Similar drawback. That is what we’d name a non-atomic swap—one celebration has to belief the opposite to observe by.
Bitcoin adjustments that. With Bitcoin, you possibly can arrange atomic swaps. That means: the artist offers up the artwork and the client offers up the bitcoin, and both each issues occur or neither do. Totally trustless.
It doesn’t assure the artwork will promote, but when it does, the artist positively will get paid. And the client positively will get the piece. No middlemen. No bizarre escrow.
What’s even higher is that on this setup—like the way in which we’re doing it with Megalith—you possibly can actually see the platform’s minimize. It’s all baked in and visual. Tremendous clear. No humorous enterprise. It’s simply… a good way to do issues.
Megalith.artwork implements rapid, protocol-level break up funds to artists and collaborators, minimizing KYC publicity and decreasing reliance on centralized intermediaries. How does this technique improve transparency and effectivity in artist compensation in comparison with the traditional 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 distinct cope with the public sale home. When you’re promoting a high-value piece, possibly you possibly can negotiate a greater minimize. However should you’re a more moderen artist—or your work sells for much less—you’re in all probability giving up an even bigger chunk.
What we’re doing right here is far more clear. It doesn’t imply you can’t do variable preparations in concept—however on this case, everybody’s getting the identical minimize, and you may see that they’re getting the identical minimize. I believe that issues—rather a lot.
I’ve performed occasions earlier than, normally VJing, and typically I’ve performed it without spending a dime. Then I’d discover out later that a few of the DJs acquired 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 speculated to be a volunteer factor. I really feel fairly strongly about that.
Similar goes for auctions. Some artists will promote for greater than others—that’s high-quality. However they need to all get the identical proportion minimize. That needs to be enforced on-chain, and it needs to be totally clear.
With this technique, you possibly can truly see what every artist is getting from every public sale. That’s the way it needs to be.
See extra from Parker and Casey at Inscribing Vegas on Might twenty seventh, and the Bitcoin Convention Las Vegas Might 27–twenty ninth. Bidding for all Megalith.art public sale tons concludes June third.
Need to expertise it in individual? The Bitcoin Week move offers you full entry to each Bitcoin 2025 and Inscribing Vegas—plus top-tier afterparties: https://b.tc/conference/2025/bitcoin-week
