Expertise in Art and Culture.

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Writing · Research · Bitcoin

THE BOOK

Protocols of Truth: Re-reading the Modern Mind through Bitcoin

A thirty-chapter work examining Bitcoin through the frameworks of cultural theory — Benjamin, Derrida, Foucault, and others.

Currently in development.

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The cover of a book titled 'Protocols of Truth' by Steven Reiss. The subtitle is 'Re-reading the Modern Mind through Bitcoin' and the background is textured orange.

Bitcoin as cultural phenomenon.

Essays on what decentralized money means for how we collect, preserve, and understand value.

  • A historic stone building with classical architecture, featuring a central entrance with tall columns, decorative sculptures, and a large circular object placed in front of the entrance.

    A Defining Moment for Bitcoin Art at Sotheby’s: Tad Smith on Bitcoin Culture and Robert Alice’s Block 1

    A look at Block 1 from Robert Alice's Portaits of the Mind art series, soon to be auctioned at Sotheby's on November 18th.

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  • The Avant-Garde and Bitcoin: Decentralized Money Didn’t Come From Nowhere

    Bitcoin did not emerge in isolation. Its logic — consensus over authority, rules over rulers, time as structure — belongs to a century of experiments once carried out in the avant-garde. Bitcoin wasn’t an accident of code but a century-long attempt to imagine systems beyond authority.

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  • Materiality and Signification: Rutherford Chang’s CENTS and Semiotics

    When does a penny become art? Is a photo just a record — or the real artwork itself? Rutherford Chang’s project CENTS transforms 10,000 ordinary pennies into unique digital tokens, exploring how meaning shifts when physical objects are turned into digital assets. Far from a typical NFT project, this thoughtful Medium article examines CENTS through the lens of semiotics, conceptual art, and media theory and invites readers to reflect on value, materiality, and meaning in the digital age.

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All writing

Art history, archives, and institutional projects.

A decade of documentation work across collections in Germany and Austria — before Bitcoin, and now alongside it.

Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Curatorial and advisory work on digital art collections. Bitcoin as cultural object within an institutional context.

Göttingen State and University Library

Digitization and documentation of large archival holdings. Over 15,000 objects across multiple collections. Editorial coordination across archives, IT, and external partners.

Fellowships

Central Institute for Art History, Munich. Albertina Museum & University of Vienna. Centre for Cultural Studies, Lübeck.

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