A bounded landscape, built slowly through structure, pressure, erosion, and time. 954303 -drawing

Earlier this year I wrote The Same Storm, Different Windows about my family experiencing technological change from several directions at once. pgstudio.substack.com/p/the-…⁠ One part of that essay followed Kick Back Campin, our family’s small campground near Indian Lake, and the question of what happens when a changing economy reaches a small rural business. Last week I was in Columbus for the Midwest Bitcoin Summit, speaking about Bitcoin, art, authorship, provenance, and how new technologies are changing the conditions around creative work. A few days later I was visiting with family near Indian Lake, looking at those same changes from another scale. Kick Back Campin has been in the family since 2011. It has 33 sites and has intentionally maintained a small, family atmosphere where many of the people who return each year have come to feel more like extended family than customers. While driving through the area between Indian Lake and Kenton, I started photographing the infrastructure around us. Wind farms. Large solar installations. Utility infrastructure. Farmland. Small towns. Across the broader region, major data-center development is also underway. None of these things are the same project, and I am not suggesting they are directly connected. What interests me is what they reveal when viewed together. AI and digital technology are often discussed as if they exist somewhere outside the physical world. But they depend on land, energy, transmission, construction, capital, workers, and communities. The digital economy eventually becomes physical. Spending time here with my family changed the question for me. Instead of only asking what these changes might do to small rural communities, we started asking how a small rural business might actually use some of the technologies emerging around it. Can new energy options help reduce operating costs? Can regional development create new customers or services? Can AI help a small family business understand its finances, research opportunities, and access expertise that might otherwise be too expensive? Can digital payment systems and other emerging technologies create new options for businesses far outside major technology centers? Kick Back does not need to become a technology company. It needs to remain a 33-site campground where people know one another and where the family atmosphere that has existed since 2011 remains intact. The more interesting question is whether new technology can strengthen a place like this without replacing what made it valuable in the first place. Last week in Columbus I was discussing Bitcoin and art as part of a changing technological and cultural landscape. This week I found myself looking at that transformation through farmland, energy infrastructure, small towns, and my own family. The systems are becoming the landscape. The question now is how ordinary people, artists, families, and small businesses learn to live within it, use it, and participate in shaping what comes next. I think this is where the next essay begins...

From the archive. Another work created for @InfiniteFleet several years ago. Looking back, I can still see some of the concerns that remain in my work today: constructed environments, technology, infrastructure, scale, and the systems we build around ourselves. 😎

Hey everyone if shipping works from the show has any hiccups please DM me.

Apparently I had another career. 🎹

Next

Thank you to everyone who joined the panel at the @MWBTCSummit , @Orangepillman , @buckethatbtc , @ainsleymusic07 , and @bitstorian I really appreciated the perspectives each of you brought to the conversation. Grateful to have shared the stage with you all, and to MBS for making the discussion possible.

I been so busy at the summit, I forgot to share my work. Thank you everyone!

@AntoniBatzu art works made it arrived! 🎉📦 I’m so happy it’s here!

I’m putting it out there 🧡✅ The sculptures will arrive asap! We all know I’m sloww w/ tech, over time I think almost everyone in this space helped me with an issue (even you with my phoenix wallet) Tech is not my strong point, but I do have the gift of gab and can dial a phone and ask questions. We share what we have 💚

Sending some good energy out to Antonio Batzù @AntoniBatzu tonight. ⚡⚡ Antonio traveled from Italy to take part in Generations Gallery at the @MWBTCSummit , but unfortunately his artwork has been held up in customs. @AmyDiGi has also put in a tremendous amount of effort trying to navigate the situation and get Antonio’s work to the summit in time for the final day. It takes real commitment as an artist to travel this far, bring the work, and show up even when circumstances outside your control get in the way. Hoping everything comes together tomorrow. Much respect to Antonio, and a big thank you to Amy for going above and beyond to help. @MidwestBitcoin @AndrewTilmann @buckethatbtc @clctibles

Two favs! @hitomi_matsui @AmyDiGi

@clctibles @MWBTCSummit Bravo!! LFG 🟧🔥🧡

To understand how the Bitcoin community feels & thinks, I launched forums on @bitplazaxyz. Support to the old system, or be part of the new. Focused Bitcoin conversation happens best at Bitplaza. How do you define Bitcoin's success? 👇 🔗 joinbitplaza.com

Bitcoin ガチャ Gatcha! is almost ready to play 😄👍 See you tomorrow! ✨💕 @MWBTCSummit @clctibles

Detail 960039

⭐ Bitcoin gacha, but make it collectible. Hitomi Matsui’s Bitcoin ガチャ Gotcha! is now available on CLCT: 77 units, $20 each. You never know what you’ll get. That’s the energy of the day. Collect yours at clctibles.com!

960039 rejection Original ink on Bristol paper. kennethburrisstudio.com/coll…

Wonderful new piece by @hitomi_matsui on auction!