What is Bardos Thodol Works?

B.T.W. is an organization founded for the sole purpose of sharing, nurturing, and exchanging artwork into the digital age. Dedicated to focusing on the artist as the primary mechanism for artwork as opposed to markets or money, and protecting this integrity when necessary through non-violence and creativity. We do not back down from a fight, nor do we find ourselves in fights without cause, but we do find ourselves with opinions that we voice on occasion that do indeed upset other entities. It’s okay to disagree sometimes.

We’ve created a trail of breadcrumbs throughout this site as blueprints that any avid explorer of the inner workings would be able to pick up as basic starting material, that could be developed into handy tools by anyone with enough motivation. We enjoy this work and are building more as you read this, we plan to operate well into the next century.

This organization was founded by one person, but generally has the interests of the multitude at heart, therefore we’ll identify as we when speaking here. This is designed to open to the public, as a template. We’ll be personally seeking out artists this Festival season and onwards for features and displays here. We aren’t trying to take people from other platforms, quite the opposite, we’ll connect them all as a nexus. We find this necessary in the modern age because artists, typically being the empathetic, feeling people of societies, are also usually the most vulnerable. From direct experience, they need a forum where they can congregate without being food for AI learning systems. A place where art can be shared, judgement free, in the highest quality available. A place where events can be set up, we can all create together and build off one another the right way, without thoughts of advertisements and dollar signs swaying the artworks message.

This is already a marketplace and will evolve to an exchange. We have long thought of ways to improve the flow of money into artists pockets in such a way that makes it more feasible as a career. Right now it’s at the will and whim of the platforms and the algorithm that creates the popularity feed. We feel it should be much more generalized, less prone to manipulative tactics, less controlled. We’re not trying to make a VIP club, which is the actual premise behind verified checks. We’re trying to offer pathways that allow anyone with the time and energy to begin creating art and making even small amounts of income from it if they so desire. The ultimate goal here is for more artwork, both higher quality and more empathetically connected to humanity. In our opinion only good can from this, therefore that is the aim of Bardos Thodol Work’s ‘work’ no matter what form it takes. We also view generative AI artwork as a current threat to the integrity of the system that’s currently in place in relation to artists with art as their livelihoods. Which is why this will be, because it’s necessary.

We have so many ideas for this platform, but the hunger is real in this digital desert, and you’re likely to see any idea physically displayed here pop up somewhere else within a week or two in just enough of a different form to not be copyrighted. As a result we play things close to the vest. We look forward to experiencing all of this with you. Thank you for being here with us.

~BTW