Blockchain Artist & PHD Researcher
Martin Lukas Ostachowski
A painter turned crypto artist and activist. Multidisciplinary practice exploring cloud aesthetics and blockchain technology. PhD Researcher at the University of Zurich.
Tokenizing artwork since Spring 2018. Works held in institutional collections across Europe and North America.
Latest Artworks
Artwork Catalogue
About MLO
At the Intersection of Art, Clouds, and Blockchain
Martin Lukas Ostachowski, MLO for short, is a Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the visual language of clouds as a metaphor for blockchain architecture and digital impermanence. A painter first, he has exhibited since 2015 and minted his first NFT in June 2018, becoming one of the first artists on KnownOrigin and SuperRare.
As a PhD researcher at the University of Zurich, he has published his scholarship on the history and cultural significance of crypto art in the journal Leonardo (MIT Press), and his work has been cited in over 240 academic works. His art is held in the collections of the Museum Francisco Carolinum (Linz), the Museum of Crypto Art, the Bitcoin Museum & Art Gallery (Nashville), and the Edicurial Collection, and has been shown at Kunsthalle Zürich, the Museum Francisco Carolinum, the Bitcoin Museum & Art Gallery and the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum (Zagreb).
Research
Documenting Blockchain-related Art & Crypto Art
Alongside the studio practice, an ongoing PhD research program at the University of Zurich documents the emergence and history of crypto art.
Interactive Timeline
History of Crypto Art
A comprehensive timeline documenting the evolution of blockchain-based art from 2011 to the present, covering key artworks, platforms, market milestones, and institutional recognition.
Explore the Timeline
Educational Guide
What is Crypto Art?
An accessible primer on crypto art for curators, researchers, journalists, and anyone approaching the field for the first time.
Read the GuideVisual Studio Journal
