Skye Sherwin charts the ascent of practices addressing more than the eye
At this year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, visitors can dip their toes into the mysterious world of cryptoart and create NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) of their own. The German artist Mario Klingemann, aka Quasimondo, will generate AI portraits of fairgoers who can then use the open-source blockchain Tezos to mint NFTs of their digital artworks. The interactive experience is among the many highlights of the futuristic exhibition, ‘Humans + Machines: NFTs and the Ever-Evolving World of Art,’ held in the Miami Beach convention center during this year’s Art Basel fair and spotlighting the Tezos blockchain. Featuring generative and internet artists who are pushing the boundaries of digital art, the immersive show is accompanied by a fascinating series of talks featuring leading NFT artists and experts from the community.
The exhibition comes at an important juncture for the industry. While there has been a recent explosion of interest in the NFT art market, blockchain technology has also come under fire for contributing to global warming. The energy-efficient blockchain platform Tezos, however, is aiming to change the equation.
Typically, when an artist clicks a button to mint an NFT, this triggers a process called mining on a blockchain network – this requires immense computing power which results in alarmingly high greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Tezos network, which is home to a number of popular NFT marketplaces, including OBJKT.com, Interpop, and Kalamint, and previously Hic et Nunc (HEN), has a much lower carbon footprint. Most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, which uses a method called Proof of Work (PoW). The model Tezos uses, however, employs a Proof of Stake (PoS) concept. While the PoW system relies on computing systems solving mathematical puzzles to verify transactions – which requires a significant amount of electricity – the PoS method relies on users staking assets or cryptocurrency when authenticating a transaction – a process that consumes a fraction of the energy.
The exhibition at this year’s fair turns the spotlight on climate-conscious cryptoartists such as Memo Akten, who are minting clean NFTs on Tezos. The Turkish digital artist and computer scientist will be showing strange AI-generated images of octopuses which are at once grotesque and beautiful. Part of a series titled ‘Distributed Consciousness’ (2021), each image contains fragments of encoded text – invisible to the naked eye – which form a philosophical poem.
The show also delves into the fast-evolving world of generative art, presenting works by the likes of Bulgarian artist Iskra Velitchkova, who creates ethereal, generative images inspired by nature, and Australian artist Sutu (aka Stuart Campbell), who creates striking sci-fi- and cyberculture-themed animations. Other prominent names in the show include London-based Canadian artist Matt DesLauriers and US-based former software engineer and visual artist Helena Sarin.
Seen together the works in the exhibition offer insight into growing collaborations between humans and machines and raise questions about agency and the role of the artist in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Building upon the themes addressed in the show, the talk series examines technical and philosophical facets of the burgeoning NFT market. It also investigates the future of cryptoart, digital institutions, and the surrounding art ecosystem.
Several artists will speak about their work, including AI expert Klingemann, who will kick off the talks series on Thursday, December 2. He will speak about designing a generative art algorithm in a virtual conversation with New Zealand-born artist Simon Denny, who is known for his trenchant take on blockchain culture. The following day, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist will sit down with Turkish-American new media artist Refik Anadol and Iroquois artist and teacher Amelia Winger-Bearskin. George Goodwin aka OMGiDRAWEDit – whose vivid illustrations comment on global warming and mass consumption – will also speak about his journey to becoming a successful NFT artist.
Other talks will look at the trajectory of cryptoart and its impact on the art industry including a panel discussion titled Vectors for Future Art Ecosystems featuring the founder of Los Angeles-based Transfer gallery Kelani Nichole, curator and writer Jesse Damiani, and cultural producer and curator Julia Kaganskiy, which will be moderated by curator Victoria Ivanova. For those curious about how institutions fit into the picture, Bernadine Bröcker Wieder, the CEO and Co-founder of Vastari Labs, will talk about how museums can enter the NFT space. Finally, Denny will moderate another discussion on the shift from a digital museum to the metaverse with panelists including art advisor Fanny Lakoubay, who specializes in digital art, Brad MacDonald, Director of Creative Media at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building, collector and entrepreneur Karen Levy, and Damiani.
Payal Uttam is an independent writer and editor who divides her time between Hong Kong and Singapore. She contributes to a range of publications including Artsy, The Art Newspaper, South China Morning Post and The Wall Street Journal.
‘Humans + Machines: NFTs and the Ever-Evolving World of Art,’ hosted by Tezos at Art Basel Miami Beach, will run from December 2 – 4. It is open to the public. Find the entire program of talks here.
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Captions for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: 1. Iskra Velitchkova, They are coming iii (detail), 2021. 2. A work by Anna Lucia. 3. Memo Akten, Tentacular Critter #130 (detail), 2021. 4. Matt Deslauriers, DITHER01 (detail), 2021. 5. Eko33, Elementary luck 00, 2021. All images courtesy of Tezos.