Within two winter months, there was an intensified struggle for one bitcoin in the ICONIC Digital Biennale, which unified the worlds of cryptocurrency and digital art. The theme of the contest was “The beauty of pure Artificial intelligence”. We are very happy for every artist for participation and we consider every work worthy. In the modern technology world, when nothing is copy protection, it is very important to promote such projects as ours, to let the digital artists develop without fear for their work.
We decided to ask some questions to our winners so that they would tell us what they think about our competition and about the art in general.
We are proud that our competition is international and the artists who participated were from around the world. Oblinoff and Franco are from Argentina and Peter is from Belgium.
ICONIC: What do you think is the value of digital art today?
Oblinof: Digital art its a big field with a lot of intricate sub-classifications, and it’s very difficult have one opinion about it without fall in a generalization. I can talk about post-internet/webpunk/cyber-ghetto because is in this the area where i could find a lot of artist and we start to generate an interaction with people of around the world, with similar aesthetics points of views, overturned in weird modes of uses different softwares of art develop. So in a summarized form i think the value it’s about connection, with other people and with yourself, in a metaphysical way. A lots of function that now exist like normal things in the digital world funct like a predictions of our inner capabilities, that are not properly developed due to ignorance of its existence.
Pieter Jossa: Art expands all the time and now it made its way more prominent in the digital world. As it does anywhere, it being on- or off-line art is there to expand the boundaries of what has become the norm. And the norm slowly seems to be shifting into a digitization of the masses. In which case, art would have a huge value in sustaining the freedom of a highly seductive and moldable medium in which freedom is easily limited.
Franco Verrascina: A resurfacing wave/phenomenon. It signifies a new step in the evolution of human relationship with machines/computers. Creation, collective portrayal of emotions, conceiving and mending our imaginary/virtual selves.
ICONIC: How do you think ICONIC Digital Biennale and Art Market could help young digital artists?
Oblinof: it’s an interesting way to promote and connect people and develop new ways of work in the field of digital art. New types of art bring new forms of exposure and also new ways of marketing them. The results are in development, so it will be interesting to experience them and in this experience try to develop them in an appropriate way, so that they lead to a personal empowerment of the artists.
Pieter Jossa: I think it is and can continue to represent digital artists. Many times it can be hard to find a platform that is easy accessible to present work which is organized by other artists. This is more motivating than to just post artwork on social media. This way it’s much greater interaction with the public outside of the usual “digital art community”.
Franco Verrascina: Many doors were opened for a great amount of artists. You get to know more people whom with you tend to share interests. All of us are looking towards the same horizon, although obviously everyone with his/her unique eye. It was my first experience displaying my work, beyond (although never entirely) the social network context. I’m truly grateful!
ICONIC: How did you become addicted to digital art?
Oblinof: I dont considere myself an addict of digital art, because digital art its in my life like the wind, or a cool morning, something more cute and darky, like an uncompresed sine wave. I think that addictions in the new medias are around the use of social networks in an unprofitable way. A high percentage of postinternet art was created in large part in these communication interfaces, and could propose disruptive visions, from these same interfaces. In these days digital art is a way to fight adicctions and automatic behaviors, because its proposing alternative views of the contemporary ways of life.
Pieter Jossa: I’m not addicted to digital art, I think many people think I spend most of my time in front my laptop. But actually most of my time I spend outside and learning other things. I’ve also been traveling the world for a while and a digital art addiction would be highly inconvenient.
Franco Verrascina: I’m a gamer. I’ve played video games for as long as I can remember, and always stood fascinated by the idea of creating worlds inside the games I played. I spent hours creating custom maps using the game’s editor option. Later on, I realized that I could create my own personal virtual environments by learning 3-D design. Opening that door was the beginning of a path of technical experimentation. Everything started flowing when I began looking for myself inside the monitor, inside the data fueled images. The screen turned off and I saw my reflection in it. I scanned my head and body using a kinect sensor, came up with a couple of models that later became an expression of myself.
ICONIC: Are you ready to experiment or prefer to master your skills in an already selected genre?
Oblinof: One thing leads to another in my case. I’m always open to experiment new things, but the experimentation with the time become an habit, and in this habit its almost inevitable master your actual skills. I began to have a relationship with digital art through music, and as I was internalized in the operation of different daws and synthesizers, I also began to research image production software, as well as principles of visual composition, which took to study geometry to better understand the 3d world, that also made me study philosophy because the Euclidean geometry for example derived from ancient Greece, and so one another the knowledge is intertwined because everyone responds at the beginning of curiosity
Pieter Jossa: Things are changing so fast, especially in render engines. It’s worth to keep on shifting. I just have ideas and find a way to execute them through the means that are possible. At the moments this is through digital arts but this could evolve into any form. But definitely digital arts was there since my childhood.
Franco Verrascina: I’d rather experiment. I still think that I haven’t decided on one genre. Most of the time I’m simply doing (and undoing), seeing where that leads me. I feel like I have to fragment things up, change constantly. I don’t really think there is a singular line I should be following. Some colleagues tell me they see a relationship between my pieces, but the only line I see is my “locked and chained” unconscious personal diary that speaks out how things are turning out in my life. Perhaps that’s a line? Does anyone else likes to change… fast?
ICONIC: If you have any favorites artists, who are they and why do you like about them?
Oblinof: I have a lot of favorite artist of many diverse fields, that i can’t do a list because would be extremely longer, but all my favorite artist have in common the exploration and the search of new forms of art. I have an special affection for the game of opposite things so this is a pattern that i follow when i’m in a develop of a research for find new art, so the parameters of my subjective attention are constantly changing, because respond to some kind of kaos forces that are playing to push and release new points of view. New kinds of dialogue arise when you transpose disciplines, so if i’m in love with some noise artist, i like to thinkin what happen if that sound would be an architecture, so in this kinds of game, i found new artist from different discipline but that they are united by similar ways of coincide the realization of their works.
Pieter Jossa: Ryan Trecartin, He was way out there before anyone else. He represents many times how I felt about the digital world and contemporary society. Such an intense mix of weird cosmic quantum entanglement mixed through a nostalgic array of digital objects. Bianka Oravecz always been a very liquidy inspiration. Matteo Zamagni, we met in London and I was really absorbed in his projects and his workflow. Phyllis Josefine who really left a big impression on me ever since I saw her work DVDV. There are so many good artist out there, also the more classical one I can really appreciate, like Giotto, Giacometti, Ernst… It’s not only digital arts that’s great
Franco Verrascina: Adam Martinakis, his art inspires me greatly. A sensitive touch. The emotions he portrays with his 3d characters really reaaally caught my eye and spirit. They seem alive. Everything is alive. Inside / Outside. I love how rapidly more and more digital artists are rising (o “come up”) with new unique styles. It’s hard to find oneself. That’s what I look up to, mainly. I like to see consistency in others’ work, that’s what I feel I’m lacking.
