PURE FORM: Geometric Abstraction in Blockchain Art — Curated by Melinda Wang
New York, NY, November 20, 2019 — MW Projects and SuperRare are pleased to present Pure Form: Geometric Abstraction in Blockchain Art, a group exhibition of blockchain technology-based artworks. The 12 artists in the exhibition explore abstraction in new ways, utilizing the latest in technology on a platform that brings together art creation, art viewing and fully transparent art commerce. Each artwork is a digital collectible — a digital object secured by cryptography and tracked on the blockchain.
The exhibition will be on view from December 3, 2019 to January 31, 2020 at SuperRare’s gallery in the Cryptovoxels virtual world powered by the Ethereum blockchain.
Viewers can visit the gallery via www.cryptovoxels.com/parcels/1505
Check out the recap video below:
The artists are: Andrea Aldana, Mike Almond, Hans Benzin, Jose Blanco Perales, Brad Damico, Keegan Ead, MaryAnn Ead, Bauke Hoeksma, Max Osiris, Thato Tatai, Janis Weidner and Quadruple Zeros.
Pure Form examines the tension between abstract “blockchain art” and traditional geometric abstraction movements of the 20th century, from Cubism to Neoplasticism to Op Art to Minimalism. The artists investigate pure geometric form as a primary language of expression and apply the principles of artists of the past, yet the works are kinetic and seemingly break their two-dimensional bounds. They also are embedded with data about authenticity, provenance, artist royalties and more. As with all digital art, the technology becomes the artists’ paintbrushes and palettes, allowing them new freedom to create, and methods by which to share what they’ve created.
While much has been written about the use of blockchain technology in the art industry, there has been less attention on how artists are utilizing the technology as a medium itself. The hype around “crypto” has added to this confusion, alongside conflation of tokenization of physical artworks and creation of unique, single-edition digital artworks. By bringing these artists’ works to the fore through this exhibition, we hope to raise awareness of the ideas and aesthetics around “blockchain art,” as well as provide a new perspective from which to consider art and technology.
About MW Projects
MW Projects is a cultural production and art advisory firm dedicated to bringing contemporary art to historic sites, non-traditional venues and liminal spaces. We work with emerging and established artists to transform environments and encourage dialogue about contemporary art and culture. For more information, please visit www.mwprojects.art.
About SuperRare
SuperRare is a marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks. Each artwork is authentically created by an artist in the network, and tokenized as a crypto-collectible digital item that you can own and trade. For more information, please visit www.superrare.co.
FAQs
What is blockchain?
In simple terms, a blockchain is a ledger of data that is managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any single entity and not stored in a single location.
The data cannot be entered permanently in the ledger unless all the computers in the network agree. The data cannot be changed once entered. Each block of data is secured and bound to other blocks of data using cryptographic principles.
A good analogy is a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. The network is designed to regularly update the spreadsheet, so that information held on a blockchain exists as a shared and continually reconciled database. This video explains blockchain in five levels of difficulty.
Why is blockchain “disruptive”?
A blockchain network is decentralized, i.e., has no central authority to control the information or centralized version of information to be hacked. Since it is a shared and immutable ledger, the information in it is available for anyone to see. What this means for almost all industries is the opportunity to remove the middle man to facilitate a transaction, access information or verify information. Trust is established through collaboration and code, rather than a central authority. This could potentially streamline costs and speed up processes — disrupting traditional models.
What does this have to do with art?
There has been strong interest in using blockchain technology to promote transparency in the art world and increase buyer and seller confidence. Opportunities include tracking ownership and provenance, providing authentication, creating the infrastructure for secondary market artist royalties and tokenizing fractional artwork sales. We believe another key component is the opportunity for artists to create artworks utilizing this technology as a medium itself, as part of their creative processes.
How can I view blockchain art? Is it entirely digital?
The works can be viewed on any screen. Collections can be shared on SuperRare.
Why is “blockchain art” different from other digital art?
The works are single edition and provably scarce. Each artwork is a digital object secured by cryptography and tracked on the blockchain. To create the digital object, the artist digitally signs a certificate with their personal private key to create a time-stamped, transparent record of the artwork.
How do I purchase blockchain art on SuperRare?
If you already own Ether, the native cryptocurrency on the Ethereum blockchain, you can log in at www.superrare.co, connect your Ethereum wallet and purchase artworks on the platform. If you do not currently own Ether, the easiest way to obtain some is through Coinbase.com. Once you purchase it there you can send it to your Ether wallet to be used on SuperRare.
How do artists join the SuperRare platform?
SuperRare is currently invitation-only for artists. Please fill out this application LINK for more information.
Contacts:
MW Projects: info@mwprojects.art
SuperRare: hello@pixura.io