From miragenesi substack by miragenesi and Anna Lucia

This article is a report on the experience, for the people who didn’t make it and for those who are interested in the behind-the-scenes (and some media). Plus a small pre-announcement at the end.

A difficult challenge

After the first discussions with Julian and Anna Lucia, we thought how nice it would have been to leverage the exhibition space and time to show off the power of Protocol Art.

Indeed a good idea, but putting NFTs in a physical space without reducing them to mere images on screens was a difficult challenge.

At that time, I just released HAVOC, an NFT that reacts to the Ethereum market price and becomes tradeable only when ETH is down. The work itself explores moments of deep anxiety and challenges collectors to be with them. But can two rooms and a few screens be used to bring this concept up one notch?

One day I had a discussion with a great artist and also a friend of mine, Amanda E. Metzger, who has a past record of creating immersive real-life exhibitions. I was wondering how I could fit my past work into a nice physical space. She then recommended me to come up with something tailored to the gallery, something that could shine in that space, at the cost of creating it for that purpose. Retro-fitting old works to a gallery space might often lead to a sub-optimal outcome.

It’s then the idea of the 3-works series came about.

The Space

The gallery had a front room with 3 monitors, a backroom with 5, and a small in-between passage

What if I could leverage the separation of these two rooms to provide a Dantesque experience to the visitors? A Journey through Heaven and Hell, intensified by the real-time connection of the NFTs with the crypto market?

The first idea was to show HAVOC in a pitch-dark back room, and a new joyful NFT in the front, creating a tension of opposing forces. It’s then that Ascension came into existence. Three like the Trinity, and like the sides of their shape.

My affection for Taoist philosophy invited me to think about the concept in a broader sense, remembering that nothing is final, bad and good are just constructs created by humans that find no place in the greater functioning of Life and the Universe.

Ultimately, everything is just… one.

So came the idea of ONE, a single NFT, collectively owned and created by all its collectors. It was the most natural way to synthesize the concept of wholeness through a work of protocol art.

Darkness

Fear, anxiety, panic… these feelings arise when the market collapses… when our savings suddenly vanish. In these moments, our innermost daemons come out, questioning every aspect of our life decisions. I bet most of the crypto-people have gone through this at least once.

HAVOC was created to convey this distress to the viewer, through 4 NFTs that react to the market turmoil. And if a 20 inches monitor can do that, what about 5 big screens and an entire dark room, filled with eerie sounds?

We built Hell on Earth: the room dedicated to HAVOC was designed not only to showcase the NFTs, but to bring its visitor into a psychological pit. Pitch dark, a red price-line reminding the dire reality of the Ethereum market, 4 NFTs communicating in real-time the 4 different stages of the crypto apocalypse: Panic, Crisis, Despair, Havoc.

I remember being there one day and suddenly seeing the “red line” going south and Panic activating its pattern of profound paranoia. I was happy to see it working, but it wasn’t fun.

I composed an atmospheric loop, Descent, to deepen the visitor’s feelings. Eerie, dark, slowly rumbling the “Black Hymn” notes, an ancient melody capable of summoning demons.

Light

On the other side of both the emotional spectrum and the space, the three mystical triangles of Ascension took the stage.

The three figures were bringing the real-time euphoria of the market growth to the room, which coincidentally started during that same evening.

Last, but not least, the final piece: ONE.

The NFT, a unique multi-owned token, wanted to evoke the ideals of unity and togetherness. As the exhibition started, the NFT only had a few circles on display. The composition was supposed to take shape during the vernissage, the more visitors (local and remote) were going to mint it.

The result was intense: every time someone would mint a fragment of the token, the composition would evolve. Some people would see the token change right after their mint and react with excitement to the event.

I myself would check the screen, go elsewhere for a chat, and, once back, see it changed, more beautiful. The feeling of oneness with the people that were supporting my work from far away was astounding.

A Fantastic Journey

The time I traveled from the release of HAVOC to the exhibition was a fantastic journey. Full of surprises, contingencies, second thoughts, self-doubt, excitement… a rollercoaster of emotions that ended on a high note. Some people knew about the type of art that I and many other artists in the space create, but most of them didn’t. I was so glad to not only explain to them the power of Protocol Art but also to show them in real life what this can bring to the human spirit. And few of them decided to take on this journey themselves.

End?

This part of the journey has ended, and I must thank again the people who joined. One thing is to see anons tweeting and wallets issuing transactions on a block scanner, another thing is to be together with the people who enjoy your work.

The finissage of TAKEOVER displayed the works of all artists that took part to the series, in a sequence.

ONE was shown on all screens, in different flavors during the 15 minutes dedicated to it: each screen would show a unique version of the same data composing the original work. It was like seeing different sides of the same Truth. This gave me the idea to release Perspectives, a collection that draws its randomness from ONE, but “reinterprets” it for each different token, based on the name assigned by their collector. Only available, for free, to the owners of at least one fragment of ONE. A token of gratitude to all who were there with us. Mint opens on 16th Dec, 6 PM CET.

A special thanks to Alberto for taking these awesome photos and to Juan for helping set up the physical space.

It’s a misfortune that the Bright Moment Berlin Art Gallery had to close down after the last event, so if anyone knows a place where Anna Lucia, Julian and Pablo can continue their TAKEOVER initiative, feel free to get in touch.

Live long and prosper,