When NFT art meets utopian architecture
Digital show ‘Invisible Cities’ features new NFT art that ranges from utopian cityscapes to sci-fi urban environments

Using Italo Calvino’s seminal novel as a springboard, ‘Invisible Cities’, a new show of NFT (non-fungible token) art imagines utopian cityscapes that never came to be.
The digital exhibition presents a world of potential, as viewers coast through these imagined cyberspaces, which oscillate between fact and fantasy. Comprising ten newly commissioned unique digital pieces by Fabio Giampietro, Jenisu, Elise Swopes, Karisman, Dangiuz, Kldpxl, Gutty Kreum, Mari K, Annibale Siconolfi, and Nate Mohler, the show presents a multifaceted global response to Calvino’s framework.
Karisman, Rejuvenation, 2021, Unique Non Fungible Token
‘Calvino’s seminal text is a perfect framework for today’s NFT art market, remaining a tour de force of the imagination,’ explain exhibition curators An Rong and Elisabeth Johs. ‘Most likely, we will never be able to fathom the origin of such visions. Are they part of the universal archetypal imagery? The mystery behind the future of NFTs and their place in the world needs a response with imagination. The mystery behind imagination is a forever conundrum.’
‘Invisible Cities’ will be live to collectors worldwide until 30 April 2021, as buy now or via auction, through SuperRare, a platform built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Mari K, Emiris, 2021, Unique Non-Fungible Token
Mari K’s Diomira offers a take on the first city described in Calvino's book. Elsewhere through the ether, Gutty Kreum stirs up nostalgia-induced dreams of Japan, and Nate Mohler delves into memories and dreams in his Painted Cities series.
The show makes no effort to hide parallels between these urban fragments and the crypto world they occupy. Built on abstract foundations and decentralised viewpoints, they both present a web of invisible objects, economies, exchanges, communities, systems and processes. But their most common trait hinges on a riddle: what is real, and what is imagined?
As Calvino states in Invisible Cities, ‘Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.’
Karisman, Fascade, 2021, Unique Non Fungible Token
Gutty Kreum, Nara, 2021, Unique Non-Fungible Token
Karisman, Plureality, 2021, Unique Non Fungible Token
Jenisu, City Scape, 2021, Unique Non Fungible Token
INFORMATION
’Invisible Cities’ will be live until 30 April 2021. superrare.co
Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Last chance to see: Sharjah Biennial 15, ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’
Built on the vision of late curator Okwui Enwezor, the Sharjah Biennial 15: ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’ offers a critical reframing of postcolonial narratives through major new commissions
By Amah-Rose Abrams • Published
-
For London Gallery Weekend 2023, the mood is hardcore
With London Gallery Weekend 2023 almost upon us (2 – 4 June), here’s our list of must-see art exhibitions
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Birkenstock celebrates its most memorable styles with colourful capsule (and matching socks)
Birkenstock marks the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Gizeh, Arizona and Madrid sandals, respectively, with limited-edition versions
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Maxim Zhestkov’s mindbending VR art museum functions like a video game
‘Modules’ by digital artist Maxim Zhestkov is a VR art gallery where impossible physics feels palpable. We visit the artist’s London studio to experience the whole thing
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Raffaele Salvoldi stacks hundreds of marble blocks for dazzling Milan installation
For a Milan Design Week 2023 installation, Italian artist Raffaele Salvoldi teams up with marble brand Salvatori to create architectural sculptures comprising hundreds of marble blocks
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Enter the mesmerising, AI-driven world of artist Refik Anadol
Refik Anadol’s masterly use of data sets and AI models allows him to create dazzling ‘living paintings’, on display in MoMA’s Gund Lobby until 5 March 2023
By TF Chan • Published
-
Could Instagram’s algorithm curate an art exhibition? A new London show finds out
We’ve seen the debates surrounding AI-created art – but what about algorithmic curation? A new exhibition by University of Oxford researchers explores Instagram’s algorithm as a curator
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
A’strict: the South Korean digital art collective bringing nature to urban life
As part of our Generation Generative series, we spotlight a’strict, the artistic unit of South Korean digital media design company d’strict, whose immersive art aims to bring viewers closer to nature
By SuhYoung Yun • Published
-
Generative art: the creatives powering the AI art boom
It’s a new age for generative art, thanks to pixel-sorting, algorithm-sifting creatives. While the NFT market remains in flux, we delve into the rise of generative art, and the AI art boom
By Nick Compton • Published
-
Venice Biennale 2022 closing review: who, how and what on earth?
As the sun sets on the 59th Venice Art Biennale (until 27 November), we look back on an edition filled with resilience, female power and unsurprisingly, lots of surprises
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Bruce Nauman’s Venice mega-show is a full body experience
Focusing on the American artist's performative 'Contrapposto Studies', Bruce Nauman's show at Punta della Dogana, Venice, gives new meaning to body language – on view until 27 November 2022
By Laura May Todd • Published