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
-
The 2024 Ivor Novello nominations for songwriting have been revealed77 British and Irish songwriters and composers make up this year's nominees, announced tonight at London's Groucho Club
-
Why Bollinger’s La Grande Année 2015 champagne is worth celebratingChampagne Bollinger unveils La Grande Année 2015 and La Grande Année Rosé 2015, two outstanding cuvées from an exceptional year in wine-making
-
Lexus installation explores time at Milan Design Week 2024Lexus brought designer Hideki Yoshimoto’s ‘Beyond the Horizon’ to Milan’s Art Point, part of its ongoing series of collaborations with Fuorisalone
-
Triennale Milano exhibition spotlights contemporary Italian artThe latest Triennale Milano exhibition, ‘Italian Painting Today’, is a showcase of artworks from the last three years
-
Walls, Windows and Blood: Catherine Opie in NaplesCatherine Opie's new exhibition ‘Walls, Windows and Blood’ is now on view at Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples
-
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
-
Raffaele Salvoldi stacks hundreds of marble blocks for dazzling Milan installationFor 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
-
Enter the mesmerising, AI-driven world of artist Refik AnadolRefik 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
-
Could Instagram’s algorithm curate an art exhibition? A new London show finds outWe’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
-
A’strict: the South Korean digital art collective bringing nature to urban lifeAs 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
-
Generative art: the creatives powering the AI art boomIt’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
