Slow Outburst, by Ron Arad (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Shifting Vision.
World-renowned contemporary artist Ron Arad is debuting his first-ever NFTs with curatorial art platform, Shifting Vision, which will be supported by technology developed by Curvegrid.
According to the Wallpaper feature article, the Reverse Again series will be the first of his NFT-certified artworks that will be available for sale on April 24th, 2022. The sale will consist of multiple NFT lots, where the artwork features renditions of the body of the iconic Fiat 500 automobile. Reverse Again carries forward Arad's past work on Slow Outburst and the Pressed Flower series, both part of the 2013 In Reverse exhibition at the Design Museum Holon, which utilizes digital simulations to visualize cars being crushed.
Arad explores how these automotive bodies behave under compression. He sees these visuals as a representation of Italy and his generation, growing up: “We’re not destroying the cars; by manipulating them, we’re immortalizing them.”
Arad is an influential British-Israeli artist, designer, and architect. He is known for his mixed media work which combines industrial materials that explore form, structure, and technology using handmade and digital processes. To debut a series of NFT artwork and to be involved in emerging technologies is fascinating to Arad, who admits to having a limited understanding of blockchain. Conceptually, his work aligns well with the emergence and the shift to Web 3.0.
Non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs, are assets that are stored on the blockchain that represent objects such as art and music. They must be created first via smart contracts in a process known as “minting,” which requires them to be recorded on the blockchain by executing a certain code that assigns ownership and verifiability before they can be bought or sold. NFTs are typically purchased using cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH). Like the compression of a Fiat 500, NFTs can also be burned, which is the irreversible process of destroying the token and removing them from the blockchain.
Edouard Sterngold, the founder of Shifting Vision, believes that this partnership has the potential to reach a wider, if not entirely new audience who could resonate well with Arad’s works. While NFTs are a new market for Mr. Arad, the collaboration celebrates a strong unification between fine contemporary art and digital NFT technology. Appealing to art collectors can be difficult, as Sterngold admits, however, “there’s nothing to lose and all to gain,” regarding the exploration of NFTs.
We are pleased to be partnering with Shifting Vision for Mr. Arad’s sale and will look forward to collaborating with other visual artists to help fuel their exploration of the digital creative space.
Learn more about the upcoming sale: https://www.shiftingvision.org/artists/ron-arad
Discover the process behind Mr. Arad’s NFT art, check out this short film produced by Shifting Vision: https://youtu.be/DywjHaGlD4w
Images courtesy of ronarad.co.uk, shiftingvision.org, and Wallpaper Magazine.
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