at NFT Factory Paris
April 5 2023
NFT CryptoArt was acquired by Centre Pompidou France’s premier museum of modern art.
As part of this acquisition the Pompidou move the art pieces into a wallet, which allowed an opportunity to “donate” more art into the collection (or at least the wallet). Dan Polko https://twitter.com/DanPolko a collector of Deep Fake Max (Artificial Artist) by Bård sent it into the wallet, which made it part of the unofficial Pompidou collection.
The full contents of the wallet can be seen at https://rainbow.me/0xa03f663e53d878731ba92da4442b92ac7dbf0221
Many other artists and collectors sent art to the wallet while it was still open. Eventually they figured out how to lock the wallet.
On April 5th the NFT Factory held a special showing and event to commemorate the hack. It was covered by the French press.
Bottom Center is “Deep Fake Max (Artificial Artist)“
Les NFTs envahissent Beaubourg !!
Nous sommes heureux·ses de vous annoncer une exposition spéciale aujourd’hui et demain à la NFT Factory. Découvrez les CryptoPunks, l’une des premières séries de NFTs à avoir vu le jour ainsi que d’autres œuvres surprises.
The NFTs invade Beaubourg !! We are pleased to announce a special exhibition today and tomorrow at the NFT Factory. Discover the CryptoPunks, one of the first NFTs series to see the light of day, as well as other surprise works.
The French news report at Télérama said:
Four teenagers taking selfies? They do not believe their eyes: black crest on the head, a cryptopunk, from the Larva Labs collective! This April morning, the Center Pompidou opens its rooms to this avatar among the best known on the Web. Until January 2024, the minimalist and flashy effigy, 576 pixels and no more, can be discovered on the fourth floor of the museum as part of the exhibition “NFT: Poetics of the immaterial, from certificate to blockchain “. At his side, Bitcoin, from the trash artist Robness, reproduction of the logo of the saidcryptocurrency. Or Hand-Hacked Bouquet 1, virtual flowers “picked” from video games by artist Jill Magid.
In all, sixteen non-fungible tokens (NFT), digital works of art which have in common their format, this digital certificate that many digital artists now use to authenticate distribute and monetize their works via a recording on the blockchain… Since 2019 and a series of record sales, NFTs have sparked heated debates in the art world.
While their detractors denounce the speculation around this “catch-all” current, enthusiasts keep them preciously within their wallet, their digital wallet, alongside bitcoins, ethereums and other cryptocurrencies which are used to acquire them. The Center Pompidou did not cut it, which also had to equip itself for the occasion with a dematerialized wallet.
NFT: when crypto-art rocks art galleries
“Except that ours is a “cold wallet”: it was not used to carry out financial transactions, which remained in euros, but to receive the works, specifies Marcella Lista, chief curator of new media at the Center Pompidou, and exhibition curator with Philippe Bettinelli. We have also been inundated with a multitude of creations that we had absolutely not asked for, ”she adds, amused. A wallet indeed works a little on the principle of a mailbox, anyone can deposit what they like there: “It’s the game: piracy, spam are part of the codes of crypto culture. »
Pranksters need look no further than the NFT Factory, opposite the Center Pompidou. In this “cryptogallery”, the non-fungible token has already been on display since the fall of 2022. ‘it doesn’t exploit any security loopholes,’ smiles the space’s founder, collector Benoît Couty. “A lot of artists spontaneously sent works, so much so that it became a kind of happening, a performance. We have therefore decided in parallel to show the fifty or so pieces that did not find their place at Pompidou. »
Hence a kind of exhibition off, mischievously titled “The NFTs invade Beaubourg”, inaugurated the same evening as that carried by “the eminent neighbors”. A bit like a Salon des Réfusés, which in the 19th century exhibited pieces that had been rejected by the Académie des Beaux-Arts? “It is rather an invitation to discuss the place that crypto art can have within a museum,” concludes Benoît Couty.
“Hand-hacked Bouquet 1”, by Jill Magid, 2023, Out-Game Flowers collection, NFT and 3D sound animation. “Hand-hacked Bouquet 1”, by Jill Magid, 2023, Out-Game Flowers collection, NFT and 3D sound animation. Jill Magid Purchase, 2023
Here or elsewhere, the same paradox: exhibiting virtual works on the walls of a physical museum space, when they were designed to stay inside a computer or smartphone. At the Center Pompidou, we made the choice of square screens: “Not very big, for a hanging that may seem austere, confirms Marcella Lista. But unlike digital art, crypto art does not play on the spectacular, but on the precision of formal language. The next step, which will require further research, will be for us to design an online exhibition that does not rely on the imitation of a three-dimensional space. »
L’Avant-galerie Vosse is celebrating the acquisition of two works by Robness by Beaubourg, by launching a retrospective of the artist… “Robness au carré”, which proves to what extent the square is the default format on the digital. “It was dictated by the platforms, first Instagram, then SuperRare, which was the first marketplace to present NFTs, explains Albertine Meunier, from the Avant-galerie. During our first exhibitions, in 2019, the square screens were difficult to find, they were tiny, thumbnail format. It was very complicated because it is impossible to show an NFT on a television, but since then this type of screen has become widespread. “The art and the way, in the age of Web 3.
“NFT: Poetics of the intangible, from the certificate to the blockchain”, until January 24, 2024, at the Center Pompidou, Paris 4ᵉ. “The NFTs are invading Beaubourg”, NFT Factory, Paris 4ᵉ. http://nftfactoryparis.com “Square Robness”, Avant-galerie Vossen, until April 7, Paris 3ᵉ