A new NFT and ‘speculative reality’ puzzle game from artist Trevor Paglen sends users on a mind-control-themed dark treasure hunt
If you’re into puzzles, cryptography, and mystery, two new and interconnected NFT and Web3 projects by artist Trevor Paglen will lead you down some fascinating rabbit holes into the history of mind control experiments, disinformation campaigns, and psychological operations.
The NFT series, titled “CONVEYS,” is available on the Art Blocks platform, and combines graphic visual scores with simple compositions, at once reminiscent of algorithmically generated pieces by composers including John Cage and Iannis Xenakis, as well as Haydn and Brahms, who encoded messages into their music.
Trevor Paglen, Preludes #89. Courtesy Art Blocks.
The description of the piece on Art Blocks includes the line, “Pm fvb hyl ylhkpun aopz, fvb ohcl ahrlu fvby mpyza zalw vaat h shynly dvysk.” Decoded, the message says: “If you’re reading this, you’ve taken your first step into a bigger world.”
“They are musical enigmas,” Paglen told Artnet News yesterday at Pace Gallery, where he has just debuted a solo show. When you buy the NFT, you decode the message and enter the code to claim your prize – a vinyl LP – which contains several tasks. The first track on the record features a computer voice reading a seemingly meaningless sequence of numbers: “65 76 69 82 84 32” and so on.
(Spoiler alert: With a hint from the artist, who pointed out that there are websites to help puzzle players decode encrypted texts, I was able to turn the message into a string of several words, along the lines of “comet indigo starlight.”)
The puzzles on the vinyl LP in turn lead to “CYCLOPS”, a “speculative reality work” consisting of a mainframe interface, presented by Art Blocks and Pace Verso, the gallery’s Web3 hub.
Trevor Paglen, CYCLOPS2023. © Trevor Paglen, courtesy of Pace Gallery.
“Welcome to the Viewtree Mountain Research Facility,” reads the interface, indicating that the system was decommissioned in 1972 but reactivated in 1923 (presumably a legacy of a system well before Y2K, which did not schedule dates from the 20th).
If “speculative reality” has you scratching your head, the website somewhat helpfully explains, “Think of it as a new art genre that combines elements of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), with aspects of historical ‘unfiction’, experimental storytelling and cooperative problem solving. It’s meant to be played and experienced by self-organized groups of people working together.”
To get involved, participants begin by solving the puzzles presented on the tracks of the vinyl LP, or purchase a “Preludes” NFT, both of which give puzzle solvers a “CYCLOPS” registration code. Or, says the site, “Find one. They’re hidden out there. Go look.”
Eventually, and hopefully without spoiling anything, we can reveal that participants will find videos, documents and other material that will take them further along the way.
“In terms of the narrative structure and content of ‘CYCLOPS,’ it lives in a world of MKUltra and thought experiments,” Paglen said, referring to a secret CIA program involving interrogation, brainwashing and psychological torture. Much of the evidence of MKUltra was destroyed; The “proof” players find stands for these documents.
Trevor Paglen, CYCLOPS2023. © Trevor Paglen, courtesy of Pace Gallery.
What made Paglen enter the NFT field? He is less interested in the new format for its own sake, he said, than for its enthusiasts.
“Here are 10,000 people all talking to each other,” he said, referring to the community of digital art fans. “To build CYCLOPS, to play this game, you need 1,000 people talking to each other. NFTs have a bunch of nerds hanging out on Discord servers. I thought about the audience in a different way.
“What I asked was, ‘How do you make public art for people who live on the Internet?'”
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