Pace Verso and Art Blocks Detail First-Ever NFT by AA Murakami
Titled Floating World, the series will be previewed at Pace’s recently expanded art complex in Seoul during the first edition of Frieze Seoul.
Pace Verso, the web3 hub of Pace Gallery, and Art Blocks, the leading platform for generative art, are pleased to detail the second NFT project from their multi-faceted partnership encompassing NFT publications, exhibitions and community programming. Through this collaboration, which was established earlier this year, Pace Verso and Art Blocks will present the first NFT project of the Tokyo and London-based artist duo AA Murakami. Titled Floating World, the NFT series, which serves as an ode to the original life on Earth, will launch on September 14 at 7am PDT / 10am EDT / 11pm KST and be available for purchase on artblocks.io.
Floating World, the first component of an interdisciplinary project by AA Murakami, consists of 250 unique NFTs, each depicting one of three animated scenes that recount the origin of life on Earth: a single microbial bubble that can split in two; clusters of self-organizing bubbles representing the growth of multicellular life; and a single bubble placed on the horizon, indicating the formation of Earth’s biosphere. Inspired by the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment, which simulated conditions on the early Earth to explore how life first formed in the primordial oceans through self-organizing bubbles, the Floating World NFTs have calm, meditative, hypnotic qualities often associated with minimalist painting and the movement of light and space. Bubbles have been an enduring source of inspiration for AA Murakami, whose ground-breaking work New Spring (2017) is an interactive, multi-sensory installation that produces mist-filled flowers.
The formal dynamism of Floating World, which explores the kinetic possibilities of semi-abstract bubbles, belies the project’s technical complexity and its wide range of generative effects. Opacities and color diffusions vary between the NFTs, as do the shapes and locations of the bubbles. Clear bubbles depicted against gradient backgrounds have refractions of light and color. Some of the NFTs are stereoscopic, allowing viewers to have a three-dimensional experience and immersing them in a world of floating, ethereal bubbles.
AA Murakami will participate in AMA discussions on Pace Verso’s Discord on September 6 at 8 p.m. EDT, and Art Blocks will host a 15-minute artist chat on Twitter Spaces right before the release on September 14 at 9:45 a.m. EDT, marking the launch of the project. Pace Verso will preview Floating World at the newly expanded Seoul Art Complex during the first edition of Frieze Seoul in September. This special screen-based presentation will offer the opportunity to experience test outputs before the project’s official release.
AA Murakami is known for creating immersive, sensory installations as part of a long-term exploration of natural phenomena and systems. With these concerns at the center of the duo’s practice, AA Murakami has pioneered the development of “ephemeral technology,” or technology that is experienced not through standard interfaces such as screens, but through ethereal and shifting matter, facilitating the fleeting but deeply meaningful personal. experiences. With the multi-faceted Floating World series, the duo aims to further explore this concept through what it has called the “mataverse”, a space between the physical and digital worlds. Through future Floating World projects, AA Murakami will explore the possibilities of art living on the blockchain and engaging all the viewers’ senses in immersive and tactile physical environments.
Floating World is realized by Art Blocks and Pace Verso in conjunction with Digital Practice, an artist-focused web3 creative agency that worked in close collaboration with AA Murakami on project conceptualization, art direction and development. More information about the project can be found at artblocks.io.
The first NFT project released as part of the partnership between Pace Verso and Art Blocks was Petro National, a series of unique, generative works focusing on contemporary issues of oil consumption, by artist John Gerrard. Petro National NFTs feature the outlines of various countries and regions, which are represented as glistening oil slicks on the world ocean. Engaging the potential of online temporal and spatial media through game engine technology, Petro National examines the global impact of burning 100 million barrels of oil per day and the way energy consumption has become a signifier of political power, explicitly addressing the inequalities in oil consumption. between the global north and south.
AA Murakami is a Tokyo and London-based artist duo founded in 2011 by Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves. Their unique sensory installations are an ongoing series of works, following the tradition of artists imitating nature. In the same way that ancient civilizations created structures to chart the passage of the sun or early cave paintings to depict the natural world, AA Murakami pursues an innate human desire to use art to connect with and honor the natural systems upon which our existence depends. They are pioneers in “ephemeral tech”, exploring this inherent drive for creation by using technology to evoke both primordial origins and future worlds.
Notable projects include Infinity Blue (2018), a monumental breathing sculpture that pays tribute to one of the world’s smallest but most important organisms, cyanobacteria; a permanent installation at the Eden Project in Cornwall; and New Spring (2017), a tree-like structure that emits scented mist bubbles. The artists’ work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Center Pompidou, Paris; and M+, Hong Kong.
Art blocks is in the service of bringing the most compelling examples of contemporary generative art to life. Art Blocks unites artists, blockchain technology and collectors in a destination dedicated to groundbreaking work and remarkable experiences.
Pace Verso is Pace Gallery’s hub for web3 projects, launched in 2021 under the leadership of Pace President and CEO Marc Glimcher. Pace Verso works closely with artists inside and outside the gallery’s program to incubate, develop and realize their web3 projects, operating an NFT platform on the Ethereum blockchain at www.pacegallery.com/paceverso. In addition to releasing independent projects, Pace Verso often collaborates with leading web3 platforms to share artists’ work with a wide audience. In 2022, Pace Verso established a multi-faceted partnership with Art Blocks, the leading generative art platform, which includes boundary-pushing generative NFT releases by Pace’s artists as well as crypto-native artists, exhibitions and community programming. In its first year, Pace Verso—reflecting the gallery’s long-standing and ongoing support of innovative artists who have cultivated advanced studio practices engaged with boundary-pushing technologies—has presented NFT projects by Jeff Koons, Zhang Huan, Glenn Kaino, DRIFT, Lucas Samaras, and other artists . Pace Verso has also gained a robust following on its dedicated Discord server, engaging the web3 community directly through discussions with artists and leaders in the crypto space.
Digital practice is an art-focused web3 agency that supports artists and properties in expanding their oeuvre and preserving their legacy through the translation of authentic artistic practice to the blockchain. Their expertise is in smart contract development, creative coding, generative art and the incorporation of digital art into an artist’s more traditional or physical practice. For more information, visit www.digitalpractice.art.
