Photographer Chen Man’s first NFT series is a futuristic spectacle featuring a pregnant Grimes as an AI Cyborg
NFTs
The musician is pictured wearing a tattered shirt with the words “X AE A-12 MUSK.”
The day before Grimes gave birth to X AE A-Xii, her first child with Elon Musk, the Canadian electro-pop star participated in “The Last AI Robot On Earth,” a photo shoot by Chinese visual artist Chen Man. The first fruit of this collaboration is an NFT collection, Silent Noise: Episode 01which falls today.
The release consists of a limited edition of 500 NFTs priced at $100 each on LiveArt, an arts and culture focused Web3 platform.
Quiet noise is Chen’s first venture into the world of NFTs and has been designed as a multi-chapter experiential adventure that offers collectors additional opportunities and benefits with each new drop.
An NFT from the collection Silent Noise: Episode 01 by Chen Man. Courtesy of LiveArt.
The central image sees the high-end fashion photographer lean heavily into digital imagination and manipulation. Grimes stands on the ruins of an urban wasteland surrounded by the fuchsia smoke of rocket ships and tendrils of multicolored seaweed.
She stares down into the camera (and into our souls) with supreme confidence—perhaps such composure in a moment of collapse stems from her cyborg identity and the fact that she holds a golden sword. The musician, who himself has earned $5.8 million from NFT sales, is also pictured wearing a tattered shirt that reads “X AE A-12 MUSK.”
Grimes at the photo shoot with Chen Man. Photo courtesy of LiveArt.
The timing may be coincidental, but at a moment of growing anxiety about the potentially catastrophic directions of AI, Chen and Grimes present an alternative, open-ended approach with the creators expressing a passion for AI, its origins and future.
“Photography is an imagination, it allows a dream, it allows artists to create new worlds,” Chen said in a statement. “This NFT collection has given me the opportunity to experiment more with photography. I am much freer to impose my own artistic vision into the genre, to push the boundaries of photography without any limitations.”
Preparatory work for Grimes NFT. Image courtesy of LiveArt.
The host, LiveArt, was founded by former auction market veterans and differentiates itself from other platforms in part through the use of a token, $ART, which provides holders with additional rewards and exclusive opportunities. “This is one of the most innovative, complete and thoughtful projects we’ve seen,” Boris Pevzner, CEO of LiveArt, said in a statement. “It has rockets, AI and Musks, who are technical royalty. The buzz is off the charts.”
After the “Silent Noise” NFT case, the second chapter will offer The memorial stonewhere collectors will be “immortalized” by presenting “biological memories” that will be stored in a hybrid physical-digital artwork.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Do you want to be at the forefront of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest news, eye-opening interviews and sharp critiques that drive the conversation forward.
