In the session, ‘Chennai to Christies’, a techie, a crypto investor and a digital artist unveil NFTs and discuss the future of art as we know it.
Earlier this week, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun bought EtherRock, a photo of a laser-eyed rock, for half a million dollars. ‘It wasn’t even a good picture of a rock. So, when people are buying raw stones for $500,000, what stage of the collection cycle are we in?’ This was one of the many questions raised in ‘Chennai to Christie’s Tak’, a recent session with NFT majors Twobdaur and teen artist Laya Mathikshara. “We are still in the early stages of the art cycle – the real explosion hasn’t happened yet. It will be when people own the art to understand what to do with NFTs and how to experience them,” aka Twobdaur Anand Venkateswaran (who rose to fame with Vignesh Sundaresan aka Metakovan’s purchase of Beeple’s $69 million NFT artwork, said this year).
As part of the Madras Week celebrations, Krish Ashok, technical expert, composer and author of Masala Lab, explored two different players in the field – producer and investor – in the session, and explored ways to relate the concept to the audience. Looked for
Chennai and crypto art
“We are in the midst of a renaissance – the crypto space is a convergence of technology, financial instruments that for the first time is driven by culture,” Venkateswaran said. “Bitcoin, altcoins, ICO booms and busts, etc. were driven by financial instruments, while NFTs are fed by culture. Now there is room for artists and musicians like us, so the masterpiece created here becomes valuable. You have seen a lot of traditional Art buyers haven’t seen – people who buy crypto art get the concept and are controlling the renaissance,” he added at the event organized by Madras Musings.
(From left) Krish Ashok, Laya Mathikshara and Twobadour aka Anand Venkateswaran. photo Credit: special arrangement
Mathikshara, who sold her first NFT in May for 0.39 ETH (about ₹90,500) on the Manch Foundation, sees art as something you collect without any financial gain. “It’s like collecting shells on the beach. It’s just something beautiful; art that speaks to you in any form. NFTs are exactly that.”
The conversation, which explores everything from bitcoin and crypto art to digital tools and the ever-expanding metaverse, also addressed the future of art galleries. “NFT is a digital certificate of ownership of an asset – art, virtual land, wearables, etc. Unlike any other certificate, it cannot be destroyed and it completely removes the middleman. No need to depend on art galleries or curators,” explained Twobador, explaining how NFTs are the most useful way to get into the crypto space. “People in Chennai and the global south find themselves engaging with new technology because it is a launchpad for them It helps them to jump on a very difficult journey. Although Chennai has vibrant artists, there is no art market and now, because of crypto, someone like Laya is a global artist. He is now straight in New York or somewhere. And can expose her in front of anyone.”
Sharing tools and plans
Mathikshara, who hosted a gallery on the Metaverse (during last year’s lockdown) that brought together 20 artists from around the world, said the experience helped her learn more about the NFT community. “It helped me on my journey – NFT is about building community and contacts.” As for the variations in the art world, “While 2D art has not evolved much, AR art can be felt and viewed from every dimension. It lets you travel where the art is. You can live in the object world or vice versa. Dynamic art changes with time, temperature, the sound value of bitcoin, etc. and that’s a whole new dimension,” said the artist who is now experimenting with creative art. “It’s about creating art with pixels.” In the future, she hopes to explore the intersection of art and technology – Metaverse, AR artwork, etc. “I also use software like Python, p5.js and Photoshop. Tech is advancing at a fast pace and As we cannot judge it, I do not want to stick to anything specific,” Mathikshara said.
Apart from questions like ‘how to buy NFTs’, ‘where can artists start’ and ‘beginners of NFT art’, the session concludes with an interesting insight into what the future holds for the metaverse for Chennai-themed art. Happened together For Mathikshara, it was about adapting Tamil culture on the blockchain. “It is the best place to start especially in the post-pandemic scenario given that we have not stepped up too much and are close to technology. Be it Thirukural, song or poetry, anything can be preserved.” How NFTs are capsules that preserve culture, and with languages, Venkateswaran reveals that he is now working on the concept. Trying to revive and preserve texts, movies as NFTs. We are also working with Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) to preserve a lot of Tamil cultural elements in the form of NFTs.”
Watch the conversation on Madras Musings’ YouTube channel. For upcoming Madras Day events, log on themadrasday.in
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