Sunday, April 5, 2020

Undocumented events and object permanence - spring 2020 collection

Undocumented events and object permanence
- An online exhibition series thematizing documentation, conservation, (false) memory, (art) object, phenomenology, and blockchain certification.

The Spring 2020 collection is ready!


The exhibition contains 63 works submitted between January and March 2020.

Participating artists
Acoustic Mirror, Bruce Barber, Arlen Barrera Leyva, sohil bhatia, Lawrence Bird, Alessa Brossmer, Ana Buigues, Cyborg Art Collective, sajjad dadpour, desire_direct, Reynald Drouhin, Jõrn Ebner, Siegmar Fricke / Pharmakustik, Mr. G, Benna Gaean Maris, Marko Gaertner, Diana Galimzyanova, Max Herman, Max Herman & Michael Szpakowski, Jinu Hong, Brenda Hutchinson, Danielle Imara, marcela jardon, Yejin Stephany Lee, Jan Robert Leegte, Zhongkai Li, Tatjana Macic, Aaliyah Marsh, Konstantina Mavridou & Silvia Gatti, Zsolt Mesterhazy, Jeff Ostergren, Bya de Paula, Milos Peskir, Daniel Pinheiro, pitscher, Theodora Prassa, Stefanie Reling-Burns, Natallia Sakalova, SLIDERS_lab [Frédéric Curien, Jean-Marie Dallet], Alan Sondheim, Anthony Stephenson, Elle Thorkveld, Christian Tiedeman, Jordan Topiel Paul, Jurgen Trautwein, A. P. Vague, Thomas Valianatos, Emilio Vavarella, Juri Wennekes, Paul Wiegerinck, William Wolfgang Wunderbar, and [anonymous]

The collection is notarized and certified on the bitcoin blockchain with the hash key of the zip of the collection embedded in the transaction. It means there's a public stamp referring to it, a proof-of-existence, since the hash-key is unique. So, the undocumented events and objects of the collection are then nonetheless proven to exist, which was partly the point, to assert an existence of the otherwise non-documented and non-documentable. In various degrees the works reflect this. In other words, blockchain is used as an archive, museum or a similar function for conservation of works, but without containing or revealing them - its only function is to certify their existence when asked.

Priest: Although it is midnight I see the form of a man, a faint form, in the light there. If you are spirit, who are you?
Spirit: I am the ghost of Tsunemasa. Your service has brought me.
Priest: Is it the ghost of Tsunemasa? I perceive no form, but a voice from a recording.
Spirit: It is the faint sound alone that remains.
Priest: O! But I saw the form, really.
Spirit: It is there if you see it.
-- Tsunemasa Noh play

Note the spirit's uncertainty as to his own success in appearing. The priest wonders if he really saw anything. The spirit affirms that 'The body was there if you saw it.'

Next edition will be the Summer collection, with a deadline in 20 June. A call for it will be sent out later.

For more info

The project is organized by Noemata.

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