The distributed gallery is a collective of artists, craftmen and engineers established in the contemporary art worlds since 2017. They are mainly known for the creation of artworks based on distributed technologies such as blockchains.
The evolution of arts have always been coupled to the evolution of technics. Today, technologies such as peer-to-peer networks and blockchains enable artists to create artworks whose operational, aesthetic, conceptual and political logic was previsouly out of reach: immutable and non-censorable data recording, large-scale money printing, content certification, creation of digital scarcity, etc...
The distributed gallery makes a creative use of these technologies to experiment a redistribution of usually separated domains: art and venture, venture and life, life and art. Thus, it aims to counteract the overinterpretation of « artistic intentions » and advocate for a more authentic approach of the artwork: here, the exhibition is nothing more but a specific and situated experience of a protocol - i.e. a set of technical, economic and social rules overflowing the artwork as such. Our machines [and their exhibition] may have a limited life span: the protocols they open to will live forever.
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On Dec. 16, the nascent market for what might be called cryptoart appeared to reach a new level when the hitherto-unknown Distributed Gallery announced the auction of “Ready Made Token,” a unique unit of a cryptocurrency that the gallery said was created by Richard Prince using technology from Ethereum, the network responsible for Ether.
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In mid-December, a website called The Distributed Gallery announced they were auctioning a single Ready-Made Token by Richard Prince that consisted of a single Ethereum token.
The piece physically illustrates the current phenomena of cryptocurrencies challenging, or burning, existing monetary systems – exposing while also breaking the tension of this rampant transition from physical to virtual transactions occurring worldwide.
Distributed Gallery’s money-burning, crypto-issuing jukebox, the Chaos Machine is in the bubble, hinting to a narrative of the threat of crypto’s atmosphere to the legitimacy of existing state-issued “fiat” money and a general mood of possible accelerationist nihilism.
In the main hall of the Pavillon, the jukebox Chaos Machine (2018) by Distributed Gallery burns banknotes and turns them into cryptocurrency. Every piece of paper money inserted into the machine to burn triggers a music selection to play through speakers while a token is printed, allowing visitors to add new music to the playlist.
This token is a unique innovation that is a fusion of art and technology and it has high potentials due to its distinctive structure.
Brûler des billets contre des tokens et un peu de musique – voilà l’opportunité unique que propose l’oeuvre d’art « Chaos Machine », créée par le collectif d’artistes français Distributed Gallery, spécialisé dans la création d’oeuvres d’art inspirées par la blockchain et les actifs numériques.
Un autre événement survenu en ce début d’année permet toutefois de remettre en perspective les liens entre le marché de l’art et les crypto-monnaies. En s’autoproclamant la « première galerie spécialisée dans les œuvres d’art et les expositions basées sur la blockchain », la Distributed Gallery a lancé sur le marché son « premier projet » intitulé the Ready-Made Token, de Richard Prince.
En inoculant ainsi le geste Duchampien dans l’univers cryptographique Richard Prince ne fait finalement que rappeler le mouvement tautologique du capitalisme en répétant la formule primitive et structurante de la logique du capital exposée par Karl Marx en 1867 : A—M—A’ (argent—marchandise- plus d’argent) à savoir : transformation de l’argent en marchandise et retransformation de la marchandise en argent.
Le concept peut sembler un tantinet saugrenu voir illégal, mais voici la Chaos Machine, un juke-box crypto qui permet de choisir la musique en détruisant des billets de banque.
Présentée lors de la Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) de Paris, qui avait lieue les 19 et 20 octobre, la Chaos Machine a intrigué. Ce n’est pourtant pas la première fois que des artistes s’intéressent à l’univers de la blockchain et de la cryptomonnaie.