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Anika Meier, Banz & Bowinkel und Harm van den Dorpel on NFTs in art

14.7.21 20:00
CET

Some celebrate, others rage, many have questions: in 2021, NFTs are shaking up the art world. Yet NFTs themselves are not art, nor are they new. The NFT (non-fungible token) data format has been around since the 2010s. By linking it to the blockchain process, it creates a certificate of authenticity for digital artworks and other files. NFTs are unique, contain information about the programmer, previous and current owners, and are considered forgery-proof. Aesthetics, environmental balance, and the artistic quality of the current NFT offering are particularly controversial. What constitutes the aura of a work of art? What is an original? What is the significance of NFTs for art? Hype or future, bluff or revolution? Artist duo Banz & Bowinkel, writer and curator Anika Meier, as well as artist and gallerist Harm van den Dorpel will talk about questions raised by the explosion of the crypto art market.

The talk will be held in German and will take place on Crowdcast.

 

Anika Meier

Anika Meier is a writer and curator. She wrote a column on art and social media for the German art magazine Monopol and now writes a column on digital art for Kunstforum. Her texts have appeared in Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Spiegel Online, Kunstforum, der Freitag, Mindstate Malibu, among others.

Her most recent exhibitions include the exhibition series “The Artist is Online” curated with Johann König at KÖNIG GALERIE / KÖNIG DIGITAL. The first exhibition in this series was the digital show “Surprisingly This Rather Works” by Manuel Rossner which can be visited via the app KÖNIG GALERIE.

More exhibitions: “Berlin, Augmented Berlin” with Highsnobiety (berlinberlin.ar), “Link in Bio. Art after Social Media” (2019/2020) and “Virtual Normality. Women Net Artists 2.0” (2018) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, “On the Internet Nobody Knows You Are a Performance Artist. Andy Kassier & Signe Pierce live” at the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf (2018), and “Signe Pierce. Reflexxxions” (2019) at the Eigen + Art Lab in Berlin.

 

Banz & Bowinkel

Giulia Bowinkel (* 1983) and Friedemann Banz (* 1980) live in Berlin and have been working together under the name Banz & Bowinkel since 2009. In 2007 they graduated from the Art Academy with Albert Oehlen and started making art with computers. Their work includes computer-generated imagery, animation, augmented imagery, virtual realities, and installations.

The award-winning works of Giulia Bowinkel and Friedemann Banz have been exhibited among others in the Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, in the Haus Esters/Haus Lange, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, at the Haus of the electronic arts in Basel, in the Halle für Kunst & Medien in Graz, at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen and at the NRW-Kunstforum Düsseldorf. Her works are in the collections of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, the Museum Kunstpalast and the Kunsthaus NRW.

 

Harm van den Dorpel

The artist is dedicated to discovering emergent aesthetics by composing software and language, borrowing from disparate fields such as genetics and blockchain.

He’s had institutional exhibitions at Museum Kurhaus Kleve, the New Museum in New York, The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, and the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam. In 2015 MAK Vienna acquired Harm van den Dorpel’s Event Listeners and thereby became the first museum to purchase a work of art using bitcoins.

Van den Dorpel also co-founded left gallery based in Berlin. The gallery produces and sells downloadable objects – curated and artist-run since 2015.

Some celebrate, others rage, many have questions: in 2021, NFTs are shaking up the art world. Yet NFTs themselves are not art, nor are they new. The NFT (non-fungible token) data format has been around since the 2010s. By linking it to the blockchain process, it creates a certificate of authenticity for digital artworks and other files. NFTs are unique, contain information about the programmer, previous and current owners, and are considered forgery-proof. Aesthetics, environmental balance, and the artistic quality of the current NFT offering are particularly controversial. What constitutes the aura of a work of art? What is an original? What is the significance of NFTs for art? Hype or future, bluff or revolution? Artist duo Banz & Bowinkel, writer and curator Anika Meier, as well as artist and gallerist Harm van den Dorpel will talk about questions raised by the explosion of the crypto art market.

The talk will be held in German and will take place on Crowdcast.

 

Anika Meier

Anika Meier is a writer and curator. She wrote a column on art and social media for the German art magazine Monopol and now writes a column on digital art for Kunstforum. Her texts have appeared in Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Spiegel Online, Kunstforum, der Freitag, Mindstate Malibu, among others.

Her most recent exhibitions include the exhibition series “The Artist is Online” curated with Johann König at KÖNIG GALERIE / KÖNIG DIGITAL. The first exhibition in this series was the digital show “Surprisingly This Rather Works” by Manuel Rossner which can be visited via the app KÖNIG GALERIE.

More exhibitions: “Berlin, Augmented Berlin” with Highsnobiety (berlinberlin.ar), “Link in Bio. Art after Social Media” (2019/2020) and “Virtual Normality. Women Net Artists 2.0” (2018) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, “On the Internet Nobody Knows You Are a Performance Artist. Andy Kassier & Signe Pierce live” at the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf (2018), and “Signe Pierce. Reflexxxions” (2019) at the Eigen + Art Lab in Berlin.

 

Banz & Bowinkel

Giulia Bowinkel (* 1983) and Friedemann Banz (* 1980) live in Berlin and have been working together under the name Banz & Bowinkel since 2009. In 2007 they graduated from the Art Academy with Albert Oehlen and started making art with computers. Their work includes computer-generated imagery, animation, augmented imagery, virtual realities, and installations.

The award-winning works of Giulia Bowinkel and Friedemann Banz have been exhibited among others in the Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, in the Haus Esters/Haus Lange, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, at the Haus of the electronic arts in Basel, in the Halle für Kunst & Medien in Graz, at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen and at the NRW-Kunstforum Düsseldorf. Her works are in the collections of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld, the Museum Kunstpalast and the Kunsthaus NRW.

 

Harm van den Dorpel

The artist is dedicated to discovering emergent aesthetics by composing software and language, borrowing from disparate fields such as genetics and blockchain.

He’s had institutional exhibitions at Museum Kurhaus Kleve, the New Museum in New York, The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, and the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam. In 2015 MAK Vienna acquired Harm van den Dorpel’s Event Listeners and thereby became the first museum to purchase a work of art using bitcoins.

Van den Dorpel also co-founded left gallery based in Berlin. The gallery produces and sells downloadable objects – curated and artist-run since 2015.