{"id":2740320,"date":"2023-06-27T15:54:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T19:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/plato-data\/digital-art-platform-feral-file-turns-two-with-a-starry-retrospective-featuring-works-by-refik-anadol-tyler-hobbs-and-more-artnet-news\/"},"modified":"2023-06-27T15:54:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T19:54:22","slug":"digital-art-platform-feral-file-turns-two-with-a-starry-retrospective-featuring-works-by-refik-anadol-tyler-hobbs-and-more-artnet-news","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/digital-art-platform-feral-file-turns-two-with-a-starry-retrospective-featuring-works-by-refik-anadol-tyler-hobbs-and-more-artnet-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Art Platform Feral File Turns Two With a Starry Retrospective Featuring Works by Refik Anadol, Tyler Hobbs, and More | Artnet News"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2019, artists Casey Reas, Rick Silva, Addie Wagenknecht, and the duo exonemo embarked on a project, inviting about 75 of their fellow artists to submit and swap editioned blockchain-based works over the course of a week. \u201cThis experiment,\u201d wrote the curators, \u201cis a way for us to trade works to create a collection.\u201d They dubbed the project <\/span>a2p<\/span><\/a>, or Artist-to-Peer, and in both spirit and format, it would lay the groundwork for Feral File.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Feral File has cemented itself as a digital art platform by and for artists, that continues to champion the edition model. Since its founding in 2020 by Reas and blockchain startup Bitmark, it has hosted 33 online selling exhibitions, featuring 26 curators and 178 artists. Offerings range from the group show \u201c<\/span>Peer to Peer<\/span><\/a>,\u201d curated by <\/span>Buffalo AKG<\/span><\/a>\u2018s Tina Rivers Ryan, to \u201c<\/span>LeeMullican.PCX<\/span><\/a>,\u201d curated by Anika Meier and gathering the oil painter\u2019s early computer artworks from 1987. Most recently, \u201c<\/span>In\/Visible<\/span><\/a>\u201d saw curator Linda Dounia Rebeiz bring together A.I. works by Black creators which highlight the technology\u2019s built-in biases.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such a wide range of artists, with different ideas and approaches to practices in digital art,\u201d Reas told Artnet News of the platform\u2019s programming. \u201cPeople coming from the outside might view digital art as fairly narrow, but for me, Feral File shows that it\u2019s such a diverse and eclectic practice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lu Yang, Material World Knight \u2013 Flying Mode<\/em> (2023). Courtesy of Feral File.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On June 28, Feral File will be commemorating its second anniversary (not counting the first nine months after its founding, which were concerned with development) with a retrospective titled \u201cFeral File 1.0.\u201d The show features 33 artworks by artists such as as Dmitri Cherniak, Refik Anadol, Sofia Crespo, Tyler Hobbs, 0xDEAFBEEF, LaTurbo Avedon, Helena Sarin, and John Gerrard. All the pieces were selected by Reas from each of Feral File\u2019s past shows (and the original curators\u2019 texts for these previous shows will be included).<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really feel that Feral File is at its core [a place for] showing digital sculpture and in code,\u201d said Reas. \u201cBut in doing \u2018Feral File 1.0,\u2019 I tried to get a mix of every medium, every kind of work\u2014just really trying to make that range within the show.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Refik Anadol, Unsupervised \u2014 Machine Hallucinations \u2014 MoMA Generative Study 1<\/em> (2021). Courtesy of Feral File.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cFeral File 1.0\u201d will also mark a turning point for the platform, closing out its first chapter. Moving forward, Feral File 2.0 will continue to focus on artists\u2019 rights (the platform\u2019s smart contracts ensure creators royalties through resales and cross-blockchain transactions), while homing in on editioned series and group exhibitions. With the latter, participating artists will receive an edition of every work in the show and collectors can purchase sets containing, again, every work in the show. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a format, Reas said, inspired by Feral File\u2019s 2021 \u201c<\/span>\u2013GRAPH<\/span><\/a>\u201d show of plotter-based art, which was sold as a set. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that when the work is collected, the collector should have one work from each artist. When something is collected as a full set, the income from that is also split evenly. That\u2019s one way that we\u2019re working against traditional art world collecting dynamics,\u201d Reas explained, adding that the format further enabled the contributing artists to connect and form a community.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Feral File 2.0 will be inaugurated on July 13 by a generative art exhibition, \u201cN=12,\u201d curated by artist Aaron Penne. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Auriea Harvey, Haristory<\/em> (2022). Courtesy of Feral File.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The platform\u2019s second anniversary festivities are rounded out by a smaller, though no less significant, show that revisits Feral File\u2019s roots. \u201cThe Experiment\u201d presents a curated selection from the 2019 a2p collection (a <\/span>second version of the experiment<\/span><\/a> took place in the spring of 2020), featuring creators including Kim Asendorf, Auriea Harvey, Tabor Robak, Yoshi Sodeoka, and Alan Butler, among others.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The show is non-collectible, but symbolic to Feral File, as it revisits the seed for the platform as well as a moment that preceded the NFT boom\u2014\u201dRight before we had this bifurcation, before this new energy and culture emerged,\u201d Reas said.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

More so, Feral File\u2019s abiding experimental ethos, he added, is bottled within.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe original aim of Feral File was to experiment with different ways of working with curators, with group and solo shows, with different ways to allow people to collect. Can we try this? Can we try that?\u201d said Reas. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried a lot of things, and this is what we imagined Feral File can be or what we feel it really should be. That\u2019s really what Feral File 2.0 represents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFeral File 1.0\u201d and \u201cThe Experiment\u201d are on view at <\/span><\/i>Feral File<\/span><\/i><\/a> from June 28 through July 13.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

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