With the NFT craze hitting the art market, one cannot ignore the potential that these smart contracts can bring to ensure that artists are fairly compensated for their innovations. NFT’s are non fungible tokens, meaning that they may not be exchanged for another thing of equal value. This technology is being used to mint unique digital artworks; the NFT blockchain code serves as a type of certificate of authenticity.
Artists can ensure themselves a financial return on subsequent sales of their works. This gives artists more autonomy over their creative intellect and may provide financial compensation with each sale of the artwork. This system however only benefits the artist because it functions in conjunction with the current art market; where millionaires trade and invest in artworks. NFT’s only benefit the artists as long as we uphold the status quo of the current art market.
But what if we could create a space in which artist don’t have to depend on money to survive? What if we could create a world in which people didn’t have to slave away their bodies or exploit their creativity in order to exist? "Virtual Infinite" is a series of vignettes that examine the processes of change and the endless possibilities that exist digitally and physically.
–Claire June Apana
The Space Between Our Minds
"The Space Between Our Minds" was inspired by the stills from "The Mandala Series" photographic works. These visual meditations are created utilizing everyday objects. This shared experience of living in the physical world parallels a collective consciousness in which all living things are engaged. May we all find limitless possibilities within our imaginations, and see our own potential for expansion.
Original music composed in collaboration with my Monstera plant using PlantWave.
Becoming
Using two simple folds, the artist transforms a single sheet of marbleized paper into a complex origami form. The manipulation of the flat paper builds dimension and creates a fluid sculpture. This creation is an allegory for the processes of change that we experience within ourselves. Engaging in life with an open mind and an open heart will give us the opportunity to grow into our own complex and beautiful entities.
Panic Pod
Imagine a safe space in which time does not exist. A space in which you can indulge in all of your feelings, without fear of consequence or responsibility. A space where one may simply engage with being human. The Panic Room is a digital space that invites us to imagine an alternative reality in which we may bathe in a full spectrum of warm color while floating in a soft orb through the universe. This infinite realm provides one with a virtual escape from the harsh realities of our fleshy being.
Controlling Chaos
"Controlling Chaos" is a performance piece that engaged with a live audience at the Ace 121 Gallery in Glendale, CA in February of 2019. The work consists of the transformation of a massive photographic print into an origami spiral sculpture. The 48”x120” print contains composite imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. This technology has captured depths of our universe beyond our imagination, exposing to us the beautifully chaotic origins of life. The work explores the parallels between ancient symbology and innovative human technology, the natural and the contrived. Though there is conflict between these notions, they exist as impossible realities. It is only through this disarray that we may begin to control the chaos in our own lives. Through our actions, we are able to inspire change.
Falling For You
"Falling For You" emotes the challenges of existing as a modern being within the city. A distorted Los Angeles expands and contracts as a nude figure fluctuates between floating and falling above the cityscape. A natural being forced into the unnatural world. The means of survival are in contention with our evolution. The metropolis serves as an alluring trap. Forced to adhere to this man made system, this hypernormality has forced humans to integrate with their mechanized world in order to survive.