Hi Jon, Apologies for the dead link. I've learned, forgotten, and been dismayed by a few things in the Tezos art world since that initial post at the beginning of the month. The gallery of those NFTs is alive and well at https://teia.art/erictheise and the series will wrap up next week when I post the 16th in the sequence. Update on my two months in Portugal: I shifted emphasis mid-April and last Thursday presented the first public performance using tools I've built for real time/performance cartography. I've just finished posting excerpts from a 45 minute collaboration with cellist Helena Espvall in Lisbon to https://vimeo.com/showcase/9472177 Jon, I hope you and others find that work intriguing, too, and I'll welcome any feedback. Eric On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 12:18 PM Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Well. For what it’s worth: It took me this long to read these two messages > and finally click on the link that so intrigued me. > > Apparently those tokens are totally fungible, because the link to the art > is dead. > > In cartographitude, > > -jonjab > UC Surf Board > > On Apr 6, 2022, at 11:08 AM, David Medeiros <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > As a cartographer, occasional “map-artist”, AND a photographer, I’ve been > following the NFT art trend for a while now and have been wondering when > more map projects would show up. > > I’ll say from the start that I am definitely in the NFTs are a racket > camp… so take this all with a huge dose of sodium. My first thought here is > that the biggest issues with NFTs are not the ones most people have been > talking about, specifically the energy and environmental costs. A move from > Proof-of-work to Prof-of-stake in my opinion is a minimal improvement to > the risks and downsides of selling and buying NFTs. The market is awash in > scams, “toxic positivity”, and outright theft of many kinds. The best > explainer I’ve found on all of this is Dan Olson’s video “Line Goes Up” ( > https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g). Anyone even considering entering the NFT > market should watch it, but beware it’s 2 hours long! > > As someone who sells creative work online, I see the appeal of NFTs to > small artists. The promise of NFTs is valid and potentially positive, but > the current reality is very few smaller or unique art projects are making > any headway, the market mostly exists in a speculative state right now. The > biggest earners appear to be sequential-generative “art” projects like the > Board Ape Yacht Club. Or digital artists who already command large > followings through social media to whom they can market directly. > > About the maps themselves, I like the idea of applying outside domain > influences and aesthetics to map making. I am decidedly not a > traditionalist in cartographic terms! So experimental film influences in > maps sounds awesome to me. But, and I apologize for the frankness of this, > on the surface this project feels a lot like another sequential-generative > NFT project, just with map data. I know there are many real-world examples > of art in series or collections (digital as well). I’m not sure what the > line is between creating a legitimate expressive art series and what many > sequential NFTs projects are doing, I think in some ways NFTs have blurred > these lines extremely. I’d be interested to see how this series develops > though. And I definitely hope you're able to make the NFT mechanism work > for map-art sales! > > Best, > David > > > *David Medeiros* > Geospatial Reference & Instruction Specialist > Stanford Geospatial Center > 650.561.5294 > > @mapbliss > > SGC website: gis.stanford.edu > GIS cartography: bit.ly/giscart <http://bit.ly/giscart> > <http://bit.ly/giscart> > GIS email list: bit.ly/GISlist > > > Olá de Lisboa, > > At some point, someone may inquire of you about maps and non-fungible > tokens, or NFTs. I've searched the archives of the list and the only use of > "NFT" is from a 2002 listing of maps for sale where NFT is an abbreviation > for "Not For Tourists" (!). "fungible" is not (yet) in the archives at all. > So my email will be on a more contemporary topic than most. > > (I have been on MAPS-L for decades, mostly as a lurker, but I appreciate > the occasional inquiries about "what's new?" and I hope you'll indulge my > writing today about something that's new even if puzzling.) > > I'm in the middle of a two month (March & April) international artist > residency at Hangar: Centro de Investigação Artística. I'm working on three > projects, all related to digital cartography, and I've started issuing the > first one as a sequence of animated, monochromatic maps, "minting" & > "swapping" them on the Tezos blockchain. Tezos is a "proof-of-stake" rather > than "proof-of-work" blockchain, the energy costs of the former not being > as inconceivable & inappropriate as the latter, and the resilient Hic Et > Nunc marketplace that's evolved around that cryptocurrency is allegedly one > of the most artist-friendly. This is all new to me and I likely share many > of your suspicions & cynicisms. I will recommend Brian Frye's entertaining > and thought-provoking presentation to you, especially for his observations > on how NFTs relate to provenance: https://youtu.be/c7N1nX7VmEY > > There are a few art historical influences that nourished my sequences – > 16mm experimental flicker films, of which Paul Sharits is the most > closely-aligned practitioner; op art (e.g., Bridget Riley); light and space > art (e.g., James Turrell, Carlos Cruz-Diez); concrete poetry and the > constrained wordplay of the Oulipo. I've also lifted ideas and inspiration > from painters Patrick Caulfield, Michael Craig-Martin, and Ed Ruscha. You > may recall that Daniel P. Huffman, a cartographer with strong ties to > NACIS, issued a call for monochrome maps in 2018. These sequences can be > thought of as a "long tail" response to that call. > > Each sequence is a numbered "If Map", e.g, "If Map 9.5 (Monochrome: > Honeydew)", and the whole cycle, which will be compiled and released in a > slightly different format for gallery installation/theatrical projection, > will be "If Map #9" with a longer title yet TBD. The plan is to release a > new sequence every two days for the remainder of April, populating the > gallery at https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/erictheise > > I advise that these involve strobing so if flashing light causes you > headaches or worse please be forewarned. > > I'll add that the experimental filmmaker, even when working digitally but > especially when working with analog small gauge film (8mm, Super8, 16mm), > faces a great many expenses in production (filmstock, equipment, lab work, > time) and distribution (e.g., festival entry fees), and often receives no > rental income even when their film is accepted for exhibition at a festival > or microcinema. In light of these dismal & long-standing circumstances the > possibilities of the NFT art marketplace are appealing, even irresistible: > a new audience, geographically dispersed, allegedly with a budget for > acquiring art (or simply provenance), plus enforced resale royalties. > > If you've read this far, thank you. This is the most I've written and > revealed about the project in one place. My posts to social media have been > terser, more mysterious & stingy with information, or perhaps going into > greater detail about one facet. I still haven't told you everything you > might want to know and I welcome your feedback or questions, although I may > not answer them until more of the sequences in the cycle have been released. > > Obrigado, Eric > > P.S. I invite you to follow day-to-day progress on my Instagram or other > social media feeds, I'm not hard to find. Wordier but far-less frequent > updates go out over my Mailchimp list, > https://erictheise.com/mailing-list/ <http://erictheise.com/mailing-list/> > > >