tangible data (2020)

tangible data is a project born during the pandemic, exploring the rise of NFTs in 2020. Stemming from a desire to document my experiences infiltrating NFT markets, this project unfolds through various activities, including 3D animation works, screen sculptures, online virtual galleries, exhibition models, documented guided exhibition tours, as well as both online and offline conferences.

tangibledata.art

Text by Lisa Tronca for Espace, Art Actuel #139

Baron Lanteigne's practice is rooted in digital technologies and online cyber-communities. His work unfolds through various modalities, both in physical and virtual spaces, revealing the interconnected relationship between these spheres, as well as their intrinsic materialities and protocols.

For the tangible data project, the artist adopted an approach of observation and infiltration of NFT platforms and their collector communities. In 2020, as this new frontier of the art market was just beginning to take off, Baron Lanteigne created an NFT series consisting of short animation loops for the SuperRare platform, using it as a pretext to explore its codes.

The series, titled tangible data one through tangible data five, draws inspiration from a specific aesthetic of internet culture present on crypto art platforms while subverting the material properties of technological devices: soft and liquefied screens, data juice, human hands, and electronic devices blending into colorful pixels. This initial phase of the project served as a foundation for the artist to make visible, in subsequent phases, the data related to the sale of the NFTs themselves, as well as the exchanges between collectors within the crypto art community.

The following series, #metaworks, incorporated posts from Twitter, Reddit, and Discord into 3D exhibition environments that featured works from the first series—referencing another growing phenomenon of the pandemic era: the interest in virtual museums and galleries. This second NFT series thus also served as a prototype for future sculptures and installations, such as augmented protective pouch, presented in physical exhibitions.

The self-referential works of Baron Lanteigne's tangible data project directly address the framework and protocols of the NFT art market they inhabit, offering a critical perspective on the conditions of production and circulation between physical and digital spheres, as well as between the art world and the blockchain environment.