Authentic Art
Authentic Art is an art project grounded in participation and promise, created at the invitation of Huakan magazine for its cover project.
The work imitates the launch format of the “10k projects” now popular on NFT marketplaces, announcing a non-fungible collection that promises 1,000 works. Each work in the collection shares similar attributes, yet exists independently. The works are “minted” as follows: participants fill out a redemption form and mail it to me together with a personal object. Using the contact details provided, I then send back an artwork accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. In producing the work, I borrow Duchamp’s concept of the readymade. I sign the objects participants send me, and in my capacity as an artist confer on them the status of artworks. This is the “minting,” and the objects are then returned to circulation within the project.
The work is a promise, or a contract. Any Huakan reader who takes part and fulfils their side of it, by correctly completing the redemption form and giving me an object, creates a debt on my part: I owe them one authentic artwork. That debt is cancelled when I deliver a work to that participant. Along the way, I give each previous participant the object sent by the next one. New debt pays off old debt, robbing Peter to pay Paul, so the system can keep running. As long as the total number of participants who submit redemptions is even, I never need to create a single work. If it is odd, I may have to actually make one authentic work to exchange with the last participant. Of course, I may also choose to default and turn the whole thing into a game of hot potato. As I state in the redemption terms, I reserve the absolute right of final interpretation. The first title I came up with for this work was Smart Contract. It is both a reflection on the contract as a social compact through which human society is built, and a satire of the false promises being made on the blockchain today.
This is the world’s first limited-edition genesis non-fungible work by a Huakan magazine artist. Holders gain entry to the project’s exclusive club (add the project assistant on WeChat, ID: screenboy, to learn more) and enjoy perks such as priority access to the artist’s future releases. Please hype responsibly.
A final note: In the project’s redemption terms, I adopted a tactic common in NFT community-growth strategies. Participants must own a genuine copy of Huakan magazine in order to take part, and must follow Huakan’s official WeChat account to receive priority redemption. I hope this brings Huakan tremendous sales and attention, and I offer it as my thanks for the magazine’s invitation to create this work.
《正品艺术》
是一个基于参与机制与承诺为基础的艺术项目。应邀画刊杂志封面计划所创作。
作品模拟了一个如今在 NFT 交易市场上流行的 10k 项目的发售的形式，发起的一个许诺拥有 1000 个的非同质化作品合集，即合集中的每一件作品将拥有相似的属性，但又是独立存在的。这些作品的 “铸造” 方式为，参与者填写兑换表格，与一个个人物件，一同快递给我。我将根据这个参与者提供的联系方式回寄一件带有正品证书的艺术作品。在实施作品制作的过程中，将借用杜尚现成品艺术的概念，把参与者给我的物件，进行签名，以艺术家身份赋予这些物件以艺术品的名义，即“铸造”，并使其回归到项目中去。
这个作品是一个承诺或者说合约，即所有参与项目的画刊的读者，只要旅履行他的承诺，即正确填写兑换表给，赠与我一件物件，便给我创造了一个偿还一件正品艺术作品的债务。这个债务将在我给该参与者作品时抵消。而在这个过程中，我将会用新的参与者给予的物件，给于前一个参与者。新债还旧债，猜东墙补西墙，使其能够持续运转下去。只要提交兑换的参与者总数是偶数时，我将不会需要创造任何作品。如果是奇数的话，我或许会需要真正创造一件正品作品与最后一名参与者交换。当然我也可能会选择违约，使其成为一个击鼓传花的游戏，正如在兑换须知中我提到了我拥有绝对的最终解释权。这个作品我最早想到的名字叫做智能合约，其即是对合约作为一种社会契约关系，建构人类社会的一种感叹，也是对今天区块链上发生虚假承诺的讽刺。
该作品是全球首个《画刊》杂志艺术家创世限量非同质化作品。获得该作品将能够加入项目专属俱乐部（添加项目小助手微信号：screenboy了解更多），享受艺术家未来项目的优先发授权等福利。欢迎大家理性炒作。
写在最后，在项目的兑换须知中，我采用了 NFT 社区增粉策略中常用的手法，要求参与者必须持有正品《画刊》杂志作为参与前提，要求参与者关注《画刊》杂志的公众号获得优先兑换权。我寄希望这样能为《画刊》杂志带来巨大的销量和关注，也作为本次受《画刊》杂志邀约创作的感谢。
