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p1xelfool: gämma Exhibition Opening
Recorded: July 28, 2022 Duration: 1:12:48Space Recording
Full Transcription
Thank you so much, Aileen. Thank you for the very generous introduction and thank you everybody for joining us today.
And in a sense, they're really about altering attention or our perception of and relationship to the screen and what we see on it.
As Aileen noted, Gamma comprises 33 unique artworks.
Each contains three seeds generated by the system, selected and arranged by the artist to comprise the final composition.
So along with writing the algorithm itself, PixelFool has curated the selection of works as well as the groupings within the works.
The exhibition is also the first on Feralphile to be minted with Tezos.
Minting with this blockchain is an affirmation of the significant work and practices of the Tezos community, of which PixelFool is an instrumental figure.
Furthermore, the proof-of-stake blockchain is energy efficient and has a low carbon footprint.
Artists minting with Tezos are also engendering more equitable, accessible and horizontal collecting practices.
And it's been really inspiring to see the collaboration and support among these committed artists and collectors.
So a few thank yous are in order before I will hand it off to PixelFool and begin our discussion.
But I just want to extend deep thanks to Casey Rees for his vision with Feralphile and for inviting us to realize this exhibition.
And thank you to the whole Feralphile team.
Sean Moss-Poltz, Michael Nguyen, Aileen, of course, Rita Wu, and all of the engineers who have been working so hard and have been extremely incredible to work with to make minting on Tezos a reality.
Hugh Pham, Duen Bui, Brandon Ye, Kian Nguyen, Kian Phan, Hao Chang, Christopher Hall, Kathy Cho, Anaïs Barth, and Kuang Lei.
I also want to thank Meg Miller for her editorial support on all of the exhibition texts.
And thanks to Claire Bishop, Casey Berner, George Kahn, Suzanne Oppenheimer, and Sinclair Spratley for the conversations we shared that shaped my curator's note.
Finally, this exhibition is a very special one to me because it meant collaborating with PixelFool, who I so deeply admire as an artist and a friend.
And thank you for trusting me with your work and for the generosity you bring to everything you do.
So, PixelFool, how are you feeling?
Congratulations.
Hello, Gary.
Welcome.
I mean, I feel both excited and also, as I mentioned before this week, a bit tired because it's been such a long journey.
But I just want to, I think you've put perfectly everything.
This is the effort of a lot of people, and I want to thank everyone that has collaborated in the process of Gamma.
It's been the work of months.
And it's, it's really, really a pleasure to have my work, Future and Ferrofile.
As I've mentioned before, I've been collecting ever since the first exhibition.
So, yes, it's such a pleasure to see Gamma going live today.
And thank you to you also for all the conversations, for being with me since the beginning.
It's been so fundamental to talk to you throughout the process of conception and execution of the works.
I'm so, so grateful.
And, yeah, I hope, I'm always saying that it's difficult for an artist to expect that other people will relate to the work, as you do.
But I hope that it can bring some joy to anyone seeing it.
Yeah, I think that, I don't know, we had a lot of conversations about how fun your work is.
And I think even though these works are, you know, appear to be maybe more austere than some of the other things that you have created in the past,
I think they, they have resonances with that, too.
And they're very sensory based.
So, I guess I wanted to start with just talking about the works themselves and sort of looking at the visual and the technical qualities of them.
And then we can get maybe into some more of the conceptual and political aspects of these works.
So, as we've mentioned already, each of the works contains three seeds.
So, that's pretty unique.
And also, I thought it was interesting on Twitter, you described these works as being dynamic triptychs.
So, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about just what we're seeing when we're looking at these works
and how they're different from one another or how you think of them as a body of work.
Well, I think that for any generative artist, especially when you're working on bigger systems, it's hard not to think as your work,
not only as a final visual outcome, but also as a tool.
So, first, I think it's impossible for them not to relate between them because they are, at the same time that they are different artworks.
And we have been through the process of curating and selecting how the works should be displayed.
They're also like part of this big system and they are, at the same time, one thing.
I also, I think it's something that is worth mentioning.
Although they are, as you said before, they feel more formless, they are, as usual, extremely saturated colors.
This is part of what I have been doing for a long time.
I mean, I think it's this attempt of really enhancing the materiality of the screen.
And, well, hopefully I was able to make that through the forms and how they are displayed.
Yeah, I was really interested in all of our conversations, you know, just, and Aileen put this very well in the introduction about, you know, not having these references to the physical world.
And I think in some of your previous works, there may have been a sense of, oh, this looks like a particle system or this looks like something otherworldly or galactic.
But these works are such a departure from that.
And, like you say, are really getting into, like, the material and sensorial quality of the screen.
And I feel like, you know, one of the ways that that was really communicated to me when we were talking was when you made this equation between code and light.
And I think that's really powerful.
You know, when we look at pixels on a screen, I know for me, at least, I think it can kind of be easy to forget about not only the light that is illuminating those pixels, but also all of the hardware and software that's illuminating those pixels.
And so you're really getting into the back end of how, how we see what we see.
And then that, of course, alters, you know, our relationship to perception.
So I was just wondering if you could extrapolate some more on that observation that was so generative for my thinking about the exhibition, this idea of code equaling light.
Yeah, that's funny because I think that although most of the time I'm trying to avoid any representation, sometimes it may appear for sure.
I think I always find funny that one of my works that I think has received more attention in the past is one that I've done for the occasion of the processing anniversary past year when we celebrated 25 years, which features an AL system and looks like a 3.
And it's funny, and it's funny because people love the work, but to me, gamma was about trying to really avoid any representation.
I think the idea of seeing code as light is because I think one of my biggest interests in my practice is trying to examine how we relate to the screen as an actual phenomenon.
And I think we use computers for several activities.
It's just tool that we use for so many things.
And most of the time, the computer is representing something.
We have even in our operational system analogies like Windows or the trash can, and we use the browser to navigate through spreadsheets and things like that.
So I think that I'm trying to bring the attention to the fact that the screen is an actual physical device generating experiences.
If you look like how LCD works, you have a physical change happening through time, right?
You have like the liquid crystal changing and the colors changing.
So I think that by staying away from representations and working with highly saturated colors, with chunky pixels,
what I try to do, what I try to do is to evocate what the screen can be as this mediator for real experiences.
I think in the same sense that we can use our devices and to, let's say, film something like our phone, to make a photograph, to experience sometimes we're traveling
and you want to take a photograph and you're traveling and you're traveling and you want to take a photograph and use your phone for it and you're looking through a screen,
you're having the device as this intermediator, it can also be the source of experiences.
So I think this is what I try to observe and through my process to see how we can also experience the screen as an art form.
Yeah, it's interesting you bring up this idea of like skewmorphism.
I was thinking about that a lot when looking at your works and sort of these, as you're mentioning,
these like analogies and metaphors like windows and spreadsheets.
And I don't know, I was just thinking about how the computer tries so hard often to like re-represent the physical world
and in these visual and also linguistic analogies, you know, the floppy disk and the trash can
and all of these sorts of things on our computers and our devices and your work really going against that.
And I love what you said about the screen, you know, being able to generate an experience sort of on its own terms.
But I do want to go back to this like design or skewmorphic comment for a moment because, you know,
so much of web browsing or interacting with a computer can, I think, maybe there's a criticism of it
in the sense that it's very prescriptive or sort of like designed by other people,
designed predominantly by, you know, white male developers in Silicon Valley
and how these systems and how these algorithms and how these visual representations are really homogenizing.
And yeah, I just see your work as being so against that politically.
And there's a lot of aspects of that that come through in terms of the visuals themselves,
but then also using processing, which is, you know, open source and community led.
And yeah, I was just wondering if you could add your own take on that
or some comments about the political motivations for working in this way,
like what the visuals are doing for you as a political gesture.
Well, I think that more than anything, this discussion is the representation of my own struggle
as a person that relies on the internet to spread the work and basically to exist as an artist, right?
I think at the same point that we are given tools that can help us articulate and communicate
and be part of this global network.
There is also a lot of problems in the way that the algorithms work.
And it's funny because for some time, I think between 2019 and 2020,
I decided that I didn't want to use social media anymore because I was so mad by trying to learn more
how social networks work and the bad effects of it and things like that.
And at the same time today, I completely rely on, for example, Twitter to spread my work.
So I think to me, my work is a continuous reflection about how we can use the screen
not only as a passive stream of thoughts and not only as this thing that we sit in front of
and just receive information and maybe use it also as the source of experience of sensitive relation.
I think at some point, when I was thinking about those things, I thought that I wanted to bring people off the screen.
But suddenly, I think I realized that what the future reserved to us is that we are not living computational devices anymore.
They are part of our lives.
So the only way that I see from now on is to maybe use it as a tool to communicate as well.
So, yeah, and that's why also I think a big part of why I use bright colors is because I'm constantly trying to bring attention through this
so fast-paced stream of information that the internet is.
And hopefully, we can keep raising questions and discussing about those issues.
Yeah, there's a lot to talk about there.
I'm trying to decide where to pick up because you just said so many important points or things that are resonating with me.
I do want to talk about sort of the visibility aspect of it in terms of artists such as yourself from Brazil and also the global south
and what that has been like and what that has meant in the NFT space.
But first, I want to go back to this idea of the senses and you talking about bright colors and, you know, just the fast-paced visuality of this work.
And, yeah, when I was looking at these and thinking about what you had said about them in our studio visits,
I was really like one of the analogies that came up for me was just thinking about like a club and dancing in a club
and having this like really intense sensory environment where there's either like no light or very extreme light.
And then you have like these sort of cathartic moments of release and, you know, the community of being in the space of a club.
Also, I was finding resonances with that in terms of like the way that people gather online and alternative spaces.
And, yeah, I just feel like these works have such a they're very visceral and they're very I think that has to do with the colors themselves,
but also like the rhythmic quality of the works.
And I love how they have they have this feeling of like looping or endlessness.
And, yeah, I just was wondering if you could talk more about maybe some sources of like inspiration for you
or what what what were you thinking about when you're making these works as some of your own.
I don't want to say references because we're talking about how these don't relate to the physical world.
But, you know, obviously, you're going to have sources of of inspiration that come from your daily life, too.
I love that you brought some excitement talk and some of the club and dancing because things can go dark pretty quickly with the discussion.
So thank you for that.
And I think that also that relates to the reason why they are so colorful all the time,
because I think also in the past, I used to think that because I was trying to I was trying to reflect on those subjects that are so serious.
I also had to bring all that seriousness to the work and the work had to be super dark and unsaturated and show that I am such a serious artist.
And when I started Pixelful and starting by the name, the intention was to make this all a big play.
Right. And and to experiment with things and allow myself to go to the other extreme and try to see a while approaching subjects that seem important to me.
To address it in a not so serious form.
And yeah, I think, well, obviously, it's really hard not to see how I I I drink from early computer graphics.
And I think with this work specifically, a lot of the inspiration is things like mechanical devices, mechanical displays and low frequency monitors.
And I think computing in general, I, I really love, I really love to think about how poetic computers can be.
I was talking about this just with a group of collectors yesterday about how I always look at code, no matter how much I'm used to it and how I'm always playing with it.
And it's my day to day, how I'm always looking at code and I feel it's not just rational to me.
It's like looking at all that text and how esoteric it feels, how it brings me this sensation of, oh, this is so odd.
This is so strange.
The machine is speaking in this language that is not natural to me.
And I feel like I'm accessing a different world.
So I think that the way that those works render like line by line, there's no changing brightness.
It's the color is always at the same brightness, I think, has a lot to do to limited forms of displaying.
Um, and, um, yeah, I mean, that's also one of the reasons why I'm constantly, I'm always working with, uh, low resolution, uh, works.
Although we are displaying at high resolution displays, uh, it's always a very, um, restricted number of pixels that I work with.
Because I like always to make reference to devices that, um, that used to be like that.
And also I feel I've always been excited also about this very, um, not low power computers because they have been becoming more powerful time by time.
But like, um, um, small computers where you can display things at low resolution, like Raspberry Pis and you'll be successful in using it.
And, uh, so I, yeah, I think it's, it's all about computers.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I thought we should talk about some of the fun stuff before it gets too heavy myself, because there's a lot of, a lot of heaviness we could go into.
But yeah, I think it's like you said, your name is, um, fun.
And I think being a fool or being stupid has its own political resonances, you know, I think like being, uh, yeah, I really, I just appreciate sort of like a, a lightheartedness or, um, being okay with,
I think it's like also political in and of itself to be okay with like making mistakes or doing things the wrong way, uh, the quote unquote wrong way.
And it's so funny, like the, how you're talking about pixels too.
It just reminds me of so many of like my own early experiences of using a computer and, you know, having very limited, uh, visual means a very limited visual economy, but you're able to convey and evoke so much with so little.
Um, and I also really, um, and I also really, I'm loving what you're saying about code because I feel like so often when I, um, you know, working with generative artists in the past, showing artists and generative artists in the gallery context.
Sometimes, um, um, I'd be talking to more like traditional art world collectors and, you know, there would be some confusion over code among some of them.
Um, and at the same time, there was also a growing awareness around code, uh, and people, you know, more people learning how to code or wanting that for themselves or their kids.
We'd have lots of discussions like that and the classic art response of like, Oh, I can do that.
Uh, I feel like started to appear in some code-based conversations of like, Oh, I know how to code.
Like I could do that.
And the analogy that I would always make to people would go back to like language and literature and poetry.
It's like, okay, well, you might know how to speak a language or write in a language, but can you write a novel?
Can you write a poem?
You can, but it's a very different, uh, relationship to that language.
So I think that this, this point that you're making about poetry is also a really powerful one.
Um, just to go back to this.
You know, idea of, um, you had mentioned attention at one point and, you know, the sort of the bright colors and the, the darkness and just like the quick quality of the rhythm of these pieces and how those appear in a social media feed, but also how those appear on a screen more generally.
Um, yeah, I just was wondering if we could go back to that concept of like grabbing somebody's attention and some of your tools for doing that.
And also like, um, what, what, what's interesting to that, to you about creating like a different sense of attention, if that makes sense.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
I think, well, um, when you're talking about experiences and, um, and, uh, philosophical sense, you're, uh, it's impossible not to, to not think about time, right?
Because, um, because, um, the way we experience the world is completely, um, related to, um, to the moment and to the past and to the future.
And how time is, um, this consecutive, um, play of events that happen.
And, um, I think, um, uh, one of the reasons why my words are always, um, looping, looping words is because I'm trying to evoke this, um,
also the person, how we perceive time in front of the screen.
So it's almost like, um, when you're listening to, um, you're listening to very repetitive sound.
And at first it seems like something, oh, this is, um, this is just the same thing.
I'll keep listening to it.
And once you, you start to, um, to listen for more time, even though it's the same thing, you start to see changes in the way you are perceiving it.
Um, and, uh, I think I, I try to evoke the same with, um, with the repetition and the colors in my work.
Like, I, I think that even though you can experience the work, the work in a fast way, you can just look at it like, oh, in a glimpse and, oh, I like it or I don't like it.
I relate or I don't relate.
I think if you also give the chance of like, keep looking at it for a long time, the experiences, the experiences start to change.
And, um, um, I think it's something that I enjoy personally with, um, with art in general, um, with music as well, which is something that I, um, it's really an important part of my process.
Uh, it's not, um, at least for most of my works, it's not attached to the work, but it's definitely in the process.
Um, and I think, um, as a lot of things, um, it can have this, um, this feature, this, um, ability to make you, uh, see yourself lost in time.
Um, and I think it's one, um, one of the advantages of the screen that you can, uh, I've, I've always, uh, I think I've mentioned this a few times.
I, for, um, for a period of my, uh, time in my career, I decided that I wanted to be a painter.
I, I was studying painting really hard and I've always loved the, the New York School of Painting, like, um, the abstract expressionists.
And when I look, for example, at, uh, Rothko's work, uh, at the, um, and, and how it has this meditative, um, characteristic, um, because of the, the scale of the work, because of, um, the material aspect.
Um, I think that when I started to think about my own practice with the screen, it was really hard not to think about the ability of the screen of bring, um, motion.
And then I feel that motion empowers this, um, possibility of having the work as this, this tool to, like, bring you to the floor and to make you, um, be attached to the moment if you just allow yourself to, uh, experience it for more time.
Yeah, I, damn, there's a lot of, you just made it some really, I don't know, there's a lot there that I want to touch on, um, you know, I love what you're talking about in relationship to painting.
Um, and I know that you, you had described at one point during, you know, the, the beginnings of, of this exhibition, um, and sort of the process of realizing these works and processing how you felt like that environment, at least for these works, was, um, more expressive than working.
On a canvas, and I'm sure, you know, most people in the room are familiar with processing, but for those who aren't, um, what is amazing about it is that it's a visual and responsive coding environment.
Um, yeah, and also just, I guess this goes back to some of the points you made earlier, um, but just even your own relationship to.
Working on a computer or working on a computer or working in an analog way.
And I don't know if you want to talk about this, but I think it could maybe be interesting for people to hear more about your, your background.
Um, and how you even, you know, start making these, the NFTs under the pseudonym pixel fool, how you developed the project and, um, yeah, how all this started.
Because as you said, you know, you were studying painting, there was a time period that you weren't on social media, all these things.
And then like 20, was it 2021, it was just like, I don't know, you just were like explosive and the works were really, and are really spectacular.
And, um, yeah, I, I think it could be interesting for people to hear more about the, the background and also the genesis of all this.
Uh, well, um, first, one of my, my interests, uh, one of the, the reasons why I've always been, uh, been interested for computers.
Because I've always been, uh, interested by, uh, interested in, um, electronic machines in general.
When I was a kid, I used to say that I was going to be, uh, um, electronic mechanical, uh, engineer.
I, I was the responsible for, um, opening electronics, for breaking electronics.
My mom, mom was always, like, blaming me for, uh, breaking things at home.
And, uh, naturally that led me to be interested in computers.
Um, eventually I had this uncle, uh, which used to be this super techie guy.
And, um, I, he taught me that I could, uh, publish things on the internet.
And that was, like, really, uh, mind-blowing to me that I could, like, use an FTP and then upload something.
And I think ever since then, like, since I, I'm, like, 11 or something, I, I was just thinking about this this week.
I think, uh, basically for, for the past 20 years or so, I've stayed in front of a computer, uh, almost every single day, uh, because I just kind of love it.
And, um, the way it works and the internet.
And eventually I realized that there was something, uh, there was a thinking process, uh, behind the practice of creating visuals.
Uh, I, uh, I, uh, I was, I was already playing with, like, Flash and, um, Photoshop and Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
And then I realized that I could, um, study design.
So I went to this art slash design school.
Uh, I learned, uh, all the fundamentals about art, like how to, how to draw, how to use colors, theory.
Uh, I graduated, uh, design and I, I also, um, studied, um, advertisement and, well, a lot of things happening, happen.
I've worked for companies and, but I, the art, art practice, um, exists ever since.
And I think 10 years ago, I, I discovered, um, processing.
I, I'm not sure how I discovered processing, but I, I kind of think it's because Joshua, uh, Joshua Davis, because it has been always so related to design.
Um, and the hype framework.
Uh, so I started to play with processing and I left it for a few years.
I, I, I would always, like, start to play with and I would just, would see, oh, this is so difficult.
I, I, I can learn a few things, but I, I really can't use it, uh, all the time.
And I think that about six years ago, I started to use, like, almost daily and, uh, playing more with, uh, processing.
But, as I mentioned, uh, eventually I decided, oh, actually, I think that I want to be a painter.
And, uh, general art was left out for a bit.
But then three years ago, um, as I was going through my, like, career, uh, discussion,
I started to talk to this curator, uh, on a regular basis, like, weekly, trying to shape
my career and trying to see a way, oh, how can I put my, my, my paintings on the market?
What should I do?
Um, how should I shape my career?
And then she stopped for a moment and said, like, oh, did you mention, like, genre of art?
And I, I was like, yeah, yeah, I've done that, like, for quite some time.
I have a few experiments I can show you.
And she was like, uh, okay, uh, being very honest, I think it should just live painting.
Uh, I think what you have here with genre of art is something like avant-garde, uh, the future is this.
And I, at that point, I, I, I didn't actually, like, understand what she was saying, but I, I just, like,
I trusted her and, uh, went back to play more of a genre of art again, but still, I, I didn't have
really a clue how to place my work in the art system.
I was, like, trying to understand everything about, uh, the art world, doing a lot of, like, courses
and talking to her and going to, um, institutions.
But, especially in Brazil, we don't have any, uh, museum or institutions or galleries dedicated
to, uh, digital art.
So, it was really hard to imagine how I could one day make money out of digital art, uh,
engineering of art.
So, when NFTs appeared at the, uh, at least for me, when I saw, like, the big news with people
selling and things like that, uh, I think for almost a month, I didn't sleep well, um,
like, going to sleep and thinking, oh, there must be something for me in that space.
I'm not sure, um, what is this, how it works exactly, even though I have been familiar with
crypto, but I feel like there's something for me in there.
And I decided, like, to take the risk and start to play with it.
And eventually, uh, things happen.
Yeah, it's, like, there's such a, there's such a rich history of generative art and technology-based
art, digital art, um, that still is really underdeveloped, particularly, like, out of Brazil.
And I know in some of our conversations, like, we, um, had talked about, um, we had talked
about, um, Baltimore Cordero and I think it was Eduardo Kack who, you know, maybe 20 years
ago did a special issue of, of October, uh, just very dedicated to, like, histories of conceptualism
and neoconceptualism in Brazil and generative art and, um, it's still so underrepresented and so,
uh, or I should say it's underrepresented outside of its context. You know, it's like if you read a book
about generative art or go to an exhibition about generative art or digital art in the US or Europe,
it's very rarely mentioned. Um, and yeah, I definitely see you working in that lineage and
in that tradition. And part of what has been really exciting about the NFT space and you gaining
visibility and having so much success, um, is the fact that there has been a more global reach
and appreciation, you know, there's a lot of Brazilian artists who have been incredibly successful
within this space. And, um, you know, just the other night I was, I was on a panel where of course
people were bringing up the negative environmental impacts of NFTs, which, you know, I always contextualize
through decolonial studies and, um, subjectivities of the global South. And it's like, well,
the impact of these things has to be compared to the impact of, first of all, just the United States
in general and like the huge carbon emissions that this country, um, you know, this is all in the news
right now. I don't have to get into that, but, you know, just having the ability to even travel to New
York or have a gallery show or have contacts with people, um, all of these things are, you know, really
high barriers to entry. And I feel like the ability to be able to have visibility and to have a sustainable
life for yourself on your terms and not just you, but, you know, hundreds and thousands of artists
from the global South, um, that's really like one of the most exciting things to me about this
moment right now. Um, and, you know, the works are being minted or the works have been minted on Tezos
and, you know, very grateful to, to have the support of the team at Feralphile to make that possible.
And also from Tezos, um, is in the room right now. So thank you for being here, but yeah, just the
environmental, um, the environmental aspect of that too. It feels like a very conscious
choice on your part of being an artist from Brazil and just having this sort of different
relationship or awareness to resources. Um, yeah, I don't know if I necessarily have a question out of
that, but I think that it needs to be said in terms of visibility and sustainability and also autonomy,
you know, just being able to like have a practice on your own terms and create the terms of your own
representation, I think have been really, um, yeah, really important to underscore.
Yeah, no, absolutely. I feel like, um, we're constantly talking about like, uh, toxic
positive positivity, uh, in the space and Twitter in general and how to communicate. And sometimes I,
I feel a bit guilty about it, the way that I communicate because of that. But in general,
I'm just so, um, I'm so grateful for everything that happened. And sometimes I just need to
communicate that. Uh, it may seem sometimes that I'm like forcing things, but I, I'm really not like,
uh, I'm, I'm so grateful to participate in the, in this, in this global system and to be able to
exchange ideas with so many artists that I've been admiring for such a long time. And I always felt like
so isolated and would never imagine. I used to look at like, uh, things like the school for poetic
computation and dream of, uh, studying there or to the ITP or UCLA where Casey teaches. Um,
and I just feel so grateful because that's everything that you mentioned is true. Like to be able to
participate in more than that, um, um, to just like make a living out of this and to be able to
wake up every day to my art and, uh, be connected to everything is just like, it's really, um,
amazing. It's not, um, I'm not exaggerating and I, I feel like it's something powerful and I'm not
the only one you can see, as you mentioned, um, uh, you can see by other Brazilian artists as well.
Um, yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about, seeming like you're forcing
it. I never get that impression from you. I think that it's like a genuine excitement. And I think
like sometimes the Western Euro-American white art world gonna overly generalize here, but there's such
like a politics of like being cool and being disinterested and it's very competitive. And one of the things
that I personally love about the NFT space is like how supportive it is, how excited people are,
how collaborative it is. And, you know, our friendship, our collaboration was born out of
that environment and was born out of, you know, people connecting people and also people like
speaking very highly of other people. Um, I think that there's just been so much support that I've seen
people give your work and I'm like a very minor figure in comparison, but I just have also felt a
ton of support from the community. Um, and, you know, one of the other things I want to mention
before we are going to wrap up is just also this aspect of social responsibility that I see being so
built into the practices of artists from the global South in particular, uh, not exclusively, but you know,
just sort of this question of being aware of your own wealth accumulation and seeing that there's a
social responsibility built into that and being like, yeah, get to put it simply like giving back.
And, um, you know, I know you have your fund, a crypto fund to support Brazilian digital and generative
artists, um, BRG and yeah, I guess it would be great to hear from you to talk a little bit more about
about how you think about autonomy and social responsibility in relationship to your practice.
Um, why you, why you work in this way, why you started BRG, for example.
Well, um, I mean, obviously it's, it's amazing to make money out of your art and like support your
family and, uh, have things that you always wanted and have comfort in life, things like that. But
I think that, uh, uh, it's not like, uh, I, I didn't have a stable career before, uh, and I, uh, I could go
back and work for companies maybe, but what makes me so excited about, uh, being an artist is not only the
practice, but also the people that I'm surrounded by. Um, so it feels just natural that if I want, um,
to keep surrounded by other artists that I want, I have to also support other artists that I, as I've
been supported, but also a lot of this, um, was me learning through the example of other friends.
And it's impossible not to mention, uh, my good friend, Nicholas Assum here, because I think I, I, I came from, um,
a market that used to work so differently with no collaboration. And as, as I mentioned, I used to
feel so isolated that it's such, um, it's just so exciting to, uh, to be surrounded all the time. And by
seeing Nicholas supporting other people and constantly giving back, uh, showed me how much of a good thing
that it is like, uh, it's not only the right thing to do, but you feel amazing as well. Like by seeing
your friends happy as well, uh, by seeing other artists that deserve as much as you to succeed, um,
also being supported. So there's basically no, no reason why, uh, to not to do the same and the same
with BRG. I've always felt like, um, for some reason it's, it's been always easier for me to connect
with people from other places. I think probably because I've been watching the work of artists
artists outside Brazil for more time. And then I, I'm connected, uh, to them more easily. And I
realized that I, I just had to pay more attention in a way that I also support Brazilian artists. So
that's why the fund, um, was started. Uh, but that's, that's the thing in general. Like, um, I just feel
like, uh, it's the right thing to do. It's exciting. It's just, uh, what I've learned from others. And,
um, I think it's, it's one of the things that makes this, uh, NFT space so, um, collaborative and
so exciting as you mentioned.
Yeah. I wonder, um, Aileen, I, I wonder if we could, do we have time to open it up to
a few questions or what, what is the schedule like?
Yeah, I think we could, um, open it up to the audience for a couple of questions. If anyone
wants to raise their hand, I can pass the mic. Um, we are just about to close out here, but I did want
to announce that, um, the works on Feralphile for Pixelful's exhibition Gamma are officially going to be
available for collecting in about one minute here at 11 AM Eastern. Thank you so much, Carrie and
Pixel for such a, an enriching discussion. I really feel like I learned so much and gained such a
dimensionality, um, with regard to your approach to your work, Pixel. Um, I'll go ahead and open it
up to the audience for any questions for a few minutes or any comments. People just want to say hi,
that's cool. Hi, everyone. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you. Great. Um, hi everyone. Thank you for the shout out, uh, Pixel. I wanted to
ask a question in relation to music and to your practice, because I know, uh, I know you also work
on music quite often and you have a, uh, a music practice and in relation to what you said about
a sort of economy of attention through time, how, um, you know, with some of the works, at least what
I understood some of the works from the exhibition, there is like a certain experience of time that is,
uh, sort of created through the experience of the work. And I really, that really resonated with me
and that really resonated with my experience of music. So I'm wondering if that's something that
you're considering for like later projects is to maybe bring elements of live music. If you feel
like both practices relate to one another or something that you're trying to like keep separate for now.
Hello, friend. Thank you so much for the question. Um, yeah, no, I, I mean, I think my, uh,
my actual very first creative practice was music because I'm my grandfather used to be a musician and
used to have a lot of instruments, uh, at his, at his house. And, um, so I had the chance of a very
young age to play with instruments and I've always became a professional musician at some point. I, I
really wanted to go to, um, study music professionally and things, uh, went wrong at some point. But anyway,
uh, it's, uh, yeah, I think, uh, one, there's one thing about music that music is really powerful in
creating, uh, a emotional and sensitive connection to the moment. I think it's something that can change
your, uh, humor, like in a glimpse, uh, you can listen to music that, uh, can make you happy instantly or
sat instantly or, um, can vary the way you feel about, um, about things so quickly. That is such a powerful
instrument, uh, instrument, uh, of art. And I've been, I've been playing with it more in my process so far,
but I definitely want to, uh, to bring it more to the, uh, to my, to the visual visualization of my
works. Um, I, I think one of the plans from, for, um, next year is to maybe, um, have live appearances,
things like that. I would love to, like, promote, uh, live performances using music and visuals.
It's something that I've always wanted to do. And I think I still didn't find, like, the perfect way to
play with music, uh, on the browser, uh, especially when you're working with, uh, real-time, uh,
applications. Uh, the browser, the browser requires you to, uh, take some action, you know,
in order to listen to music, like you have to place, uh, uh, you have to click your mouse. And I feel
like I still didn't find, I didn't find the, um, the same natural approach, um, to sound that I found
for visuals. But I, I hope that at some point it can implement that for sure.
Well, and you also did your recent collaboration. I know it's not exactly what you and what Nicholas
is asking or what you just responded to, but you had that amazing piece. Um, sorry, who was it with,
with Love Holton, the interface project? Um, that seemed like, sort of, uh, that seems sort of like
a logical connection here too, no? Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, yeah. Uh, Love Holton is an artist that
I've been, like, a huge fan for a long time. And, um, it was a fun experiment, experiment to play with
sound at the same time that I could play with real-time software, uh, running on, uh, a Raspberry Pi.
So, I think it's, um, I feel that one of the joys of generic art right now is this experience of
the collectors being able to almost co-create the work in the, in the sense that they collect
tremendous work and suddenly they see something appearing. So, they are, to some extent, also
performing, uh, with the system. And I think it's also, it was just exciting to have a physical device
where, um, people could play, uh, with a real-time system. Um, and also, like, to have a dedicated device,
not a multipurpose, uh, computer, but something just for that. It was just, it was fun.
That reminds me, um, and also, if somebody else has a question, please jump in. But it just reminded me
of another, um, aspect of your work that I wanted to ask you about, you know, you were just describing
the, the dedicated device versus a multipurpose computer. And I was wondering for people who
are either collecting these works, uh, and they might be curious or, or just for yourself, um, what is,
like, uh, ideal display environment, uh, if there is one for the works in Gamma?
Um, well, I think there is always, like, the perfect. It's difficult to not imagine your work being
displayed, like, in the perfect environment. As I've mentioned, like, um, um, this attempt to
create something that feels like, uh, in a meditative state, like, uh, I've mentioned Roscoe, and I'm
such a fan of, uh, Roscoe's chapel. So it's not, uh, I would love to see these works, like, in dark rooms,
with, uh, with, uh, big displays. Perhaps, uh, I, I love also, like, LED, uh, displays. The fact that they can
be completely dark and have, like, I think they, they, they would transfer perfectly the idea of, um,
these as light sources. So I think, uh, yeah, that in general, I feel like, um,
the scale always have, uh, a big, um, a big influence in the way that you see the work,
and if you're in the dark room, it's better. Um, so, yeah, hopefully, I would love to, uh,
I would love to see these works in, um, side by side in, uh, in an exhibition at some point as well.
Any final thoughts or questions? Or should we, should we pass it over to just going to, uh,
experience the exhibition, which is now,
has been live, but auction, auctioning is now live.
Yes, sounds like a great transition. Thank you so much, Carrie and Pixelful again. Um,
the auctions are now live on feralphile.com for Pixelful solo exhibition Gamma. And, um,
I thank you all for listening in this morning or evening or afternoon, depending on where you are
in the world. Um, it's really exciting to, um, open the show with, uh, Pixelful's 33 unique new
generative works on feralphile, and we invite you to view the exhibition now. Thanks again, Carrie.
Thanks, Pixel. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody for joining us. And congrats, Pixelful.
Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone that came to listen. Thank you, um, Carrie so much
for, uh, being such a great, uh, such a great, um, partner throughout the process of creating this
collection. Thank you to feralphile, to Casey, to, uh, Aileen and the whole team, uh, for the space and
making this happen. Uh, thank you.
