French artist Bernar Venet collaborates with Sotheby’s Metaverse on ‘EVENT’, his first generative artwork on the Ethereum blockchain, which challenges traditional artistic creation with 500 unique pieces.
French artist Bernar Venet, known for his integration of mathematics, geometry and chance into art, has unveiled his latest venture into digital creativity with his first generative artwork, ‘EVENT’, hosted on the Ethereum blockchain via Sotheby’s Metaverse . This collaboration marks an important milestone in Venet’s illustrious career, which spans more than five decades of challenging and redefining artistic boundaries. “EVENT” appears as the second release in Sotheby’s Gen Art program and showcases Venet’s groundbreaking approach to generative digital art.
Venet’s artistic journey began in 1963 with “Tas de charbon” (Pile of Coal), which symbolized his early involvement with materials and the role of chance in composition. His subsequent work has continually blurred the boundaries between order and chaos, using mathematical equations, geometric shapes and the unpredictable outcomes of physical actions, such as the accidental placement of steel bars in his ‘Accident’ series, which began in 1996. the foundation for Venet’s venture into digital art, where algorithms serve as the new medium for creativity.
‘EVENT’, a clever anagram of Venet’s name, is inspired by the playful linguistics of Marcel Duchamp and reflects Venet’s ambition to ‘dematerialize’ art. This series represents a fusion of Venet’s sculptural language with digital technology, creating a space in which gravity, light, shadow and materiality are reimagined through the lens of generative algorithms. In collaboration with curator Viola Lukács, Venet aims to produce 500 unique digital works of art, each embodying the essence of his physical sculptures but enriched with digital capabilities including color, a departure from his traditional palette.
Venet’s embrace of generative art is not merely an extension of his existing practice, but an expression of his belief in continuous innovation and the rejection of stylistic repetition. He sees digital technology as a tool to reveal new forms of expression, transcending the boundaries of traditional media and exploring unknown areas of artistic creation.
“EVENT” is not only a digital counterpart to Venet’s physical works; it is an exploration of the potential of digital environments to create art that resonates with the tactile and visual qualities of his sculptures, while at the same time venturing into new aesthetic dimensions. This initiative by Venet and Sotheby’s Metaverse not only enriches the digital art landscape, but also reaffirms the continued relevance and adaptability of established artists in the digital age.
As Venet continues to challenge the boundaries between different forms of artistic expression, his work with generative art is a testament to the evolving nature of creativity, bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Through ‘EVENT’, Venet invites viewers to witness the convergence of past and future, order and chaos, in a digital world that expands the possibilities of what art can be.
French artist Bernar Venet collaborates with Sotheby’s Metaverse on ‘EVENT’, his debut generative artwork on the Ethereum blockchain. This project reflects Venet’s long-standing fascination with the interplay between mathematics, geometry and randomness, which is now explored through digital algorithms. “EVENT” marks a bold step towards digital art, aiming to produce 500 unique pieces that merge Venet’s sculptural concepts with digital aesthetics, challenging traditional notions of artistic creation.
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