Reza Hasni’s journey of “filling the internet with care, love and light”

Find out more about how Singapore-born and Berlin-based artist Reza Hasni spreads positivity through imagery and brings his creative energies to the Tezos exhibition ‘Living System: An NFT Show’.

At S.E.A. Focus 2023, the anchor event of Singapore Art Week, the strength and potential of NFTs as an art medium will be on full display.

The Tezos exhibition will take visitors through an audio-visual journey of artworks by six leading Southeast Asian artists, Bjorn Calleja from the Philippines, CwndDien and the late Orkibal from Malaysia, Reza Hasni from Singapore, as well Ykha Amelz and Discokid909 from Indonesia.

Curated by Tulika Ahuja of Mama Magnet, the dedicated 55m² exhibition ‘Living System: An NFT Show’ will tie into ‘a world, anew’, the curatorial theme for S.E.A. Focus 2023.

Who is Reza Hasni?

A Singaporean motion artist and illustrator based in Berlin, Germany. Patterns of sacred geometry form core themes, along with influences of 90’s Internet pop and club culture.

Reza’s illustration and motion graphics practice feeds into collaborations in music, installations, augmented reality and fashion around Europe and Asia. These additional mediums add layers of interactivity to his work, allowing immersive experiences for audiences in the virtual and physical.

His first solo exhibition, Mystic Island, launched at UltraSuperNew Singapore in 2017. In 2020, Reza and collaborators launched ‘Centre for Altered Togetherness’, a second solo virtual exhibition that traveled to mihn 宀 gallery Hong Kong for a physical showcase in 2021.

His work has been featured on It’s Nice That, Vice, The Straits Times, Adobo Mag, Neocha, Vogue to name a few.

You’ve been an artist since 2007, and you’ve experienced first-hand how Web2’s increased connectivity has impacted art over the years. How do you think Web3 will change the relationship between artists and the audience?

Web3’s main advantage is that it directly connects us artists to our respective art collectors and our fans without geographical constraints, unlike Web2 where we are controlled by bigger platforms and algorithms that have other agendas.

This direct connection helps us build strong and long-lasting relationships, human to human. This also cuts out the middleman and helps us artists to take full control and build our careers on our own terms. If we don’t like how an NFT marketplace is running the show, we can take our creations elsewhere and not have to worry about re-building a community from scratch.

Can you share with us about the development of your style, and what would you share with artists looking to develop their unique style?

The development of my collage style is a continuum process of deconstruction and reconstruction, relearning and unlearning everything that I experienced over 17 years of working, communicating and observing.

I use my art as another mode of thought, a way to express the stories stirred up in my imagination, illustrating an interpretive picture of everything that is around me, from Internet searches, fantasies, past destinations, cultures, conversations, experiences and loads of good vibes.

My work is a contemporary reflection of our world and its unseen energies. It can be seen as a visual representation of an alternate world or a way to escape from the limitations of our reality. But my main intention of it all is to spread positivity through imagery.

Never give up dreaming, learning and unlearning.

You once said that your art “aims to fill the spiritual void that technology has left us with”. How do you see Web3 empowering or enabling your practice?

Technology hasn’t left us with a void, so as to speak, but in general, industrialisation encourages consumption before citizenship or care.

With the internet constantly evolving, we’re able to control our usage better: more user-centric or, at best, creator-centric, instead of platform business-centric.

Thus we can now inject a more humanist approach to things – from consumers to citizens, filling the internet with care, love and light instead of white noise and greed.

How do you think NFTs as an art medium is empowering creatives across Southeast Asia?

It gives many talented and undiscovered artists opportunities to get known by bigger art collectors around the globe.

Geographical limitations are no longer a constraint, and with Web3 it makes things a lot easier and more transparent as smart contracts and royalties are programmed to execute fairly when a piece of art is sold and resold among collectors.

This art can quickly be created, bought and sold anywhere in the world. It also opens up exciting dialogues for streamlining how digital art can be used by other non-art industries.

How are you feeling ahead of having your art showcased in such a prominent arts event during the Singapore Art Week? What can visitors to the exhibition enjoying your art look forward to?

First of all, I am so thankful for this opportunity. Whether audiences interact with the ‘Entity’ artworks hypnotically, aesthetically or in a contemplative manner, my works are spaces built for accommodating interpretation. If others can find a way to be with my works, by journeying along with their predetermined change, they can relearn their personal realities.

This interview has been edited for clarity.