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The dawn of Web3 has provided artists with the power to reach global audiences, be fairly compensated for their artwork and be positive change makers for their communities. This will be exemplified at the Tezos NFT Exhibition at Singapore Art Week’s S.E.A. Focus 2023.
‘Living System: An NFT Show’ will take visitors through an audio-visual journey of artworks by six leading Southeast Asian artists. As part of the experience, visitors will be able to engage directly with art NFTs. Claiming a unique edition of one of the showcased artworks as a digital souvenir is part of the experience, as well as gaining an understanding of how NFTs can help artists further their craft.
Panels hosted by TZ APAC, featuring top Web3 leaders, will also share insights into the function and impact of communities in the NFT art space, and examine the intersection of how technological revolutions like blockchain and artificial intelligence will shape art.
The TZ APAC team will also be hosting a number of exciting giveaways, leading up to and during the Tezos exhibition. The community can look forward to receiving limited edition t-shirts by artists from the Tezos ecosystem:
At the exhibition itself, collected together with the Tezos NFT.
Through giveaways on TZ APAC’s Twitter and Instagram - in addition to t-shirts, tickets to S.E.A. Focus will be given out as well. Follow and stay tuned for more details.
Curated by 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.
Showcasing numerous projected works by leading local and regional artistic talents in the Tezos ecosystem, ‘Living System: An NFT Show’ will portray an exchange of rituals in a context of shifting paradigms across technology, materials, mental space, and time. The visual language and/or audio of the artists featured sways between human and humanoid, creating self-reflective dialogues about humanity’s Living System — from activity and rest, to the mundane and magic in life’s journeys.
The artists include Bjorn Calleja from the Philippines, CwndDien and the late Orkibal from Malaysia, Reza Hasni from Singapore, as well Ykha Amelz and Discokid909 from Indonesia.
Bjorn Calleja is a Filipino painter and interdisciplinary artist. He earned his BFA from FEU, where he became a part-time lecturer. Calleja’s early career involved corporate jobs and stints as a graphic designer, Calleja co-founded Design.Other Things., a design studio that employed a team of contemporary visual artists.
“Logos is a collection of animated paintings featuring a googly-eyed humanoid figure, my representation of humanity or a logo that implies our identities as either person, people, or humans, and how we navigate through our existence via perpetual loops of transformations suggesting the highs and lows of our Sisyphean journey.” - Bjorn
CwndDien is an illustrator, concept artist and animation director based in Kajang, Malaysia. He has been working in the animation industry as a character designer for more than 10 years. His influences come from street art, animation, film, music, comics, toys and Japanese Culture. CwndDien shies away from personally labeling his art style, though he remains open to audiences describing his work based on their individual understanding.
Discokid909’s music NFT journey can be traced by his minted original tracks on various Web3 platforms. His fresh groovy beats are accompanied by visual artwork and a special D-909 character by his significant other, Ykha Amelz, or in collaborations with other amazing visual artists like Debbie Tea, Loreng, MicroBeing, Arya Mularama, Wickana, and Gengoya.
Reza Hasni’s works are a contemporary reflection of our world and its unseen energies. They are often not limited by the constraints of the physical world. Construction, deconstruction and rebirth are recurring themes in his artwork - Spreading Positivity through Imagery.
Reflecting on life’s experiences, this series is a rearrangement of paths and sequences, giving birth to a new cycle of life. The illustrated entities are explorers, being reborn online. The artist injects spiritual streams of consciousness into our digital footprints, to enable a formation of better versions of ourselves.
Ykha Amelz is a 2D artist, based in Indonesia. Since 2008, she has been working on various illustration projects. But only after she started drawing her French bulldog Babbot did she finally find her true calling in her artwork. It awakened her inner-child nostalgia for cartoons and comics which became a significant turning point on her illustrative style. While initially a coping mechanism for escaping work frustration, her playful characters took on a life of their own, spreading joy to people who see her art, which led to exhibitions, a book, and collaborations with global brands, such as VANS, COACH, Netflix, Samsung, etc.
Since her NFT debut in mid 2021, she has managed to deliver more epic and colorful pieces. Rendering her stories and chaotic mind into a vibrant world filled with an expanding family of cartoon characters, she’s now stepping into frame-by-frame animation to bring more smiles to people.
Identifiable by his unique breed of character designs that live in parallel alien universes, Orkibal is a pioneer in the Malaysian urban art scene. His worlds are quirky – ripe with color and play. His characters have lively silhouettes – bold and untamed, yet cute and relatable.
He holds a legacy of two decades, having expressed his vibrant artistry through various mediums, from doodles on canvas, to graffiti, public art murals and NFTs. Orkibal’s ideas always begin with a sketch on paper, motivated by a calling to eliminate the bad, or to simply get lost in an imaginative landscape.
Orkibal passed away in March 2022. He is survived by his wife, three children, and a supportive community who keeps his zaniness alive.
The NFT art space is one of diverse creative communities coming together – a space of creation, collection, experimentation and connection.
This conversation looks at the varied communities in Web3/ NFTs , and asks questions about this rapidly evolving space. How does an NFT art community form? How do its different members – curators, creatives, collectors, and collectives – interact? What impact do NFT communities have on the non-blockchain art world, and vice-versa?
Panelists:
Tulika Ahuja (Curator, Founder, Mama Magnet)
Bjorn Calleja (Filipino Visual Artist)
Clara Peh (Curator; Founder, NFT Asia)
Moderated by Marissa Trew (Senior Content Lead, Blokhaus Inc)
What might the future of art look like? Considered disruptive by many, the impact of AI and NFT in art also suggests a radical – ‘braver’ – new world to come, with significant implications on art collecting.
This panel considers questions such as, why are NFTs valued as art? With the advancements of AI-generated art, what will happen to human artists? From the traditional notions of aesthetics, to contemporary and digital art practices, we discuss what makes art ‘valuable’.
Panelists
Joyce Toh (Head of Exhibitions, S.E.A. Focus)
David Tng (Head of Growth, TZ APAC Tezos)
Kevin Lim (Acting Director, Innovation and Technology Group, Y-Lab, National Gallery Singapore)
Moderated by Chris Milliken (CEO/Founder, PengWine and NFT collector)
