Last month, System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian hosted an art exhibition with non-fungible token (NFT) platform and marketplace Curio NFT. The physical and virtual fused art show was called “Not for Touching,” and this week Tankian told Bitcoin.com News that he believes NFT technology has opened new doors for his artistic expression. This week, Bitcoin.com News chatted with System of a Down (SoaD) lead singer Serj Tankian about non-fungible token (NFT) technology and how it has given him the opportunity to express his art in new ways. In December, Tankian and Curiosity NFT held an art exhibition...
Last month, System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian hosted an art exhibition with non-fungible token (NFT) platform and marketplace Curio NFT. The physical and virtual fused art show was called “Not for Touching,” and this week Tankian told Bitcoin.com News that he believes NFT technology has opened new doors for his artistic expression.
This week Bitcoin.com News chatted with the lead singer of System of a Down (SoaD), Serj Tankian, about non-fungible token (NFT) technology and how it has given him the opportunity to express his art in new ways. In December, Tankian and Curiosity NFT held an art exhibition featuring the artist’s NFT artwork titled “Not for Touching.”
Tankian has been an artist for years, but NFTs have given the SoaD singer a new way to “affect multiple senses at once,” and he emphasized that he is always interested in creating “a stronger artistic impact.” The following is an in-depth discussion with Serj Tankian of SoaD recorded by Bitcoin.com News on January 5th.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): You recently entered the world of NFTs. Can you tell our readers how you discovered NFT technology?
Serj Tankian:I discovered it while reading the news. Seeing different artists releasing NFTs. We were remodeling the house and I had a lot of time to read and thought, 'Wow, this is really interesting.' Since I've been involved in art, music-related art, for a few years, I thought, 'wow, this could be a new platform for what I'm doing.' So that's where the connection of the idea came into play.
BCN: You recently hosted an art exhibition called “Not for Touching” with Curio NFT. Can you tell our readers about this event and how it unfolded?
Serj Tankian:The event went very well, they set up a virtual gallery which was very interesting for me. To go into this gallery and see my pieces, which of course were NFTs, and be able to view them, listen to them and see details about them. Then go the other way and look at another NFT work on another wall. It was really cool, the setup was really nice and it's kind of my first dive into that world as an artist.
I have always been interested in influencing multiple senses at the same time in order to have a stronger artistic impact. That's what I did with my musical art, which we " Eye for sound.” We use an app that does optical recognition and you go into a physical gallery and listen to each of the paintings using a smartphone or earbuds.
It's like an immersive experience and with NFTs the ability to physically bring that painting to life using animation and digital painting. Like my good friend Roger Kupelian, who worked on Lord of the Rings and many, many films, his images come to life with the music in the background. So I'm really excited because the product turned out really incredible.
BCN: Do you collect other assets from specific NFT collections?
Serj Tankian:I haven't yet. To be honest, I'm not much of a physical art collector, although I do produce physical art. I have some pictures of good friends. Maybe it's because I'm a minimalist in some ways. I don't like clutter, even on a hard drive. I have a lot of friends who are collectors and they love collecting art, collecting things, NFTs, and I'm just not a collector. I am an artist, I produce.
BCN: Are the other System of the Down bandmates like NFTs?
Serj Tankian:I didn't really ask her. I'm not sure if any of them bought any. I would doubt it, but maybe Shavo (SoaD bassist Shavo Odadjian) because he's very tech-friendly and against the other guys. So possibly Shavo, but I'm not sure.
BCN: Why do you think NFTs are the “next step” in artistic creation?
Serj Tankian:I said this statement is directed at me. Because it gave me a new platform to add a dimension to the experience that I couldn't have added physically. That would be to crawl into virtual space in such a way that I can make the images move and dance.
Where in physical space there are paintings on the wall and they don't dance, but the music-making that you lead into them, which is beautiful. But now I can fill that space between the wall and the listener with NFTs. I look forward to finding more virtual or physical spaces to further interact with multiple senses to increase the potency of the artist's vision.
BCN: Besides NFTs, are you interested in other types of blockchain projects, such as crypto assets like Bitcoin?
Serj Tankian:Not really. I don't fucking know. I am a completely naive person when it comes to blockchain, Bitcoin and so on. I don't own one for me [NFT tech] is a new world of showcasing my art, this is my in. But I really don't know anything about blockchain, but I have friends who bought Bitcoin early and they are very excited about it.
BCN: Many people believe that blockchain technology can remove parasitic third parties from various elements of our lives. Would you agree to that?
Serj Tankian:I think there's definitely the truth there. I think it's a subversive technology in some ways, or maybe it's not subversive, and maybe it's an alternative. They think about the gold standard and how money used to be based on gold. Then they came off the gold standard because they couldn't find enough gold. They expanded beyond that so that most currencies are based on the integrity of that nation's government.
With blockchain and Bitcoin, you are outside of this system. To me the whole thing is very interesting, NFTs included, because it's very interesting that human character agrees to value things in a certain way.
BCN: Are you planning more NFT exhibitions featuring your artwork?
Serj Tankian:I do. But I want to find the next level. I would love to do a physical gallery or museum exhibition where there are these physically isolated spaces for each of my paintings and you create even more of that virtual encounter with the physical world. Where you can interact with the multiple dimensions of art, including painting, definitely the music that surrounds you, maybe bring some touch and smell elements, lighting and the virtual world into that. Maybe the NFTs could be projected into actual space, I'm starting to think about multiple dimensions and increasing the potency of the artistic impact.
What do you think of our interview with Serj Tankian from System of a Down? What do you think of his description of NFT technology? Let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments below.
Photo credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Suche
Mein Konto