A LOVE LETTER TO NEW YORK AND THOUGHTS ON NFT CRAZE FROM ARTIST DUO HA:AR
New work by the creative duo ha:ar (composed of sculptor Hande Şekerciler and new media artist Arda Yalkın) will appear at London’s JD Malat Gallery. Open between 13 January and 12 February, the exhibition will feature their new work that explores the intersection between the plastic arts and new media. On display will be Şekerciler’s sculpture series “ecstasy”, ha:ar’s light boxes and various NFTs.Hande contributed with a love letter. Arda shared his thoughts on the new NFT craze.
Dear New York,
This is a love letter dedicated to one of my beloved cities, the place I call home. Yet, it’s quite peculiar that I’m actually a flowers, insects and forests kind of person. Sometimes I even dream that I’m a small tree in a garden; swaying gently in the cool breezes. However, you have a unique energy that embodies tranquillity and chaos, something that can never be found in that garden. On the one hand, there is a life which is distant, lived just like the trees in that garden whose leaves never brush against each other. There also is another way of life, much like a river after a flash flood, brimming with new ideas and acquaintances. New York is another kind of jungle…
This is a love letter… something I’ve been meaning to write forever, but never got round to doing because I was daydreaming while thinking of what to write. Dreams of getting lost in the corridors of the Metropolitan, idly sitting in the park, dancing merrily at neighbourhood festivals…
With love
Hande
Arda on NFTs:
We first heard about the crypto art economy while at a fair in Miami back in December 2019. An artist’s edition of Eve Sussman’s video 89 seconds at Alcazar was sold in 20×20 pixel sized 2304 tokenized blocks under the name 89 seconds Atomized. The collectors who purchased these blocks could trade the “atoms” they owned in the market they created among themselves. Frankly, I thought that blockchain technology was used as a method of collective production rather than some kind of alternative economy. That’s when I realized how uninformed I was about crypto art. We have been trying to get better acquainted with blockchain technology for a year and a half now. Undoubtedly, it is a very broad domain, there are dozens of creative applications, but what we’re talking about here is the most primitive method that has shook the art market. In simple terms it is the labelling of digital data with a unique, non-replicable, non-reproducible code. This unique code also makes it possible to instantly trade in second-tier markets.
Thanks to my background in motion design, I can accurately read the popular NFT aesthetics and the culture behind it. That said, I don’t believe that this culture and the economy it creates are sustainable as it is. I don’t think that NFT culture is an alternative to the conventional art market, despite its flaws. We already published a single edition NFT of our digital work. The interest it received took us by surprise, but we have no intention of getting caught up in the turbulence. On the other hand, we met people from all over the world in a short time, and our NFTs were broadcasted on Swiss and Italian national television networks. New media artists enjoy amazing freedom in communicating, collaborating and organizing. This is a completely different experience that doesn’t exist in the conventional art market.
