Art linked to blockchain technology, which allows artists to sell their digital works without intermediation in the form of NFT (Non-Fungible Token), guaranteeing authenticity and ownership to buyers, has literally exploded in recent months, and have multiplied in exhibitions and exhibitions in museums all over the world, but also auctions that have led to record sales.
And for the first time now NFT digital art arrives outdoors, visible to all citizens from 23 May to 10 July, thanks to the Urban Pixels project curated by the Museum of Contemporary Digital Art: five artists will simultaneously exhibit their works at Milan, in Piazza Cordusio, Cadorna and San Babila, in London, in Covent Garden and in New York in Times Square.
To make this initiative possible is the Eyes On Art project by EssilorLuxottica, born with the aim of spreading the beauty of art in unconventional places, sharing it democratically in all its forms, without limits or borders through its digital giant screens in Milan. , London and New York and within its offices. Eyes on Art aims to make art accessible to all through new and innovative languages, thanks to the involvement of important partners in the international artistic scenario, such as the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Prada Foundation and the MEET in Milan, CIRCA in London. and Times Square Arts in New York.
Each work was chosen on the basis of the places in which the individual screens are installed, proposing a dialogue between digital art and the various urban contexts. The works will appear at a distance of a few days from each other and will remain on display for four weeks. On 23 May Urban Pixels begins in San Babila with Hybrid Ecosystems, a series of eight works created by the artist couple Entangled Others who create works inspired by the encounter between biology and artificial intelligence, and in Piazza Cadorna with Continuum, the work of Krista Kim, who in his projects presents a vision where the binary logic of technology and human sensitivity are combined to give life to a future of hope.
On June 6 he will appear on the screen of Covent Garden Gods of Tesco Metro by XCOPY, one of the most recognizable anonymous artists among those who make NFT and among the most represented in the most important collections, here making his absolute debut in a public art project. On June 13, however, the time will come to reveal in Times Square the new digital animation by Giuseppe Lo Schiavo aimed at exploring the contradictions of the consumer society in reference to waste and environmental impact. Simultaneously in Piazza Cordusio, the new work by Lethabo Huma, a young South African artist whose ornamental style blends perfectly with the position and bezel shape of the large screen, will debut.
“Urban Pixels, the new public art exhibition curated by MoCDA in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, marks an important moment in the history of digital art, never so central in the debates on the trajectories of contemporary art”, explains the curator and artistic director of MoCDA Filippo Lorenzin. “The exhibition project will take place in three international cities whose stories are inextricably linked to the world of creativity and represents yet another opportunity offered by MoCDA to the general public to get in touch with the protagonists of contemporary digital art, one of the central and founders of our museum “.
The MoCDA is a museum that exhibits digital works of art for the purpose of documenting, collecting and promoting digital art, and offers education and technology to artists, collectors, institutions and art lovers, providing a basis for understanding it in its context. rather than as a mere by-product of the wider art world. “Since its foundation in 2019, one of our main objectives has been to involve as many people as possible in the world of digital art,” says Serena Tabacchi, co-founder and director of MoCDA. “Over the years we have played an educational role by working with artists, curators and cultural partners with the aim of introducing, explaining and commenting on artistic works created with digital tools. The eclecticism and breadth of the exhibitions and cultural projects we develop testify to our need to confront ourselves both with the greatest experts in contemporary art and with those who, driven by curiosity, wish to discover digital culture “.