UNSOLICITED AIRDROP
A RECAP
By Mila Phelps Friedl
On November 3rd - 5th, “Unsolicited Airdrop” opened at 198 N. 4th St. in New York, NY. A showcase aimed to bridge the crypto and art community, curated by MoDA and in collaboration with The Vibe$ DAO, the show featured a total of 16 artists ranging from those established in the Digital and media art space, to newcomers who would present their very first NFTs at the show. Works included short films, video sculpture, Generative Art, experimental animation and Projection. Some pieces were available for collecting, but most were featured simply to showcase the future of fine art and present digital art in the physical world.
Inspired by the startup, digital and crypto community flourishing in Williamsburg, Nate Mohler and Caroline Gluck, with help from Doug Desmond, looked to curate a show that would focus on the phenomenal artists beyond the digital platforms where one might typically see them, and present them in a fine art gallery setting. As explained by Doug Desmond, “we wanted to explore NFTs as a vehicle for actually… a new medium for the artists themselves… to that end, we wanted it to be conceptualized as a gallery show that would present the works as works of art that happened to be NFTs… with all of the associated kind of curatorial and critical thinking that goes behind that, as far as like… who are these artists? What do they have to say?”
Of the 16 featured artists, Jonathon Zawada, Samuel Jerome Mason, Erik Ferguson, Ondrej Zunka and Christopher Rutledge represent the more established, with bases in the digital art world and recognition for their work with musicians (Zawada with Flume and Jerome Mason with Mac Miller’s most recent posthumous video - to name a few.) Zawada provided 10 Fisherian Runaways, collectable digital mushrooms, at this particular showcase - all of which were sold. Other Digital / Video artists included Nate Mohler, Will Wharton, David Gao, Erin Wajufos, Tyler Givens, REO, Ninocence, Kim Laughton, Doug Desmond, Riley Paskal and Bing Cao.
Mohler, Gluck and Desmond wanted each artist to be featured on their own screen or projected space so that it gave a more fine art element to the digital artwork being showcased. Says Mohler, “[a] really key part of this show was we wanted to be introducing some of these artists who had never minted before, ever. And so there’s this appeal of…let’s bring [in] some established people, let's bring some new artists who actually are not NFT natives, that actually maybe don't even agree with NFTs.”
A notable final addition to the show came in the form of Theo Triantafyllidis, an artist whose work with Virtual Reality versions of the human body, internet culture, and spaces is internationally known. Traintafyllidis loaned his self-portrait, a “Trans Orc” to the show, where aforementioned curators set it up, projected smoking in the “smoking area.” A secret, easter egg piece for the unwitting smoke-break taker.
The aforementioned screens were bought off of Amazon and in a planning pinch, works of art were projected upon the nearby walls. On the opening night first-comers were able to listen to a Q&A with Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lighting Labs who interviewed Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales. Brought to the mix by The Vibe$ DAO and Studio Mgmt, Stark and Wales discussed the importance of keeping open spaces for learning. In Desmond’s words “it was really great to hear…Jimmy especially talk about not just Wikipedia and the history of it, but then kind of connecting that impulse of some of the animating ideas that he had with Wikipedia to what we have as an emerging creator economy today in the NFT space and the availability of… decentralized artists to start to create and realize [their] value… and develop fan bases in a way that isn't necessarily… [getting] caught in like a gallery system, which I think is really strong.” According to Mohler, “[the talk] was a really intimate and special opportunity… it was really cool to have [Jimmy Wales] set the tone for the gallery.”
And set the tone they did, after an intimate first night, the show had over 600 RSPVs and at the end of the third night, for a show that had set out to simply highlight the artists - two collectors invested some 70k in multiple pieces from Jonathon Zawada, Nate Mohler and Will Wharton. Mohler, who has one foot squarely on each side of the NFT artist and curator experience, notes that one of the growing pains of NFTs is that it's hard for people to bid on the works in the same way that more typical art can be bought and sold. The hope of shows like these, is finding and building out a community that wants to engage with NFTs as fine art instead of a fad or a collectible, in the same regard one would hold a Matisse or Rembrandt. Desmond, Gluck and Mohler all cite the show as a wonderful success, and are in the works for planning more pop-ups in the very near future.
A huge thank you goes out to all of the artists involved in the show, to The Vibe$ DAO, Studio Mgmt, Nate Mohler, Will Wharton, Doug Desmond, Dan Hunt, Caroline Gluck, Mahnoor Euceph and Matea Friend - to everyone who helped make this show happen. Thank you to 5th House for the use of the space and to Elizabeth Stark and Jimmy Wales for taking the time to speak and share your thoughts. Check out the artists featured below and their work in the Artists catalogue.
Keep an eye on MoDA socials for more information on upcoming shows, and stay tuned for Artist Spotlights coming soon.
VIEW ARTIST CATALOGUE
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