ZEITWARP - #CryptoArtist on NEAR

338
18 January 2023
Intro:
ZEITWARP is a semi-pseudonymous Gen X artist and music hacker based near Cambridge in the UK, producing a hybrid of physical and digital artworks.
I have been minting & releasing CryptoArt exclusively on the NEAR blockchain since early 2021.
The main themes of my work are Transience, Obsolescence, Transformation and Paradox.
My work is part of an "Art of Ideas" with the ambition to communicate a subjective thought process / philosophy within a senosry - normally audiovisual - format. The purpose of this is to stimulate a discussion and/or examination of the subject matter beyond simply the aesthetic surface appeal of the artwork.
Music - and in particular the technology, culture and economy of music - is often the motif to communicate these themes.
MUSIC > ART > MUSIC > ART

NEAR Exclusivity
ZEITWARP CryptoArt is minted exclusively on the carbon neutral NEAR Blockchain, principally on my personal smart contract [store] at Mintbase, and on Paras as a verified creator.
My highest sale of a 1/1 audiovisual MP4 is 300 NEAR for 'REPEAT AD INFINITUM' from "The NO$TALGIA SHOW", which was featured as part of my solo wall gallery at the NEAR NFT Lounge in Miami, June 2021.

(Still frame collage  - 'REPEAT AD INFINTUM'  1/1 MP4 NFT- sold for 300 NEAR - 2021)

My work is almost always released as a unique 1/1 NFT, and will be in MP4 or Gif format. The MP4's will normally feature a soundtrack generated from the images.
Hi-resoluton versions are stored on IPFS on my personal Arweave account.

NEAR History / Highlights:
Minted a series of artworks as part of the original working testnet group for Mintbase/NEAR - Feb 2021
Entered a digital version of one of my MUSIC GRAFFITI paintings for the Decentralized BrewCo "NEAR Beer" label design competition in March 2021. Entry was selected and minted on Paras by DeBrewCo in April 2021. 
The winning image was also then used in the prototype for the Human Guild funded initiative "NFT Tools" - a NEAR NFT display screen.

Initiated the ZEITWARP smart contract on Day One of Mintbase Mainnet, opened a store and minted the audiovisual MP4 'FAST-FORWARD / REWIND'- May 2021.

'FAST-FORWARD / REWIND' a Sound & Vision MP4 NFT from "The NO$TALGIA SHOW" is exhibited at the Rare Effect NFT Exhibition at Arroz Estudios in Lisbon in May 2021. 
It is among the first Mintbase NEAR NFTs, and the very first to be displayed in an exhibition. 
The Rare Effect Exhibition also featured a physical MUSIC GRAFFITI painting that was used in the digital work.

Five audiovisual MP4s minted from the ZEITWARP Mintbase store are selected for a solo wall gallery showcase at the NEAR NFT Lounge Miami, June 3rd-5th 2021. 
All five works are from "The NOSTALGIA SHOW" a long-term digital/physical project exploring the 'Paradox of Retro-Utopianism'. 
The NEAR NFT Lounge exhibtion was held in the Wynwood Art District to coincide with Bitcoin Miami 2021.

June 2021 - Exhibited as part of the Green NFTs joint venture between NEAR, Mintbase and South Pole Global. Minted and dsiaplyed the audiovisual 1/1 MP4 "AND WHAT IS COOL..." in the NEAR Green NFTs Metaverse Gallery in Cryptovoxels.

June/July/august '21 - Exhibited a range of digital works and physical paintings from the 'FEEDBACK LOOPS' series at the Mintbase Wildeverse / WildeMohre Festival NFT Hut - July/August 2021. 
The Wildeverse was held in Somnium Space & Cryptovoxels to coincide with the Festival.
'REPEAT AD INFINITUM' from 'The NO$TALGIA SHOW' sold to a private collector at Wildeverses for 300 NEAR - the highest primary sale of an individual 1/1 NFT on Mintbase, and the record for a 1/1 cryptoart piece on NEAR

August 2021 - Still images from FAST FORWARD/REWIND - a 1/1 Sound & Vision MP4 Near NFT from "The NO$TALGIA SHOW" are displayed as part of the CryptoBeamers urban art projection exhibition in Berlin.

Sept '21  - Solo exhibition & interview in Altspace VR with YummyNFTs as part of the NEAR 'Agahnomally' Clean NFTs project in association with the AGAH online NFT auction house on Telegram.
In the same week "AUTO-REVERSE" a 1/1 Sound & Vision MP4 NFT from The NO$TALGIA SHOW is sold at an AGAH auction - one of the fist NEAR denominated auctions on the platform. 
"This guy f*cks" from the auction chat becomes my new favourite review...

Oct/Nov '21 - ​"OXYMANDIAS REDUXED"  - A Sound & Vision MP4 NFT from "The NO$TALGIA SHOW" is exhibited as part of the Afrika Burn "Save The Clan" joint venture fundraiser to support the Afrike Burn Festival​

Jan/Feb 2022 - Exhibited "AND WHAT IS COOL" at the NEAR S.O.T.A. Gallery as part of the Open Forest Protocol Re-Fi NFT project in January/February 2022. 
The piece was then sold at the first ever live NEARverse auction in NEARHub, achieving a joint record price and raising funds for OFP, South Pole Global & SOTA.
The auction event also featured the first perfomance from the EXIT LIQUIDITY series of Sound & Vision DJ Art Installations

Jan/Feb 2022 - GLITCH BREAKS - A series of 1/1 Visual Samples from the FRACTAL MUSIC project exploring the phase space transformation between sound & vision was exhibited at the Musee Dezentral.

Still images taken from The NO$TALGIA SHOW were selected to represent NEAR at the NEAR Lounge ETH Denver in February  - coinciding with "COLA WARS" - a piece from the NO$TALGIA SHOW being included in the Doin' Gud exhibition at the Sportscastle of as part of the official IRL ETH Denver display.

March 2022 - Dropped "EXIT LIQUIDITY" on Tamago island in NEARHub. - EXIT LIQUIDITY is a one hour Sound & Vision DJ ART Installation piece, and was the first such event anywhere in the NEARVerse

March 2022 - "THE FUTURE OF THE WEB?...YOU DECIDE" is selected as a winner in the NEAR Foundation METABUILD Hackathon "Liberal Arts Challenge". It is a 25 second conceptual MP4 Sound & Vision artwork examining the NEAR Foundation challenge question of what lies ahead for the web...and the implications for humanity.
At 97Mb, the piece currently remains unminted on a NEAR NFT platform, but is minted onto the Zeitwarp drive on the Arweave IPFS blockchain. It is also on YouTube - [select HD playback min 1080p in the cogwheel / settings]

APRIL 2022 - Interview with Alejandro van Betancourt on his NEAR OG podcast Wild User Interviews - "Episode 13 - The Art of Ideas with ZEITWARP":
https://share.transistor.fm/s/eafbf385
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xB8EUJKNl3WTrOPhDplSN
The artwork & logo for the WUI Podcast is actually based on an original ZEITWARP Music Graffiti painting. The logo was selected in a NEAR ecosystem design contest in August 2021.

MAY 2022 - Interview with Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin of Human Guild on his "NEAR Creators" podcast:
https://pod.link/nextcreators/episode/888e394588f8e3f54af16937a0ec0cab

MAY/JUNE 2022 - "RETROVAILLANCE" from The NO$TALGIA SHOW  is showcased in a cryptoart exhibition at theMusée Dezentral.
RETROVAILLANCE is an MP4 NFT minted on the Zeitwarp smart contract at Mintbase. It is a commentary on government surveillance within an era of retrophilia.

JUNE 2022 - 'AUTO RETURN' from The NO$TALGIA SHOW was featured in the NEAR Protocol CryptoArt Exhibtion for NFT Barcelona - in partnership with Mintbase.

JULY 2022 - Exibited NEAR NFT's and Augmented Reality activations at NFT San Diego as part of the NEAR Publish [NxP] Physical/Digital NFT Exhibition. 

August 2022 - The NO$TALGIA SHOW is featured in a 3xR Virtual CryptoArt Gallery Exhibtion

SEPT '22 - Selected to speak at NEARCon 22 on the subject of "Original Culture on NEAR & the future of conceptual cryptoart in the DALLE-2 era"

SEPT 2022 - THE FUTURE OF THE WEB, an audiovisual MP4 from The NO$TALGIA SHOW was exhibited - along with a pair of MUSIC GRAFFITI paintings and their AR counterparts - throughout NEARCon '22 in Lisbon. 

HOMO-TRAS-RETRO - a new audiovisual NFT piece from the NO$TALGIA SHOW was selected for exhibtion as part of Rare Effect 3 CryptoArt exhibition in Lisbon, November 2022. It was also featured prominently at Cais Do Sodré metro Station in publicity for the exhibition. Rare Effect 3 was sponsored by the NEAR Foundation.