NFT by Urbansolid

URBANCOIN AND URBANGOLD

Our work on the subject of cryptocurrencies began a few years ago, when rumours about this new form of wealth began to have an echo in the media. The idea that each of us can, at least theoretically, create its own currency, has intrigued us and led us to reflect on the value of things, on the true meaning of wealth and on new ways of relating to it.

In 1965, with the work “One and Three Chairs”, Joseph Kosuth questioned the concept of “chair”, by proposing the physical object, its representation as image and the caption, showing the definition of the term itself. Thanks to him too, what we now have at our disposal is a further dimension of meaning. We must take note of the new point of observation that the virtual world is bringing into our lives and of the new meanings that such a trend is able to release. Through research, the concept of wealth must once again be redefined.

With “Urbancoin”, we have given our interpretation of this phenomenon. Ironically, our intent is to give a physical life to bitcoins by making their value explicit through an enlarged, if compared to the normal measurements of real coins, sculptural representation. In a specular way, our currency finds its meaning only if read in consideration of the existence of cryptocurrencies.

After an initial internalization, we began to produce our “Urbancoin” with the aim of installing it on the walls of cities to “virtually” enrich them. The suggestion we wanted to propose can be compared to the imagery of the Super Mario Bros video game, in which the coins are located in the virtual world. As a sort of bonus for the inhabitants of the metropolises who live the urban space every day. A bonus of coins that have no value other than the artistic one, but which, at the same time, are real, tangible and physical. A paradox within the paradox: The “Urbancoin” are real, but has no other value than the artistic and symbolic one, unlike virtual coins which represent containers of wealth although not having a physical dimension, if not an impulse, the byte. Our interpretation aims to exorcise the obsession that modern society demonstrates to have for money, more precisely by making it available to everyone. This concept has been further enriched and strengthened in meaning with the creation of the “Urbangold”, reproductions of gold bars that, in some way, further increase the value involved.

From street installations we then moved on to the creation of a real coin, using a noble metal: Bronze. The bronze artwork, after being produced, will be digitalized and then destroyed, in order to make the virtual image of the artwork as the true artistic object.

To protect the digital work, we destroyed the physical one. The use of bronze accentuates the value of the work itself, by making what we are doing even more absurd: Our is a negotiation of the absurd. The work is martyred, sacrificed, immolated, to allow its digital copy to live and fully assume the dimension of originality, of uniqueness.

The destruction of the artwork, which could seem an almost incoherent act, in contrast to the creative process itself, actually is a very current concept in Street Art, as well as, being often present in the art history. Our sculptures, installed in the streets of European cities, are often destroyed in an attempt to be taken away. Moreover, our works, after having contaminated the city, are themselves contaminated by other artists: In this way they take on new meanings as they interact with the host environment, and they are modified by subsequent interventions at the hands of other actors. For this reason, the operation of destruction of the artwork is something we feel familiar and allows us, with the casting of the bronze work, the birth of a new artwork. The same material that made up the “Urbangold” or the “Urbancoin” is mangled to protect the digital work, but also scarified to give life to a new art.

The idea behind this process is that, after giving a physical dimension to the concept of virtual wealth by creating the artwork itself, we then destroyed it, by selling the testimony of the work, namely its digital copy, in Ethereum. The physical work, after a long process, has tangibly assumed a value in cryptocurrencies.

Art has always moved around the representation of something that is not always tangible, it suggests reflections on the meaning of things and how we interact with them. We are curious to understand how art will approach this new “practice” and the evolution of this new semantic path.

It is questionable whether this operation is art. Joseph Kosuth answered this question: “Making art means creating meaning”.