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Tangible Data is a series of animated works emphasizing the physicality of technological devices surrounding us by giving them properties defying the laws of physics. http://www.tangibledata.art/
Baron Lanteigne
Baron Lanteigne depicts our relation with technology and its infrastructure through installations combining modified displays, cables, electronic devices and animations assembled as portals bridging the real and virtual
worlds.
This process started online, with spontaneous collaborations without geographic boundaries on various platforms such as glitch artist collective, new aesthetic groups. Over the years, Baron’s work was presented in several digital art festivals both online (The Wrong Biennial, Real-Fake and SPAMMM.FR) and IRL such as at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest (HU), Les Garages Numériques (BE), Mapping Festival (GE), Mirage Festival (FR), Vector Festival (CA), Dutch Design Week (NL), SONAR+D (ES), CuVo Video Art Festival (ES), Electrofringe (AU), CPH:DOX (DK) and and many more.
Tangible Data
His current project transposes his multi layer hyper dense work to the cryptoart community with a series of colorful mind-bending surreal loops which he calls Tangible Data. Drawing from multiple post-internet cultures such as vaporwave and 3d motion design, Baron Lanteigne consciously formats the work for the online platform.
Designed following the Möbius strip principle, the loops explore high density imagery presenting data streams as a liquid or soft body. This process symbolizes the human desire to shape the virtual to its image, to better understand or explain it. To make it “real”. The simulations are then nested in non-Euclidean spaces for the viewer to discover. There is no beginning, no end, no time, just the loop. This approach immerses the observer into an illusion of dynamism created by the constant trajectory of the camera when, in reality, the piece is immutable.
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You want to grasp it. Second iteration of the tangible data series questioning the human desire to objectivize the virtual realm, to shape it to match something familiar.
#metaworks
By tokenizing works on a blockchain, their historical data is embedded into it. In other words, this artwork’s metadata. If we consider those original loops described above as the first layer of a larger project, #metaworks would be the second layer. For this sub series to work, it required a first level made of some desirable eye candy. This is how the hierarchy of the project is laid out.
So what is a #metawork? It’s a cryptoart piece about the community interaction with Baron Lanteigne’s main series. The #metaworks are VR prototypes created to better visualize the Tangible Data series in a gallery setting. They also work as stand-alone pieces documenting blockchain transactions tied to a specific artwork. In order to better document the artist’s creative process and appreciate the potential of this technology, there was a need to also tokenize those #metaworks. This way, collectors are not only immortalized, they are literally embedded in the work.
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#metaworks are VR prototypes created to better visualize how the tangible data series can be spatialized in a gallery setting. They also work as standalone pieces, documenting blockchain transactions tied to a specific piece from the tangible data series.
Why?
All over SuperRare, we can witness the presence of the collectors. There are rankings for them, interviews with them, the bids are public… This is obviously desirable and well thought. After all, the whole point of this data is so we have access to it. The art installation seen in the artist’s #metaworks suggest this technology acts as a bridge between this virtual data trail and the real life setting of a gallery space. It can be interpreted as an Internet of Things type of device analogous to the descriptive label next to a piece in a museum. This is made possible through the SuperRare API.
Artists don’t always make the best programmers. Baron Lanteigne’s efforts in this case are not about the stability or interoperability of his interface. The artist’s proposal documents a renewal of the art industry in a virtual community where collectors and artists are in direct contact. In this way, Tangible Data is an open ended auto referential maximalist project that spreads across multiple mediums, both material and virtual. By acting as a bridge between two worlds, Baron Lanteigne’s process is as heteroclite as the world it originated from: The Internet.
What’s next?
The Tangible Data series will have between 4 and 7 main artworks which will be tokenized on SuperRare. More #metaworks cataloguing the evolution of the project and its interaction with the cryptoart community are in the works with all this converging with IRL exhibitions showcasing the current status and history of each piece by accessing the SuperRare API in real-time. You can follow the artist on instagram and twitter for updates and access the tangible data collection at tangibledata.art.
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Tangible Data is a series of works exploring physics simulations and notions of architecture applied to non euclidean virtual environments in a playful way. The works explore high density imagery symbolizing virtual machines condensed in short loops that require repeated viewing to be intelligible. By approaching each animation as a möbius strip, my practice is shifting away from traditional time based media in order to focus on the virtual environment itself.
BARON LANTEIGNE
Baron Lanteigne creates installations bridging the real and virtual worlds through portals and cables. His work is presented internationally at digital art events such as Mapping Festival (GE), Mirage Festival (FR), Dutch Design Week (NL), SONAR+D (ES) and at the Ludwig Museum (HU).