AES+F is a collective of four Russian artists (T. Arzamasova, L. Evzovich, E. Svyatsky, and V. Fridkes) working at the intersection of traditional media, photography, video and digital technologies. The group was founded as AES in 1987 and evolved to AES+F with the addition of Fridkes in 1995. They define their practice as a “social psychoanalysis” through which they reveal and explore the values, vices and conflicts of contemporary global culture. Over the past three decades, they have had over 100 solo exhibitions and cemented their role as key players of the contemporary art scene.

AES+F is auctioning an NFT work for the first time, minted on March 22 in exclusive partnership with Verisart and SuperRare as part of 10×10: 10 inaugural NFTs by 10 major contemporary artists over 10 weeks. 

The NFT work, Psychosis, Mushroom Field is a surreal vision. It originates from the video stage design for “Psychosis” at Electrotheatre Stanislavsky in Moscow, in which AES+F reinterpreted British playwright Sarah Kane’s “4:48 Psychosis” together with film and theater director Alexander Zeldovich. AES+F describe their first work minted as an NFT on SuperRare as a “delusion borne of an amalgamation of intense desire and paranoia of Sarah Kane’s protagonist.”

“4:48. Psychosis” was Kane’s final play, written during her stay in a psychiatric clinic in 1999 shortly before she took her own life. The cacophony of voices in Kane’s head terrorized her during her time in a psychiatric clinic, and the play is seen as a record of that experience. An insatiable desire for love and affection, coupled with crippling self-loathing that afflicted the author in her life, leads to a tragic end. But the protagonist of Sarah Kane’s play is not her, it is an avatar through which she reconciles her madness and her solution, which is to part with the world.

AES+F’s “Psychosis” project is an interpretation of this struggle, revisiting important themes of the 90s, like corporeality, psychedelic culture, and social protest, through the prism of new digital technologies and aesthetics. Their 3D animations  are populated by images alluding to the female body, pharmaceuticals, insects, and psychedelic visions, oscillating between the fairytale-esque and the terrifying. The accompanying music is composed by Dmitry Kourliandsky from fragments of Brahms’ “German Requiem”, which sets the solemn and pensive tone of the work. 

AES+F have a multi-disciplinary approach to their practice, working at the intersection of traditional media, photography, video, and CGI. They began working with digital manipulation of images in the 90s, emphasizing print, mixed media, and photography. Now, they are known for their vast multi-media installations and digital collages, as well as paintings and sculptures that organically combine traditional media and digital aesthetics. 

Talking about their NFT, the artists explained “We have been bridging the space between digital and traditional media at museums, biennials, festivals, and even theaters for over 30 years. It will be very interesting to engage the digitally-native NFT community as an extension of our practice.” 

AES+F’s NFT is certified by Verisart, an award-winning blockchain certification platform. Designed to empower artists to tell the story of their work, the digital certificates include additional images, videos and documents. AES+F’s Verisart certificate includes an exclusive collector reward, accessible only to the owner of the certificate. For collectors, Verisart’s patent-pending Certificates of Authenticity (COA) form an integral part of collecting NFTs. They provide confidence in the identity of the artist and the verified history of the artwork.

AES+F’s signature style combines recognizable motifs from art history and the contemporary media stream, creating vast worlds that are both recognizable and strange. 

Coining the term “social psychoanalysis” for their practice, AES+F’s work raises provocative questions about society but doesn’t provide any obvious answers. The viewers are tasked with exploring the works in search of meaning and reflecting on the problems within contemporary society.

First formed as AES Group in 1987 by Arzamasova, Evzovich, and Svyatsky, the collective became AES+F when Fridkes joined in 1995. AES+F achieved worldwide critical acclaim in 1999 for their Islamic Project, which depicted various Western postcard city landscapes manipulated to appear colonized by Islam. AES+F cemented their reputation as a contemporary art powerhouse in the Russian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007 with their provocative Last Riot, the first of their now-signature large-scale, multichannel video installations. Following a large survey exhibition in 2007 at The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, AES+F’s next three large video installations titled The Feast of Trimalchio, Allegoria Sacra, and Inverso Mundus debuted at the 53rd Venice Biennale, 4th Moscow Biennale, and 56th Venice Biennale respectively. The group has had more than 100 solo exhibitions at museums, exhibition spaces, and commercial galleries worldwide. AES+F works have been shown in such institutions as the Tate Britain (London), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow), MAXXI and MACRO Future (Rome), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid), HAM (Helsinki), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Leeum Samsung Museum of Art (Seoul), National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), Faena Art Center (Buenos Aires), and many others.

Join AES+F on ART TALKS WITH VERISART to hear them discuss life, art and tech with Robert Norton, CEO and co-founder of Verisart. Tuesday, March 23 at 4pm EDT/8pm GMT on Clubhouse. 

Editorial is open for submissions: [email protected]

Currently voted the world’s #6 DJ, few may be aware that Dutch visionary Don Diablo actually began his illustrious career as a film director and video editor, creating his first video at the tender age of twelve. His first record release followed the year after and whilst some may say the rest was history for the prodigal producer, to focus solely on his albeit vast musical achievements would be to do a major disservice to the creative genius that is Don Schipper.

Don: For my GΞNΞSIS (1 of 1) piece I wanted to create something very special. This NFT is a magical combination of three elements: a never before heard song, an animation and it comes with a hand-built hologram cabinet + cartridge to display the art in a truly unique way in your living room. I started working on this particular song at the beginning of my career and have continued working on it every single year from that moment. I must have spent over 250 hours in total on the song and never found the right purpose or timing to share it with the world, up until now. The animation of the hologram synthesizer is based on the very first keyboard I bought as a kid, to make things truly full circle. The idea for the hexagon hologram cabinet (HEXAGRAM) and the cartridge derives from my love for both Star Wars as well as old school Nintendo gaming consoles. My GΞNΞSIS piece is nostalgia mixed with my vision for the future of digital art.  

Having immersed himself in the world of art from a young age, it was only natural that Don would become engrossed in the digital art movement – something that embodies the futuristic vision that has become his career aesthetic. For many years now, Don has been collaborating on all levels with (visual) artists across the globe, most notably to create art for his shows, music videos and socials. NFT pioneer Beeple recently included their collaborative digital art piece in his record breaking “Everydays” collage. Don, who was named after Don Van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, has also recently launched his own HEXAGON comic book series together with Impact Theory’s Tom Bilyeu, collaborated with Disney & Star Wars on an exclusive capsule collection and most recently built an immersive life size art piece for his hometown Amsterdam which will be unveiled later this year. 

Always one to transcend creative boundaries, as the world becomes more and more reliant on streams – be it music, films or tv shows – Don became preoccupied with the idea of streaming art. An untapped concept, Don began visualizing and creating his own hologram cabinets that would allow the owner to stream art via a unique cartridge, working on the model in tandem with his crypto-art debut. Having worked on the development of his HEXAGRAM cabinets over the last two years – some eagle-eyed fans will have already spotted a prototype of the cabinet in footage from his home – Don is now finally ready to unveil his brain child, selling his first non-fungible token with a physical cartridge that will contain a digital art piece, reminiscent of the 80s video game cartridges of his youth. Once in possession of the hand-crafted hologram cabinet, which will be sent after buying the NFT, the collector will be able to slot the acquired cartridge into the cabinet to display their one-of-a-kind NFT. Once the cartridge is removed, the cabinet will power down and remain empty. And yes, it comes with built-in sound and possibly a few easter eggs for the future. Combining his NFT debut with his hologram concept, Don is set to form a hybrid between the crypto and physical art in his own unique way. 

Whilst his GΞNΞSIS piece may be a solo effort, Don is set to further his collaborative projects, having already planned a huge drop coming up soon with world-renowned artists Studio Drift – watch this space.

Editorial is open for submissions: [email protected]

by grif

Grif is an award-winning multidisciplinary visual artist and director. Most recently, he collaborated with Wiz Khalifa on his “Millions” video, and has worked with the likes of Kanye West, Givenchy, Nike, Apple, Adidas, and many more. Winner of PRINT magazines New Visual Artist award in 2015, and ADC Young Guns in 2012. His studio and art practice is located in New York City. www.instagram.com/grif

A one-of-a-kind collection of digital artworks, re-imagining the cycles of the natural world in the digital space. Each available as a unique NFT collectible for your metaverse.

In conjunction with the 2021 Spring equinox, ‘The Equinox Collection’ by GRIF will be dropped exclusively on SuperRare.

The collection presents surrealist depictions of familiar objects, scenes, and characters, each in motion. As an invisible catalyst moves through each artwork, – a transfer of natural energy causes the subjects and environments to be pollinated with blooming nature. Each composition is overtaken and consumed, ultimately re-imagined as expansive floral tapestries. 

 “This concept was born out of wanting to craft something optimistic and beautiful, but also to create concepts and works that can only exist within the medium of 3D” says GRIF. “These expressions of nature could never exist in the natural world, it’s a reinterpretation born only from the digital space.”

Each artwork concludes as a juxtaposition of the subject’s relationship with nature, somewhat ignorant yet still seemingly no match for the godly power nature wields, and is often shy to remind us of. The works questions the motivation of this invisible catalyst, suggesting the omnipresence of a higher energy.

Moreover, as we progress further to a purely digital lifestyle, the works double as a hyper-real reminder of the coexistence of man-made objects and nature, how even the escapism of online life may need to be escaped. The symbolism of flowers elicits feelings of energy, optimism, timelessness, and curiosity

The collection will feature 5 artworks :

The first, ‘Angels Gate’ takes its name from the idyllic outdoor basketball court overlooking the ocean in San Pedro, CA. The introduction of floral growth evolves in the more unexpected, non-organic surfaces in the scene, populating the graphic and geometric lines of the basketball court markings. “The brutalist concrete supporting arch of the backboard acts as a contrasting vessel for the flowers to reach upward to the net,” says GRIF.

The re-imagining of Johannes Vermeers ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ the flat oil painting from 1665 becomes dimensionalized in 3D space, as the camera investigates the finer details of the cracking paint and textural tactility. The form of the girl becomes appended with a blooming floral arrangement, representing the passing of time with something that is timeless, nature. On this piece, the artist adds, “expanding the dimensions of these pieces is something only achievable by the medium of 3D animation. Movement is essential to the presentation & concept of this creative expression.”

In ‘Great Basin Skate Heaven’, we follow a skater as they perform tricks and stunts in a skaters paradise, located in the Utah Great Basin. “The name ‘Skate Heaven’ is an easter egg derived from the bonus level of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 game,” says GRIF. The idyllic sunset scene bears witness to the transfer of energy between this floral figure and the contrasting concrete environment beneath, saturated in graffiti. “The cinematography of ‘Great Basin Skate Heaven’ is a blend of fish-eye and long lens zooms, paying homage to that of classic skate videos style that’s remained prevalent in the culture since its inception,” notes the artist.

Some of the pieces have been seen by the public already and met with viral success, racking up millions of organic impressions on social media. The Equinox Collection will be available exclusively on SuperRare, released in weekly increments over the late March to April period on SuperRare.

See GRIF’s SuperRare, Instagram, and Website for official release dates as well as additional artworks.