The Distributed Gallery - Ex-Machina: A History of Generative Art London Wednesday, July 13, 2022 | Phillips
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    'Definitively, the Distributed Gallery doesn’t consider itself as a crypto-art gallery or a specialist in blockchain-based artwork, insofar as our practices do not consist in following a fashion gravitating around the blockchain: we just try to use the possibilities opened by blockchain technologies. Let’s say: Blockchain is nothing more than a new tool with which we can create. And like any tool, it has its own way of opening up the field of possible.'  —The Distributed Gallery

    Functioning as a crypto-jukebox, The Chaos Machine exists in two copies that are connected to each other.  When a banknote is burned in one machine, there are two results—first, the machine randomly selects a track from a user-generated playlist and plays from both machines; and second, a crypto-token (the "chaos-coin") is minted and the machine prints QR code for the user. The QR code enables the user to add a new song into The Chaos Machine's playlist. The user-generated playlist is registered on the Ethereum blockchain and stored in perpetuity on IPFS. If one machine plays music but a banknote has not been burned, this means that someone has just been burning a banknote elsewhere.

     

     

    • Provenance

      The artists
      Aguttes, Paris, 20 October 2019, lot 128​
      Private collection ​
      Acquired from the above by the present owner​

    • Exhibited

      Berlin, Schinkel Pavillon, Proof of Work, 8 September – 20 December 2018
      Zurich, Kate Vass Galerie, Perfect & Priceless: Value Systems on the Blockchain, 16 November 2018 – 11 January 2019 (another from the edition)

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The Chaos Machine

oak, steel, slate, glass and electrical parts
192 x 52 x 52 cm (75 5/8 x 20 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.)
Executed in 2018, this work is number 1 from an edition of 2.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£40,000 - 60,000 ‡♠

Sold for £37,800

Contact Specialist

Benjamin Kandler
Project Lead for Digital Art, Phillips
+44 7393 141 146
bkandler@phillips.com

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NFT Manager
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NFT@phillips.com

Ex-Machina: A History of Generative Art

Online Auction 13-20 July 2022