BARON LANTEIGNE: Augmented Protective Pouch

Tangible Data is an on-going project about my experience with cryptoart. Therefore one of its focus is how collectors can now be part of a work simply by bidding on it. I’ve been documenting and integrating the social trace left by the community in my work. This is what I have been experimenting with lately. You can follow the project on its own website that also doubles as an introduction to #cryptoart: http://www.tangibledata.art/

The Augmented Protective Pouch is an LCD sculpture meant to display rarified digital art IRL. The main screen presents an original NFT. The second smaller screen, shaped as an exhibition cartel, displays in real time the blockchain inscription of the main piece along with all its transactions. Currently designed to use the SuperRare API, the sculpture only works with artworks tokenized on SuperRare but it would be compatible with any artwork. Of course, because it’s an artwork of itself, I use it to augment my own work. At the moment, the sculpture is being used to display the newly tokenized work of the Tangible Data series: tangible data four. 

Tangible data four artwork goes here 

The outside fabric, reminiscent of a laptop pouch, was designed to symbolize a skin that would protect its core, which is the showcased artwork in 4k resolution. In the lower part, the skin opens to reveal the organs: a complete computer system programmed to send requests about the artwork using the SuperRare API. Made to grab attention or trigger a reaction by how ridicule it looks, the augmented pouch and LCD sculpture acts as a metaphor for my experience as I join and witness the cryptoart community. The sculpture is a literal materialization of this relation between collectors, artists and nft enthusiasts that we can witness over social networks. It allows me to shift cryptoart from its online realm and reach the real world with a connected object. 

This real life sculpture was only possible after creating several virtual prototypes. Some can be seen in my #metaworks series. I’ve also tokenized a 3d model of the latest prototype. 

Augmented protective pouch goes here