NFT
Carla Gannis, 2018
Featured In Metaglyphs

Origins of the Universe Dimensioning

In this body of work, I reference both Gustave Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde (Origin of the World), and the contemporary fad of 3D printing sculptural holders for smartphones. Courbet's painting was scandalous in the nineteenth century and even in the twenty-first century postings of the painting have led to Facebook account suspensions. Conversely, on certain sites 3D-printed smartphone holders of the sexualized female body proliferate. Nonetheless, females' contributions to physics, engineering, computer science, and art receive more and more equal billing. In my version of an origin narrative, I have expanded Courbet's "world" to a "universe," a universe positioned between a womxn's legs, looping videos of the cosmos on an iPhone. This does not signify biological determinism but represents the power of the "female archetype" across scientific and cultural realms. A quote by Sadie Plant sums it up. "When computers became the miniaturized circuits of silicon chips, it was women who assembled them . . . when computers were virtually real machines, women wrote the software on which they ran. And when computer was a term applied to flesh and blood workers, the bodies which composed them were female." Regarding the VR experience, translating the work from a physical sculpture to virtual space inspired me to think on a macro and micro level, where the "object" can be entered as monolithic and mythic body and site, (an homage to Niki de St Phalle's large scale sculptural installation "Han," 1966). Upon entry the micro-object sculpture, at "human/avatar" scale, alludes to the original presentation of the work in physical reality. Additionally, there is a spatial audio composition playing in the space, entitled "In a Kingdom Full of Planets." It is a poetry collaboration between myself and the Masterpiece AI Poem generator in homage to the universe. Origins of the Universe Dimensioning, 2018-2021, includes a digital video, a sculpture (sent to the collector upon purchase) and a web VR experience (the link is provided at purchase). Details: 3D printed sculpture (polyamide print with copper plating) + smartphone with video, 13.4" x 5" x 10" + custom pedestal and vitrine, pedestal 42”h x 17.5”l x 14”w | vitrine: 17”h x 17.5”l x 14”w Video: 1920 x 1080 pixels; 3 min 11 seconds (looping video)
Token
1stDibs.1
Token ID
92
Token Standard
ERC-721
Edition
1/1
Medium
MP4 Digital Video, 3D Printed Sculpture, Smart Phone with Video, Custom Pedestal and Vitrine
Dimensions
1920 x 1080
Artwork CID: Qmb9oC7VEWLUus6ZraMzSuUWmHtNuCsoF9R3k4FtHesGBd
Token Metadata CID: QmNcboRjQBZdAVE3MCZNA6A969rU7rdkcyBmiM8bZSA3Gp
Etherscan
Metadata
IPFS
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Carla Gannis

Transmedia artist Carla Gannis’ current “Yonder” series addresses the entangled crises of our contemporary tangible and virtual selves. She represents her thoughts on selfhood as it is expressed within the radical phenomenology provided by the advent of mixed reality. Her work has been presented by Times Square Arts and Whitney Museum of American Art, Artport. Recent speaking engagements include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Cooper Union and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibition Notes

Origins of the Universe Dimensioning is presented in “Metaglyphs,” curated by Katie Peyton Hofstadter. Metaglyphs showcases artists using digital technologies to generate layers of meaning on more than one experiential plane, and includes work by Alfredo Salazar-Caro, Amy Kurzweil, Claudia Hart, LaJuné McMillian, LoVid, Carla Gannis, FakeShamus, Morehshin Allahyari, Savannah Spirit, and Swoon.

The winning bidder of this work will receive an additional physical sculpute (pictured above) as well as a link to a private Virtual Reality experience

Metaglyph roughly translates to “beyond symbol” — an artwork representing the interconnected relationship between object materiality and digital existence. For as long as humans have told stories, we’ve been interested in objects that exist at the border between worlds. From ancient mythology to modern science fiction, our archetypal stories are filled with magical objects that serve as keys, black mirrors of culture and false identity, secret weapons with hidden powers. These NFT tokenized artworks use multiple techniques — ranging from digital simulation technology to 3D modeling to glitch — to probe the boundaries and consequences of our digital and analog desires.

The goal is not to replace reality, but to return to and enrich it. When we step through the looking glass — when we board the vessel — what will we see?

“These artworks are vessels that serve as a link between the familiar and the unknown. It’s the butterfly pinned to the board, and the butterfly rising above it. Not just the shark’s tooth, but its bite.”

–– Katie Peyton Hofstadter

History

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