Pace Verso Announces Large-Scale Activation in NYC with Grimes | NFT CULTURE | Web3 Culture NFTs & Crypto Art

Titled Matter is Void, teamLab’s first NFT examines notions of ownership and authorship through an inventive  new format that allows collectors to change the content of the work. 

The musician Grimes will activate the artwork as part of a large-scale, public presentation on screens in New York’s Times Square. 

Grimes will also engage in an AMA discussion on Pace’s Twitter Spaces on Friday, October 14 at 5 p.m. EDT.

New York, NY – Pace Verso, the web3 hub of Pace Gallery, presents Matter is Void, the first NFT by the  interdisciplinary art collective teamLab. The project, which will be released on Pace Verso’s platform on October 19,  comprises seven unique NFTs bearing the words “Matter is Void,” a reference to the Japanese-Buddhist expression  Shikisoku Zekuu, which meditates on the meanings of emptiness.  

To explore ideas of authorship and ownership, teamLab has adopted a radical format for Matter is Void that enables  the NFT purchasers to change the words displayed in the work via a website that teamLab has created. Once the  NFTs’ content has been altered by their purchasers, the artworks will never again display their original “Matter is  Void” state.  

While only seven Matter is Void NFTs will be available for purchase, ownership of the artwork is not exclusive to NFT  purchasers. The artwork will be available for individuals around the world to download, own, and display at any time.  All those downloaded works will reflect purchasing collectors’ real-time modifications to the words displayed in the  NFTs. While the NFT provides collectors with the right to change the text, all works downloaded by NFT purchasers  as well as individuals who do not own the NFTs are equally authentic.  

Coinciding with the launch of this online platform, Matter is Void will be the subject of a public presentation in New  York’s Times Square beginning on October 12 at 12 a.m. EDT. One of the NFTs will have its initial “Matter is Void”  text modified into a new phrase authored by musician and lyricist Grimes, known for her role in shaping  contemporary culture. Grimes’s activation of Matter is Void will be revealed for the first time on large-scale screens  in Times Square on October 13 at 12 p.m. EDT and remain on view through October 18. The presentation in New  York is realized in partnership with Artsy, the leading global online art marketplace, and is sponsored by OUTFRONT  Media. The wide reach of this event will give people an opportunity to contemplate teamLab’s interest in continuity  and human connectivity. 

The seven NFTs—six in their original “Matter is Void” format and one activated by Grimes—will be available to  purchase on Pace Verso, accessible starting October 19. Grimes will  also participate in an AMA discussion on Pace’s Twitter Spaces on Friday, October 14 at 5 p.m. EDT. 

Matter is Void will also be presented in Pace’s booth during the inaugural edition of Paris+ par Art Basel, which is  open to the public from October 20 to 23.  

On a formal level, the project reflects teamLab’s long-standing investigations of Spatial Calligraphy—or calligraphy  drawn in space. With many of its digital works, teamLab has explored the ways that calligraphic forms might  shapeshift across two- and three-dimensional spaces. In Matter is Void, brushstrokes appear on the screen,  continuously floating and rotating in space. These brushstrokes periodically coalesce to form the phrase “Matter is Void,” or a different phrase selected by the NFT purchaser. These fleeting moments of legibility are interrupted  when the brushstrokes take on abstract choreographies once more. Each Matter is Void artwork has a different color  variation: black in white, black in black, white in white, gold light, fire, water, and fog. 

This new NFT project also reflects the collective’s explorations of the relationships between individuals and the  external world. As such, these artworks bring questions of being and ephemerality to the fore. 

The release of Matter is Void will coincide with the launch of Pace Verso’s new, Ethereum-backed sales platform built  by Mojito. Offering custodial wallets and payments via crypto, credit cards, or wire transfer, this platform update will  serve Pace Verso’s efforts to make purchasing NFTs as easy as possible. Varied customization tools will also support  Pace Verso’s mission to support a wide range of artists’ practices in the web3 space. 

teamLab (f. 2001) is an international art collective, an interdisciplinary group of various specialists such as artists,  programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects whose collaborative practice seeks to  navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world.  

teamLab aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world and new perceptions through art. In order to  understand the world around them, people separate it into independent entities with perceived boundaries between them. teamLab seeks to transcend these boundaries in our perception of the world, of the relationship between the  self and the world, and of the continuity of time. Everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless  continuity of life.  

teamLab’s works are in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South  Australia, Adelaide; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Asia Society Museum, New York; Borusan Contemporary Art  Collection, Istanbul; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Amos Rex, Helsinki. 

Pace Verso is Pace Gallery’s hub for web3 projects, launched in 2021 under the leadership of Pace President and  CEO Marc Glimcher. Pace Verso works closely with artists within and beyond the gallery’s program to incubate,  develop, and realize their web3 projects, operating an NFT platform on the Ethereum blockchain at  www.pacegallery.com/pace-verso. In addition to releasing independent projects, Pace Verso frequently  collaborates with leading web3 platforms to share artists’ work with wide audiences. In 2022, Pace Verso established  multifaceted partnership with Art Blocks, the leading generative art platform, encompassing boundary-pushing  generative NFT releases by Pace’s artists as well as crypto-native artists, exhibitions, and community programming.  In its first year, Pace Verso—which reflects the gallery’s longtime and ongoing support of innovative artists who have  cultivated advanced studio practices engaged with boundary-pushing technologies—has presented NFT projects by  Jeff Koons, Zhang Huan, Glenn Kaino, DRIFT, Lucas Samaras, and other artists. Pace Verso has also grown a robust  following on its dedicated Discord server, directly engaging web3 communities through discussions with artists and  leaders in the crypto space. 

Artsy is the largest global online marketplace for discovering, buying, and selling fine art by leading artists. Artsy  connects 4,000+ galleries, auction houses, art fairs, and institutions from 100+ countries with millions of global art  collectors and art lovers across 190+ countries. Artsy makes purchasing art welcoming, transparent and low-friction  with industry-leading technology that connects supply and demand safely and securely at a global scale. Launched  in 2012, Artsy is headquartered in New York City with offices in London and Berlin.