{"id":4916,"date":"2020-03-27T14:58:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T18:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=4916"},"modified":"2021-05-21T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T13:46:21","slug":"coldie-citadel-615-creator-collector-curator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2020\/03\/27\/coldie-citadel-615-creator-collector-curator","title":{"rendered":"Coldie And Citadel 6.15: The Creator, The Collector, The Curator"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Citadel is the refuge of last resort.<\/strong> A fortress within the fortifications. Impenetrable, impregnable, inviolable, it\u2019s where The Gatekeeper denies entry to the mere gatekeepers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At least, it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in the virtual world of Cryptovoxels, crypto artist Coldie has reimagined the Citadel as a cozy art nook, where avatars sporting jetpacks and 3D goggles mingle over virtual cocktails.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are no barriers to entry, no obligations to stay. Simply join the forty or so artists who have gathered to celebrate this emerging force in the art world, and whose use of blockchain technology has energized the digital art scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s built to look like a castle \u2014 and you have to pass through a menacing TSA-style \u2018fiat detector\u2019 to get in \u2014 but once inside, the atmosphere is convivial and welcoming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coldie has described the virtual exhibition as an opportunity to \u201cstay in, and get out\u201d \u2014 a chance to escape the physical and social walls we are erecting around ourselves during the coronavirus epidemic. As self-isolation in the era of a novel disease increases, he believes that opening our minds to new experiences isn\u2019t just an optimal response. It\u2019s a necessary one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome to Citadel 6.15<\/b><\/h4>\n

In 2013 a time traveler arrived from 2025, presaging a dystopian future in which governments had fallen, North Korea was one of the richest countries on Earth, and Bitcoin had basically screwed the entire world up for everybody.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the plot of the Bitcoin time traveler\u2019s story on Reddit is essentially lifted wholesale from <\/span>The Terminator<\/span><\/i>, the concept of The Citadel as a refuge for the financial elite has persisted as a theme in crypto culture \u2014 along with the notion that 6.15 Bitcoins might be the \u201cmagic number\u201d that permits… access. To bigger things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coldie\u2019s exhibition celebrates a pair of memes that could easily be construed to have negative connotations, especially by those who know their history. But if there\u2019s one thing artists love, it\u2019s the negative space and the opportunity to hone in on a subject through exploiting the void around it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this instance, the void is the absence of human interaction itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was one of the featured artists at the Bitcoin 2020 conference in San Francisco and I know how much energy and passion we all put into that, so when it got postponed it was a gut punch to everyone. There were people flying in from the UK, from across the ocean, and they\u2019re getting prints made, shipped\u2026 and suddenly they\u2019re sitting on art that nobody\u2019s gonna buy. There are repercussions. And I had access to this plot of land [in Cryptovoxels] that serendipitously I\u2019d started developing \u2014 I just decided to do it. The art show\u2019s still going on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Once he had developed the concept and started developing the three-building exhibition space, he says that other artists enthusiastically joined the project, bringing vitality and diversity to the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you happen to like cars, we have cars outside the entrance. There\u2019s Bitcoin art, there\u2019s abstract art, there\u2019s interactive art, there\u2019s physical art. There\u2019s fucking art everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The creator, the collector, the curator<\/b><\/h4>\n

Coldie himself has been interested in crypto art since 2017. Although he has a full-time job as an art director, he\u2019s devoted a significant portion of his recent life to creating and collecting crypto art<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of my art purchases have been through a sale,\u201d he says. And while sometimes it might take him ten sales to save the ETH necessary to buy a piece he wants to own, he explains that crypto art \u201cgives me the ability to iterate and create art exponentially\u201d, which in turn allows him to sell-to-buy more frequently.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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\"Proof
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Proof of Work<\/em> by Coldie<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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\"Andreas
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Andreas Antonopoulos<\/em> by Coldie<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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\"The
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The Day We’ve All Been Waiting For<\/em> by Coldie<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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He collects multiple artists\u2019 works, refusing to go \u201call-in\u201d on any particular artist, or even style. \u201cIt\u2019s like early Warhol,\u201d he suggests. \u201cLike when he was doing newspaper illustrations. And you look at this and envision what it\u2019s going to become. Anytime you\u2019re investing in something there\u2019s an exit strategy, and although I don\u2019t buy to flip I do consider the cultural and historical significance of the piece.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coldie particularly enjoys GAN art \u2014 Generative Adversarial Network pieces, or to the layperson, art created by algorithms. A \u2018generator\u2019 algorithm creates an image. It could be a bus, it could be a human face. Its counterpart, a \u2018discriminator\u2019 is tasked with learning how to tell the artificial image from a real-life image. It compares the generated image to a database of real ones, and then informs the generator of its conclusion\u2026 thereby teaching the generator how better to fool it next time.<\/span><\/p>\n

And along the way, art is created. Real art, the kind that sells for $432,500 at Christie\u2019s auction house. <\/span>\u201cA Portrait of Edmond Belamy\u201d<\/span><\/i> fits Coldie\u2019s standard for collectability perfectly, given its historical importance as the first piece of AI-generated artwork to go under the hammer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI spent maybe six sales\u2019 worth of my earnings on a single piece from the <\/span>Nudes<\/span><\/i> collection<\/span><\/a> by Robbie Barrat. The historical, technological\u2026 what it is, is the cornerstone piece that I wanted. It\u2019s actually in my vault at the show. It\u2019s the most I\u2019ve ever paid for anything, but to my mind I created that money with my art, and it\u2019s reinvested in art. So I\u2019m selectively choosing important pieces, but it\u2019s also art that strikes me, just like the \u2018wow, that\u2019s beautiful\u2019, that visceral feeling that I can\u2019t stop looking at this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He explains that another of his favorite pieces is <\/span>Hope,<\/span><\/i> by <\/span>Nelly Baksht<\/span><\/a>. Again, context is everything to Coldie: in this case, the artist created the piece in response to her negative test for the novel coronavirus, and she intends to auction the original 18\u201dx24\u201d oil-on-canvas to raise funds for a <\/span>COVID-19 charity<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\"AI
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AI Generated Nude Portrait 7 Frame 153 - Robbie Barrat<\/div><\/a><\/div>
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AI Generated Nude Portrait #7 Frame #153<\/em> – Robbie Barrat<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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\"Nelly
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Nelly Baksht - Hope<\/div><\/a><\/div>
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Hope<\/em> – Nelly Baksht<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Buying in, not selling out<\/b><\/h4>\n

Coldie explains that hosting an art show in a virtual world is about more than selling work. \u201cIf it was just going to be me and thirty of my friends hanging out, that would be perfectly fine.”<\/span><\/p>\n

But with that said, there is always a commercial imperative if the artist wants to devote more of their time to their passion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I talk to people about crypto and art, I tell them: we are the most simple validation of a smart contract. Finance is looking and what we\u2019re doing, and saying, well if it works for art, what about my property? My health insurance? It\u2019s the same if \/ then statement. We\u2019ve proved it for a couple of years. I think in the annals of blockchain, they\u2019ll point to artists. Artists are leading the trend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And of course, at the Citadel 6.15 virtual exhibition plenty of collectors are expected to buy.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I wander around the exhibit before it gets crowded (did I just say that?) I pause at multiple junctures, clicking on artworks to find out more about them and their creators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some give me the option of purchasing a limited edition non-fungible token (NFT) via one of the growing number of art platforms on the Ethereum blockchain, like SuperRare, OpenSea, or async.art. For these, I need a cryptocurrency wallet \u2014 and enough ETH to fund the purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others redirect me to the artist\u2019s website, where I can buy physical pieces using traditional payment methods. To Coldie, the medium and the message are blurred lines. A virtual world can contain a digital reproduction of a physical oil painting that is copied to a print\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

In some cases, there are auctions: both Josie Bellini<\/a> and Matt Kane<\/a>, two of the better-known artists in the space, are unveiling new works at Citadel 6.15.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bellini is auctioning <\/span>\u2018(un)limited: Fed Monkey\u2019 <\/span><\/i>\u2014 a timely reflection on the trillions of dollars injected into the ailing U.S. economy, while Kane will preview a multi-layered piece, <\/span>\u2018Right Place & Right Time\u2019<\/span><\/i>, which is linked to the volatility of Bitcoin\u2019s price and which mutates in accordance with an algorithm.<\/span><\/p>\n

#GetOutArtShow<\/b><\/h4>\n

Using the hashtag #getoutartshow, Coldie has promoted the exhibition as a chance to \u201cGet out, get out of your house, get out of your head, do something new.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Visitors don\u2019t need to create accounts, avatars, or wallets \u2014 as Coldie notes, the exhibition is open to anyone in the world with an internet connection and the desire to enjoy a stroll and maybe a chat with other inquisitive people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show will remain in the Cryptovoxels world for a couple of months before he has other plans for the space: supporting a charity art auction for the Kitty Bungalow Charm School for Wayward Cats, a feral cat <\/span>rescue operation<\/span><\/a> in Los Angeles. \u201cLast year I brought in crypto people, like CryptoKitties, and I think we might have raised more than the physical art auction did!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But over the weekend of March 27th to the 29th is when he expects most visitors, with artist and gallery representative appearances adding to the attraction. Following the March 26th pre-party, Ben Nolan of Cryptovoxels noted that “We’ve had large meetups before, but we’ve never had so many artists, creators and builders create art specifically for one event. The art they’ve created for the event is really fantastic, a wonderful outpouring of creativity, we’re really glad we can provide a platform for people to get together and connect.”<\/span><\/p>\n

As a collector and artist, Coldie has a vested financial interest in promoting the crypto art space. But like fellow artist Robness, who <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> Cointelegraph Magazine this week that \u201cAt first you have to give yourself away a little bit to the public for them to just be able to see what you\u2019re doing,\u201d his motives stride beyond the purely monetary.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the social aspect of Citadel 6.15 overshadows the primary purpose of most art exhibitions \u2014 which is, in general, to promote artists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since it was built in the shadow of a global economic meltdown, during a period of unprecedented modern social distancing, Coldie explains instead that \u201cI hope that somebody who is down, and super stressed out about this crazy situation\u2026 I hope that single person clicks the link, and it brings a smile to their face. If that happens to one person\u2026 if it brings a sense of community and love to any one person\u2026 that\u2019s a win.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That, he believes, will make the whole effort worthwhile.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Visiting Citadel 6.15<\/h2><\/div><\/div>
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Visit Citadel 6.15<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Citadel 6.15 Artists Include:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n
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