The NFT shows “chromatophores organisms” in a grid structure; the artist defines it as a display of an “aquatically trained neural network” (ATNN). ATNN is a type of neural network that is trained using data from underwater environments. Essentially, chromatophores are specialized pigment-containing cells found in the skin, scales, and eyes of many animals, including fish, reptiles, cephalopods, and some amphibians. These cells enable color changes and patterns on the animals or organisms, which have three functions: to camouflage; to communicate, and to threaten. In this case, the NTF blends fiction in the display ATNN by manipulating the data: As the artist states: “these works are communicative meditation wherein the generative output of an aquatically trained neural network is interacted with, and gently manipulated, so as to create a (bio)mimicry of multiple cells acting in concert to convey tonality, atmosphere, and accentuation.”

[[chromatophores]] ~ The pigment-bearing organs, or chromatophores, that enable many cephalopods to change the colouring and patterns of their skin in order to camouflage themselves are thought not merely to increase the odds of survival, but also be a means of communication. These works are communicative meditation wherein the generative output of an aquatically trained neural network is interacted with, and gently manipulated, so as to create a (bio)mimicry of multiple cells acting in concert to convey tonality, atmosphere and accentuation. ~~ Exclusively on Kate Vass Gallery

hide&seek_bonding_9823

Specimen 1 - Sustainability

fungarium

Cellular Transfusion

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) - 1

Whether or not they exist we're slaves to the gods

The intersecting modalities of presenting art and natural sciences have a longstanding history, especially through institutionalized venues, hence, “defining” and “accessing” the knowledge that both disciplines generate have been conditioned by the terms of these institutionalized environments. These environments have always been portrayed in relation to *an idea* of a presence of a “place/venue,” which creates a background of an aggregation of validified and recognized settings. This *idea* has inevitably been coded by the politics of representation. Regardless of multiple connections between and beyond art and natural sciences, these two disciplines and the content of the displayed *subject*, once it comes to representation, the knowledge is always generated through the setting as the extension of the very *idea* that sets the context. Yet, by harnessing blockchain technology, an NFT uses the digital medium to create an autonomous environment that is totally detached from its context and the presence of its setting, which refers to a structured and controlled environment. By isolating the *subject*, the NFT semantically cuts the relationships between different pieces of information and creates a temporary “non-place,” to use Marc Augé’s term.


But what is the context that an NFT suggests? Could such a fictive and heterotopic mode of presentation propose a new *perception* and *definition* of an ecosystem of a third context? The examples below  deliberately use *visual extracts* or *fragments* of cliché aesthetics of scientific and medical experiments and operations. In the same line of inquiry, is it possible to read this tendency as an ideological manifestation of this third context?

hide&seek_bonding_9823

Featured in

33.333 ETH