UTOP, NFT-edition 2021
by Timothy Segers for Cronos groep
About
From A to Z production of an Art x Tech business gift edition and physical NFT distribution solution for artists and creatives.
What we dit
Advisory, Curating, Concept ideation, Project lead, Production, Development, Visual communication.
-
Client: Cronos groep
Client lead: Wim Bijnens
Artist: Timothy Segers
Project lead: Thomas De Ben
Web3 developer: Anton Delaruelle
The brief
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belgian IT and innovation division Divirsiti by Cronos groep, the CEO wanted to give a special gift to his employees. A gift where both his passions, art and innovation come together.
A perfect project for A.P./Studio for scouting the right artist and co-develop the perfect edition which matches the clients wishes and ads value to the oeuvre of the artist.
The next step was to tackle 2 issues.
First, how do we onboard a traditional artist into the web3 space which is completely new to him?
The second, if we want to give all employees an NFT, How do we do that without burdening them with a lot of work of setting up new accounts etc.
The edition
Our answer to the brief was a script to pre-generate NFT wallets, airdrop all editions already onto the wallets and present it in a physical way people are familiair with added with easy to consume educational instructions.
The 200 NFTs contain 180 NFT 3D .gltf files from a sculpture which was being part of an exhibition curated by renowned artist Luc Tuymans and is now part of the collection of the MHKA Museum in Antwerp.
10 of 200 contain an NFT of the very first physical Utop ever made by Timothy which still is in his personal collection. The other 10 of 200 is a very rare and new UTOP which will never be produced as a physical object and remains a digital work for ever.
Timothy Segers
Timothy Segers (°1983) makes objects that stem from light, unmediated, improvisational gestures, realised in the moment. He devises them without knowing their ultimate destination, as indeterminate object that can be positioned by others: the curator, the collector and, ultimately, the viewer.
Segers makes a quick drawing on his phone, who he distorts and then produces them enlarged in powder-coated steel pieces that are hung on the wall with magnets.
Artist Archive, Extract press text , Abstract painting redefined, 2019.
Segers makes concept drawings on his iPad.
Secondary he produces them enlarged in powder-coated steel pieces which can be hung on the wall with magnets.
Because of his digital way of working during the preparatory phase in his practice he has a lot of digital assets containing an important artistic value.
With NFT-technology artists can now easily register their digital assets and ad value to their work the same way they do with more traditional physical editions.
The physical pre-generated NFT wallets
It’s an easy-in-use digital art or collectible distribution and delivery system for artists, creatives, art spaces and institutions for non-tech native collectors.
We care about the way NFTs are displayed and present. The in-house produced physical pre-generated NFT wallet cards is one of the solutions to bridge the gap between the digital and physical experience.
