The Experiment - Art exhibition on Feral File

In 2019, I invited my friends Rick Silva, Addie Wagenknecht, and artist duo exonemo (SEMBO Kensuke and AKAIWA Yae) to help me select a large group of artists to run an experiment. We called the experiment a2p, short for artist-to-peer network, in reference to decentralized peer-to-peer network structures. a2p was made by artists, for other artists. It was created to explore emerging ideas about digital art and to create connections. The fundamental idea of a2p was for each artist to bring one artwork, and for that artwork to be editioned, so that the artists could swap works with each other over the course of a week. If an artist traded actively, they could swap each of their 10 editions and their artist proof for works from the other artists. There were no financial transactions involved in a2p, it was all direct trades, this for that. At the time, we wrote:

“Each of us has created a new artwork and has released it as an edition of ten along with one artist proof. We’re across many time zones and continents, but for one week, we’ll occupy a shared online space where we’ll trade work. It’s a performance, but also a way of sharing our work with fellow artists and a way to think about what happens to the work after it’s made. It’s an artist-to-artist system to build and curate a collection of work. We all have different points of view on these topics. Some of us are “all in” with the experiment and others are skeptical. We don’t know what will happen, but we’re open to the process. We place this project in the tradition of artists working outside of the market. We take direct inspiration from early net.art and with a longer view, from Fluxus. Many of us don’t have a gallery that represents our work and for those of us who do, we often can’t afford to collect that work. This experiment is a way for us to trade works to create a collection. As a group, we create digital media. Perfect copies of these works can be distributed with almost no cost. The last few decades are the first time in the history of art where a work can be created and identical copies can be distributed almost instantly across the globe. Digital media has no “original;” each “copy” is identical.”

Back in 2019 when we created a2p, we weren’t thinking about NFTs. “NFT” didn’t appear anywhere in the documentation or our internal discussions. However, all the work was registered on the Bitmark blockchain and every artwork in a2p was an NFT in the way we think about them today. We were using the Bitmark blockchain because they were our friends and collaborators in the project. Bitmark, Feral File’s parent company, is currently retiring their blockchain and we’re migrating all of the a2p artwork to the Ethereum blockchain, where it will enter a new ecology. Each artwork will move from the isolated island of Bitmark into the larger continent of Ethereum NFTs. To mark this occasion, Addie, Rick, Sembo, Yae and I have selected a short list of artists from the first a2p exhibition to create a new exhibition on Feral File. It was nearly impossible to make the selection from the full group of artists who participated in a2p in 2019, so we each created a short list that we worked out together to represent the diversity of practices of the artists in the original exhibition. Here’s our consensus list for this exhibition:

Alan Butler, Andrew Benson, Auriea Harvey XLVIII, Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, hiroyuki nisougi, Kim Asendorf, LaTurbo Avedon, Lee Blalock (L[3]^2), LIA, Morehshin Allahyari, Nicolas Sassoon, peter burr, Sabrina Ratté, Sara Ludy, Sarah Rara, shawné michaelain holloway, Tabor Robak, Theo Triantafyllidis, Yoshi Sodeoka

After we ran a2p 1.0 in fall 2019, I decided to keep going and to try new things. For a2p 2.0, I invited Iris Long and Carol Sabbadini to co-curate. As a result, a2p 2.0 has many artists from China and South America, communities that weren’t well represented in the 1.0 version. For the full experience of both exhibitions and to see all of the artworks, please visit the online archives:

a2p 1.0 (October 2019) a2p 2.0 (April 2020)

I also want to include all the a2p artists’ names here so you can see who was involved. I want to tie them to this celebration of a2p on Feral File. Just look at this amazing list of all of the artists who participated in a2p 1.0 and 2.0:

A.M. Darke, aaajiao, Aaron Whitney Bjork, Addie Wagenknecht, Alan Butler, Alan Warburton, alejo duque, Allison Parrish, Alvaro Lacouture, Amy Alexander, Andrea Wolf, Andrew Benson, Angela Washko, Angelo Iannone, Animal Charm, Anna Ridler, Antonia Bustamante, Aram Bartholl, Artificio, Auriea Harvey XLVIII, Baoyang Chen, Barthélemy Antoine-Lœff, Cao Shu, Carmen Gil Vrolijk, Carol Sabbadini, Casey REAS, Cassie McQuater, Chen Zhe, Chen Zhou, chenchenchen, Chris Coleman, Chris Collins, Curime Batliner, DAHN GIM, Damjanski, Daniel Temkin, David Medina, David Quiles Guillo, Deng Hanbin, Dina Kelberman, dr.pinar yoldas, eddo3ddo, Eileen Isagon Skyers, Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Everest Pipkin, exonemo, Faith Holland, flower, Fred Benenson, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Golan Levin, GUO Cheng, Guthrie Lonergan, HE Zike, hiroyuki nisougi, Hye Min Cho, Iris Long Xingru, Jeffrey Alan Scudder, Jennifer Steinkamp, Jenny Odell, Jeremy Bailey, Jeremy Couillard, Jody Zellen, John Gerrard, John Houck, Jordan Tate, Juan Pablo M Begué, Katie Torn, Kevin McCoy, Kim Asendorf, Kristin Lucas, Kristin McWharter, Kyle McDonald, LaTurbo Avedon, Laura Colmenares Guerra, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Leah Beeferman, Lee Blalock (L[3]^2), LIA, linke waco, Lisa Chang Lee, Liu Yi, Lorna Mills, LoVid, Maral Pourkazemi, Mariela Yeregui, Marina Zurkow, Mario Klingemann, Mark Tribe, Masood Kamandy, Memo Akten, Michael Mandiberg, Moka, Molly Soda, Morehshin Allahyari, Nicholas O'Brien, Nicolas Sassoon, Niko Princen, Nukeme, Paul Slocum, Payne ZHU 佩恩恩, peter burr, Petra Cortright, Pu Yingwei, Qiu Siyao, Quiasma, R. Luke DuBois, Refik Anadol, Rick Silva, Rosa Menkman, Sabrina Ratté, SALIM, Sam Lavigne, Santiago Camargo, Santiago Echeverry, Sara Drake & Nina Sarnelle, Sara Ludy, Sarah Rara, Sarah Rosalena Brady, shawné michaelain holloway, Shi Zheng, Shu Lea Cheang, Siebren Versteeg, Silvia Mangosio, Sofía Crespo, Sougwen 愫君 Chung, Stalgia Grigg, Surya Mattu, Tabor Robak, Tega Brain, Theo Triantafyllidis, Tian Xiaolei, Tom Galle, UBERMORGEN, Ursula Endlicher, victor david, Wa Liu, Weiyi Li, Xinhao Cheng, Yoshi Sodeoka, Zach Blas, Zach Lieberman, Zack Dougherty, 叶甫纳

Many of the artists who joined a2p have become darlings of the NFT scene and others have become some of the strongest critics of blockchains and cryptocurrencies. a2p was a moment of collaboration and calm before the storm that shifted the history of digital art. This moment also felt like capturing lightning in a bottle — it was energizing to see new possibilities. I started Feral File with Bitmark in June 2020, right after we finished the second a2p project. Today, Feral File is over two years old and this is our 34th exhibition. One unexpected complexity of a2p was the social dynamic of trading works. For a trade, an artist would ask something like “Will you trade your edition #4 for my edition #4?” and the trade could be “accepted” or “rejected.” A “rejected” trade could create tension, so we decided to get rid of that. With Feral File, we have a smaller number of artists in each exhibition and we create larger editions sizes, so every artist trades with every other artist. After the trades, the remaining editions are open to collectors. This is the primary difference between a2p and Feral File — each artist receives one artwork from every other artist and we make more editions for collectors to join in to financially support the artists and the gallery. Feral File would not exist without “the experiment” we called a2p. Today I’m excited to bring a2p back into focus and to celebrate what we started in 2019 and what we’re building now. — Casey Reas, 21 May 2023

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¹Except for the artists who want nothing to do with Ethereum and asked us to not migrate their work