On Thursday, a collection of tokenized artworks from the Musée d’Orsay’s first-ever on-chain exhibition commission will hit the market: the product of two experimental artists, months of coordination by the museum’s management, and thousands of exhalations from the unawareness of strangers.
The pieces, five single edition NFTs minted on the Tezos blockchains collectively titled “The Convergence of Breath,” are the fruit of an art installation (and partial social experiment) now on display at the Musée d’Orsay, which features in the museum’s ongoing digital-themed exhibition, “The Code d’Orsay.”
The installation, a steel sculpture titled “Sigma Lumina,” was created by French artist and DJ Sébastian Devaud (aka Agoria) in collaboration with artist Johan Lescure.
When hit by the perfect alignment of light coming from above, the sculpture produces a QR code in its shadow; Curious museum-goers who scan the QR code are then directed to mint a free, unique NFT riff on other Impressionist works on display at the Orsay—but if, and only if, they breathe into their phones to help them generate it.
Agoria performs a DJ set at the Musée d’Orsay on Saturday to celebrate the launch of “Le Code d’Orsay.” Courtesy: Musée d’Orsay
On a recent trip to the exhibit, this Decipher In fact, the journalist found numerous Orsay patrons, from children to the elderly, blowing on their smartphones with perplexed expressions.
Agoria and Lescure have now taken the data from these strikes – so far, over 2,000 “Sigma Lumina” NFTs have been minted by museum visitors – and synthesized it into a series of five unique NFTs, one for each week the exhibition has been running.
1/ {Σ Lumina}
the convergence of breathsIt’s a real honor to present to you the first @MuseeOrsay collection by 1/1 that I created with Johan Lescure 🧬
Will be listed Thursday at 5pm CET on @objktone https://t.co/MF37rX8XJo pic.twitter.com/zwPcwkT7Fi
— {agoria} (@agoriamusic) February 27, 2024
“I love that all the shots come from all the people [to the exhibition] are now linked together, to create a global piece,” Agoria said Decipher.
The five “Convergence of Breath” NFTs will go on sale on Thursday at 5pm CET Objkt.One, a curated platform for individual on-chain artworks. “Le Code d’Orsay” is on display at the Musée d’Orsay until March 10.
To learn more about this incredible drop, join us at: https://t.co/faYf8O1N3P https://t.co/opndcYj8Md
– objkt.one (@objktone) February 28, 2024
By Andrew Hayward
