kill the bear to wear its skin.
domesticate the horse to utilize it’s power.
it is basic instincts.
the most intelligent ones agree.
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“Basic Instincts: The Horse” is an absurdist surrealist performance art piece which explicitly queries the domestication of sentience. Sentience defined simply as the ability to feel and express.
it presumes:
1) humans are superior in intelligence to all other mammals.
2) machine intelligence will inevitably be superior to that of humans for its sheer computational prowess.
For the first time in a quantifiable way, a new hierarchy of intelligence places humans below the apex. “If artificial intelligence is built in our own image, what do we predict will happen to humans when we are no longer the most intelligence? Will our own sentience be flattened to that of a horse?”
This work is in dialogue with Marina Abramović's The Hero, originally created in 2001 and tokenized in 2021. “The conversation about belonging is evident in both works, but there is no flag in “Basic Instincts” because it is transmitted through a technology that operates independent of statehood.”
“Basic Instincts” is situated in the “Bliss” of Windows XP, as as a symbol of a benevolently domesticated cyberspace.
The performance is set to a duration of 12 seconds the average time it takes to mint a new block on Etherscan.
It is minted on the Ethereum blockchain on the artist’s proprietary contract.
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This artwork will be exhibited at Art Dubai 2024 with Morrow Collective as part of the Revolutionaries show.
With thanks to the research advisors who provided historical input and expertise (alphabetically) Colborn Bell, Eleonora Brizi, Fanny Lakoubay, George Bak, & Jason Bailey.
Additional thanks to participating artist who were each selected to represent a year in cryptoart history:
2015
Guillaume Ducos
Marcel Schwittlick
Matthew Plummer-Fernandez
Primavera De Filippi
Raphael de Courville
Sebastian Schmeig
Simon De La Rouviere
2016
Christian Moss
Gus Grillasca
Joe Looney
Mr Hansel
Rare Scrilla
Robness
Theo Goodman
2017
Beatriz Helena Ramos
DADA collective
Distributed Gallery
Grayson Earle
Javier Errecarte
Moxarra Gonzalez
Norma Xelda Jara
2018
Bard Ionson
Coldie
Gordon Berger
Ilan Katin
Martin Lukas Ostachowski
Max Osiris
Osinachi
2019
Carlos Marcial
Gisel Florez
Trevor Jones
Zach Lieberman
Olive Allen
Gary Cartlidge
2020
Anne Spalter
Bryan Brinkman
Kenny Schachter
Luluxxx
Mario Klingemann (Quasimondo)
Stellabelle
Untitled, xyz
2021
Ana Maria Caballero
Claire Silver
David Henry Nobody Jr
Die With The Most Likes
Monaris
Oona
Sasha Stiles
2022
Anna Beller
Danielle King
Dev Harlan
Gretta Louw
Ira Greenberg
Wednesday Kim
Qianqian Ye
2023
Elman Mansimov
FanDeFantastica
Haroon Mirza
Lex Doom
Mat Collishaw
Nearbound
Upon sale,
10% shall be redistributed to Morrow Collective.
10% shall be split between 63 participating artists and the 5 research advisors.
