Saving Beauty - Live at the Black Box NYC, 2023

:: Since the video file this NFT points to is too big for OpenSea and for most website/marketplace video players, they might only display the static image thumbnail. In that case, please watch the video directly on ArWeave: https://arweave.net/V7PssXlzQSuGkZOOcnQ9h2ehKgBllG4favTvlLgC5us :: Beauty today is a paradox. The cult of beauty is ubiquitous but it has lost its transcendence and become little more than an aspect of consumerism — the aesthetic dimension of capitalism. The sublime and unsettling aspects of beauty have given way to corporeal(?) pleasures, instant gratification and 'likes', resulting in a kind of 'pornography' of beauty. Here I trace a parallel to creation in the information age: we have imported to web3 dynamics the slavery of our own competition for attention in the World Wild Web. Artists creating to please. Impact over depth. Instinct over reflection. Wow over hmm. Sequential drops over paced, thoughtful creation. With this performance art act I aim to denounce this collective craving by laying bare over my own body the pointlessness of the quest for maximum performance, in a self-plea to make peace with destruction, failure and negativity, with the demons in our mirrors, towards thoughtful understanding of who we are and what our place is. These are aspects that must be embraced if humanity is to escape the stupor that comes as a side effect of the digital age and keep evolving with full consciousness of the directions we're taking. Or yield to the inevitable rational superiority of the AI. Live performance act recorded at the Black Box Gallery event organized by Bryony Shearmur and Brian Cattelle on April 14, 2023, during NFT NYC. This NFT was originally awarded as editions to all bidders on the live auction for the main "Saving Beauty" performance art video, with an extra edition for Casa NUA and an artist proof.