Malaysian artists gain creative freedom with NFT | Art and Culture News

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Full-size murals, quirky installations, and all colors on canvas: COVID-19 pandemics before art and theatrical spaces closed In March 2020, art festivals and galleries in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur and George Town cities provided a lifeline and inspiration to the country’s artists.

But with the break in the last 20 months, many have struggled to survive as full-time “physical” artists, and have been forced to step out of their comfort zone.

Some have ventured into the newly created world non-fungal tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies.

NFTs are unique digital assets designed to represent ownership of a virtual element: unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, NFTs cannot be exchanged as with other NFTs, becoming scarce and increasing in value.

This concept is perfectly applied to the collection of works of art and has started to drive the trend of unprecedented digital consumerism: in March, American digital artist Mike Winklemann, known as Beeple, sold an NFT of his work Everydays: The First 5000 Days for a whopping $ 69 million. Christie’s famous British auction house.

In Malaysia, the idea of ​​NFT art was incubated as a fun pastime for graduates in design, multimedia, engineering and architecture. Filamen, a well-known multidisciplinary digital creative collective based in Kuala Lumpur, launched the exhibition Seni Kripto (“Cryptoart” in Malay) in April 2021 at the Digital Art Gallery on the University of Malay campus.

The Malaysian art scene quickly took on the potential of NFT, launched its first Crypto Art Week in July and created Pentas.io, the first local NFT market. Already some local artists have obtained the cryptocurrency equivalent of millions of Malaysian ringgits.

A new concept of art

“Malaysian NFT has seen a lot of growth over the last year,” Mumu told Malaysia’s Munira Hamzah (Moon) stan AKA NFT Al Jazeera. This new non-profit organization and digital gallery helps Malaysian artists on the NFT scene, raise funds and provide educational materials and support to empower and promote Malaysian art on the world stage.

“At the beginning of the year, you can probably count the number of Malaysian artists who are actively inventing and selling NFTs on the one hand. That number has grown to hundreds in several months, and now we are likely to be thousands, ”Moon said.

NFT works by Malaysian artists feature a wide range of 3D animation, internet memes and illustrations inspired by the multicultural culture of the Southeast Asian nation.

Moon says the rise of the NFT scene has changed the way Malaysian artists traditionally live – from commissioned works of art – “providing new confidence and a source of money not based on customer demands, but on what artists want. To get personally creative.”

For some of them, NFT has brought joy.

“It allows me to expand my creativity, to show it [my work] as I wish, keep track of copyright ownership and keep creative records, ”Penang artist Kenny Ng told Al Jazeera.

For others, NFT has provided a unique opportunity to make huge gains in Ether, the cryptocurrency that is its main asset. Ethereum, a decentralized open source blockchain with smart contract functionality where NFTs are sold.

Earlier in September, Kuala Lumpur graffiti artist Abdul Hafiz Abdul Rahman, better known. Cotton, 127.6 ETHs in less than 24 hours have been headlines for selling two of their NFT collections – 1.6 million Malaysian ringgit equivalent ($ 400,000). It was the most expensive NFT series ever sold by a Malaysian artist in a single release.

“It’s very clear that if done right, the money earned can really make a difference to any artist in Southeast Asia, as the crypto is growing exponentially every day,” Katun told Al Jazeera.

But while the NFT may seem like a quick scheme to get rich, at least Malaysia has become a progressive and supportive community. For example, Katun created 4 Stages, a digital platform that aims to bring together artists from Southeast Asia.

“There are so many talented artists here who don’t have enough exposure to the whole world,” Katun told Al Jazeera, adding that NFT’s rapid growth and global reach will be key to boosting Malaysian artists ’presence and earnings. beyond the geographical and economic boundaries of the small physical art market in the country.

Skeletons in the closet

The advantages of using NFT and cryptocurrency are evident in a developing region where artists are plentiful, but art spaces and freedom of expression are limited.

The catch, however, is that these digital works of art are paid for with cryptocurrencies, which are reported to be among the majority of their mining. companies that pollute carbon in the world today.

Memebank’s Printed Doge to the Moon mocking Tesla CEO Elon Musk Elon Musk mocks a plan to finance a space flight by selling DOGE coins. [Marco Ferrarese/Al Jazeera]

In other words, many websites that help artists sell NFT artwork, such as the popular OpenSea, are based on the Ethereum blockchain, which is a very eco-friendly design tax.

According to research published by digital artist Memo Akten on CryptoArt.wtf, “Selling a single edition of Ethereum’s artwork has a carbon footprint of around 100 KgCO2, which is the equivalent of an hour’s flight.”

“I was hesitant at first, but then I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people, especially technologists, who really understand blockchain and then my opinions changed,” said the Kuala Lumpur artist. Hong Yi red, Known as red, he told Al Jazeera.

Coming from Kota Kinabala in the Sabah state of Borneo, Red established himself internationally by creating portraits of Chinese celebrities. Ai Weiwei and Jackie Chan realized with a selection of everyday items, from used tea bags to chops, eggshells and bunch of socks.

His striking work Climate is Everything was the result of the creation and burning of a world map with 50,000 green-tipped matches pasted on a blackboard.

With few such predictions, Red also wanted to test NFT technology, but earlier this year debuted with Doge to the Moon – a fake banknote celebrating and mocking the idea of ​​funding Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s upcoming presentation. With the Doge-1 satellite in its entirety with the DOGE coin, the fictitious cryptocurrency is his pet Shiba Inu a dog.

Doge to the Moon Binance was created and auctioned off at NFT Marketplace for two weeks with the highest bid of 36.3 ETH (about 320,000 Malaysian ringgits ($ 75,500).) 100 Malaysian artists performing in Kuala Lumpur until the 19th.

Doge to the Moon Red is part of the latest NFT project, a fake central bank with six banknotes inspired by ringbits inspired by Memebank, the Chinese Yuan, the US dollar, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound, the Singapore Dollar and the Malaysian ringgit. . “How economists have warned of the dangers of inflation when central banks are constantly printing money,” Red told Al Jazeera.

Unlike most other NFT projects, Memebank is not just a digital product. Each buyer gets a 1/1 canvas print of the artwork and a physical copper plate of the chosen banknote, allowing them to print as many copies as they wish.

Lowering the volume of carbon

One reason to believe in NFT is that this digital space is moving fast, with the creation of new low-energy-consuming blocks like Tezos, running on a system called “Proof-of-Stake” (Pos), and expected. To significantly reduce the current carbon effects of NFT. “[Tezos] It’s basically the same as using your computer in general everyday (partition nodes), “Katun said.

Katun artist from Kuala Lumpur, Apes Stand Strong, won one of the two NFTs [Image courtesy of Katun]

“People will not stop taking flights even if the plane has a carbon footprint, because it solves the problems of time and distance. Blockchain, a technology that supports cryptocurrency and NFT, solves trust issues by providing transparency, so we don’t need intermediaries while we make transactions. It returns control to the majority. The current system is in the hands of a few, ”said Al Jazeera Ivy Fung, a Kuala Lumpur-based Sabahan Blockchain advocate and trainer.

“A lot of researchers are working on it [ways of] reducing energy consumption, and some are already in place, for example, using a more energy-efficient mechanism, Pos, where trust is built on committed participation rather than computing power that consumes a lot of energy.

What is certain is that NFT art will be able to distinguish itself after the novelty of being able to distinguish itself. After all, the rules of success are similar to the usual way of exhibiting in art galleries in many ways and are difficult to break into the markets of collectors.

“It’s like creating and uploading a new NFT every minute,” Kenny Ng told Al Jazeera. “[Success still] it really depends on the artists’ efforts to promote themselves and make themselves visible. ”