A collage of some fifty futuristic, cyber images in mainly black, blue, red and purple. Certain images depict space tunnels. An image at the left centre of the collage shows a human running toward the sun.

M+ Lars Nittve Keynote Lecture Series:
Beeple Crashes the Art World

Details

Type: Talk

Language: English

Audience: Everyone

Location: Grand Stair

Accessibility:

M+ Lars Nittve Keynote Lecture Series:
Beeple Crashes the Art World

When artist Beeple’s Non-Fungible Token (NFT) artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold at a major auction house in March 2021, it spearheaded the way for underground digital artists, elevating NFTs and digital art to the forefront of public consciousness.

In this talk, Beeple will bring his lifetime of art to M+ and share his view on the future of the internet, the metaverse, and the growing influence of digitally generated art. Beeple's kinetic sculpture HUMAN ONE shows a traveller trekking across an endless evolving virtual landscape. Through the work—on view for the first time in Asia at M+—Beeple questions the progression of our evolutionary journey. Where are we heading with the continued blurring of our digital and physical existence?

This talk will be conducted in English and livestreamed via this page, M+ Facebook and YouTube. Simultaneous interpretation in Cantonese will be available. Click on ‘Register’ to sign up.

Supported by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Hong Kong, this free event is part of the ‘M+ Lars Nittve Keynote Lecture Series’, which invites renowned artists and scholars to share insights on broader cultural ideas and topics.

Fourteen cargos of different colours and sizes strapped on top of the shell of a gigantic snail with orange cords, while a human figure in white military uniform looks on in a desert landscape.

Beeple. Everydays (26.3.2018). Image courtesy of the artist

A stilt structure above water, on top of which rests three levels of buses, train carriages and cargos topped by a tree and a few giant mushrooms. The structure is equiped with a satellite antenna, power poles and a windmill. A red rubber dinghy parks underneath the stilts.

Beeple. Everydays (23.3.2019). Image courtesy of the artist

An ongoing construction of an enormous 'winking face with tongue' emoji by wooden blocks, supported by cranes and lever systems. Spectators are dressed in a medieval century style and the skyt is gloomy with birds.

Beeple. Everydays (01.09.2020). Image courtesy of the artist

A figure with a bloodshot eyeball as its head dressed in greyish astronaut uniform. The figure raises its left hand as a red mushroom levitates in the air.

Beeple. Everydays (26.12.2020). Image courtesy of the artist

Three gigantic red mushrooms bespeckled with white dots stand tall like trees with roots expulsing from the bottom of their caps. They are steeped in a shallow pond where smaller mushrooms sprout from the ground. A human figure dressed in a priest-like gown with a red cross on the back stands in the pond and raises his right hand to the biggest mushroom tree.

Beeple. Everydays (24.05.2021). Image courtesy of the artist

Beeple. Everydays (26.3.2018). Image courtesy of the artist

Beeple. Everydays (23.3.2019). Image courtesy of the artist

Beeple. Everydays (01.09.2020). Image courtesy of the artist

Beeple. Everydays (26.12.2020). Image courtesy of the artist

Beeple. Everydays (24.05.2021). Image courtesy of the artist

About the Speaker

Beeple (b. 1981, United States) is the professional moniker of Mike Winkelmann, a leading digital artist and designer active over the past twenty years. His rapid rise to public prominence in recent years helped to highlight the growing influence of digitally generated art. Diverse in style, Beeple’s work incorporates references from pop culture, science fiction, and politics, often with a sardonic edge. Central to his artistic practice is his Everydays project, for which he uploads images daily to his website for public critique and learns a new technical skill every year.