John Cage once said, "No two Coca Colas are the same." Strictly speaking, space and time are different, so even Coca-Cola, which looks the same, is in fact different from each other. All things are supposed to have unique properties, but commercial products have bugged our senses by making us perceive "different" things as "the same. This trend is further accelerated in the digital space, where we are communicating on a daily basis via social networking services (SNS) using text and visual bases, and the symbolic perception of things seems to be amplified. Recently, our perception of the world has moved to a new stage with the creation of a metaverse, a space that could never have existed before. Here, cyberspace expands and a sense of site-specificity rises digitally as well. The technology of NFT even allows us to treat perfectly "the same thing" as "different.

  
​This work questions the "same thing" and the "different thing" and the uncertainty of our perception. What would happen if we brought the two Coca-Colas described by John Cage into a digital space? Since the metaverse is a space, does it exist in the same way as the real world, depending on its environment? When digital objects are cut out as NFTs, can we say that they are \`really' different? Can we say that what we see now is the same as what we will see the next day? When you know that it is \`real' digital data that lives online, can you say that the data that existed offline was a fake? When you look at the real world again with that sense of being awake, does the Coca-Cola can look different than it did before? The expansion of the senses in the digital space reconfigures the two Coca-Cola cans in front of the viewer, making them multifaceted.

  

The Same ?

BANANA X is an art project using NFT. The canvas consists of 59 parcels, with 59 NFTs. NFT holders can get co-ownership of the canvas. The project is designed to increase the number of community members in Japan and around the world through this project. Starting in Ehime, the banana will travel to Aomori, Tokushima, Kyoto, Okinawa and Ehime.

  
https://www.tsumichara.com/banana

BANANA X

There is a number (\*) that is undisclosed to the company or organization, but very emotional for the stakeholoders. In my case, it was the graph of my bank account balance. It is meaningless to a third party, but just looking at its ups and downs brings back vivid memories of those days. This work is a simple graph with time plotted on the horizontal axis and the numbers on the vertical axis, but I wonder if it could be used as a shaped canvas as a work of art, leading to team communication and social interaction. In consideration of the confidentiality of the numbers, neither the vertical nor horizontal axis of the graph is intentionally marked. If we can obtain the support of the public, it would be interesting to curate multiple companies and exhibit them together, without mentioning their names or time periods.

  
(\*) The image of the work was created using the actual bank balance (Confidential !!!) when I was managing my own company. This concept can be applied not only to cash flow, but also to "financial data up to the time of listing," "KPI indicators," or any other numbers that are symbolic to the stakeholders and that are commonly understood by the team (or board) members.

Super Confidential

Signatures in the blockchain prove identity perfectly, but also allow for self-contradiction. What will happen to the identity of an artist when it is possible to have multiple personalities in the metaverse? How can we interpret the feelings of joy and sadness when they are stamped on us at the same time? Is our identity our signature on chain?

  
\[Technical specifications\] The page with the work URL will randomly reposition the faces when reloaded. If you connect a wallet, the wallet address is also rendered in the image. NFT is FREEMINT (Only gas fee needed). NFT animations are generated by p5-js uploaded to IPFS. Minted NFTs likewise randomly reposition facial emojis when reloaded.

  
**Mint Site (Free)**

https://idcrisis.vercel.app/

IDENTITY CRISIS

AONAGI 1st is the first digital collectibles of Setouchi Retreat Aonagi. The black objects, like the landscape of Aonagi, reference the minimalism of the 1960s. All of these were created based on favorite scenes that the staff sees every day. I am the Art Director for this project.

  
**AONAGI 1st**

https://aonagi1st.studio.site/

  
**Setouchi Retreat Aonagi** (Small Luxury Hotel in Setouchi)

https://www.setouchi-aonagi.com/

AONAGI 1st

Joshua Collection is the first digital collectibles of Joshua Blue. Each NFTs can be exchanged to the physical “Tobeyaki pottery”, a limited to 10 pieces created by Yoshito Takenishi using traditional craft artwork.

  
https://www.joshua-collection.com/

Joshua Collection

KAZE Project is a traveling public art piece by Japanese artist tsumichara. Wind is observed in three dimensions. This work is a graphic representation of that movement, projected as a mural in two dimensions. On that day, at that time, in that place ... Every moment never comes twice, but only once. This work uses wind to capture time, and the lines drawn seem both special and a scene from everyday life for the local people. We hope that many creations will come from these simple and colorful wind lines.

  
https://kazeproject.studio.site/

https://shimadakara.jp/

KAZE Project

Since Marcel Duchamp, we have relied on signatures to separate the original from the copy. Today, signatures extend into cyberspace. In an age when any number of reproductions are possible, is there anything that can be called an original? The dilution of the signature. Loss of self. Multiplicity. In this expanded world, The actuality of the sign is only material.

This artwork has only one, at least in physicality. The analog signature "R. MUTT 1917" scraped off the front and a series of numbers in the background. The number "522E4D5554542031393137" is the hexadecimal notation of "R.MUTT 1917" and is based on the fact that hexadecimal hash values are used for digital signatures on blockchains. The act of spreading illegible symbols in public spaces has its roots in the culture of graffiti, recalling the actions of writers expressing themselves on the walls and subways of New York City in the 1980s.

It is always the teenagers who show their own style with their creative compositions and designs. Nowadays, American web3/native kids think it is cool to be bankless (without a bank account). This energy, which is spreading autonomously, decentralized, and without being forced by anyone, has encouraged my own creation.

Signing

I feel that the NFT movement is an epoch-making event for the art world. Just as Marcel Duchamp created the concept of an original copy by signing R.Mutt on a toilet bowl, we in the present have succeeded in creating the concept of NFT by signing with MetaMask. The simple act of signing separates the original from the copy, and the phenomenon of the act of signing spreading autonomously, decentrally, and without compulsion from anyone is reminiscent of graffiti culture. In the 80's, people drew symbols on walls and subways in New York City that everyone could see and spread among their peers, and the inscription of data on a completely transparent blockchain seems to be the same thing, meta-wise. As an artist living in the present, I really wanted to try to bring NFT back to the old school paintings on canvas again, and not confine it only to digital space. These works are both my own response to NFT and proof that I am alive in this time.

Are NFTs new art movement ?

Something that has been carefully and painstakingly put to work has value, or rather, people can sense something from the traces of it. The idea that the source of the value of bitcoin lies in the electricity bill is somewhat understandable, and in the age of AI, handwritten lines have more meaning. In this work, the circular phase is converted into pixels, leaving traces of the lines, but with a modern interpretation. There is nothing here, yet there is something.

Untitled

**SHIBUYA PIXEL ART 2021 'Excellence Award'**

  
' Pixel art is generally associated with squares and grids, but this artwork leaves a much softer impression to the eyes of the viewer. We are impressed with the way it remains inside the boundaries of pixel art and yet gives a smooth touch to its overall aesthetic. Even more interesting is the radical gap in style from other work done by this artist – they had been far more dynamic in their past work, and this transformation was what amazed us the most. It is also impressive that anti-aliasing is not visible at all. We hope the artist continues to pursue this impressive style in their future work. '

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AKIRA TERAO