Jan 24
Faceless TV, the first Web TV for NFT projects
Faceless have just launched “Faceless Tv”, the first web TV in which NFT creators can be themselves, reply to the questions by using their art as an avatar.
A channel in which the NFT community can learn more about their favorite crypto artists’s philosophy and artistic career, which can share the screen while protecting his/her identity.
For the first episode, we have invited Hackatao, the crypto art pioneer duo, known for their “tattoo” creation style, constantly experimenting with new digital tools and artistic medium.
Transcript of the interview :
Maria : Hello, I’m Maria from Faceless. We’re happy to welcome today Hackatao, the top 10 best selling NFT artists of all time.
Paola : Thank you Faceless. We’re here with Hackatao. Me & Sandie are working on Hackatao’s team. Hackatao are here as well but Hackatao love to be behind the scenes, so we’ll be the spokes people for today.
M: So for those who don’t know Hackatao, can you give us a quick presentation.
P: Hackatao are an artists duo, and they are the pioneers of the NFT space, of the cryptoverse. It’s composed by « S » and « N ». And they met in 2005 and formed Hackatao in 2007. Before all the crypto scene and NFTs, they worked with ceramics, drawing and painting, but always there was something digital in the nature of their works, but when the first platform that we now know and use, like Superare, were just being born and their first work, when the platform was born, was « Girl next door ».
M: And why did they become crypto artists ?
Sandie : Hackatao’s work has always been digital at its core. They have always experimented with the virtual medium and embraced the digital nature of the works.
For example, when they met in 2007, they started creating physical art but with always with this digital eyes, so they experimented for example the animation of their physical works with virtual reality.
And it’s in 2018 that they really discovered what block chain and then crypto artists, because they read about the crypto world through Jason Bailey’s blog, and now for those who don’t know him, he is one of the most prominent crypto art curators. They came into contact with him, and with SuperRare platform that he’s one of the main market place for crypto art.
What Hackatao felt was that it fits the value in which they believe, so this crypto art that was described by Jason Bailey, talking about geographically agnostic artists, decentralization, community.. So Hackatao saw themselves in this value.
M : Aah I see. Can you tell us what’s the most expensive NFT they have ever sold ?
S : Hackatao’s record sale of about one million dollars happened in 2022. Their highest selling piece is Imago 2k2 a.C. The price was the combination of the physical and digital art work. So, the final price was not only for the NFT or not only for the physical canvas but the combination of this two universes. And it has been sold through the Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction and Sotheby’s describes it as a modern day diptych. So this new vision of Art combining different tools and mediums. The concept behind was a sort of a Renaissance celebration after covid. Hackatao’s style with this combination of flat colors as well as graphic texture full of important codes to be discovered.
M : Actually we would love to see and learn more about other exciting projects or collaborations that Hackatao have ever had
P : So I can talk to you about the « Hack of the Bear » project here. Hackatao are sharing the screen for us.
So you can see, this is the permanent show on the platform « Arium », you can still visit it. And also, it’s in the sculpture garden of the museum of crypto art of MOCA , also a permanent collection.
This is the project that Hackatao did in collaboration with Christie’s and it is a post-mortem collaboration with Leonardo Da Vinci.
Something rare happened in this very little drawing of a rare piece called « Head of a Bear » that went on auction through Christie’s. So a collector brought the drawing which is the one you can see underneath the AR bear and it all starts from there. You can scan the bear, the head of the bear comes to life with all these drawings and texts. It was also exhibited in Christie’s at the time of the auction.
I can also show you some other projects if you want.
The project with Blondie, which the legendary rock band that I think that everyone is very familiar with. So Hackatao will show you now the Blondie collaboration. I will do a little introduction.
It’s called « Hack of the borders », the idea of the band and Hackatao was to limit any sort of artistic borders or limit of freedom of expression and to be boldly one’s self, it’s what the punk band strived for, what they fought for.
Here you can see Hackatao showing you when the project was projected onto Museums all over the world, in collaboration with the band. And this was a nice punk move because it was a rogue one. This is Tate modern, and it was also in Tate Britain. This project has some lyrics from the band, the music but also this very nice connection as you can see the grid of four portraits just reminiscent of Warhol’s. The whole project is an homage to Warhol, who Hackatao appreciate and have as a master for them to get inspired by.
You can see here some of the works. So it’s Debbie’s pop portraits in a whole different crypto way and there is some open editions and so on. The pieces are accompanied by music. It’s really just fantastic project.
So I’ll show you another one « INCANTO », if Hackatao could please share their screen with « INCANTO » deer.
This is a very recent project, and Hackatao collaborated with Numomo, they are publishers in Korea, web3 and crypto verse experts. We did a publication on NFTs and Numomo reached out again, putting us into contact with ARTE META. They asked Hackatao to reinterpret this Korean myth which is spirit deer living in mountains and nature, that stands for longevity and long life, healthy and prosperous life. So this deer is quite big in scale, you could approach it, touch it and it would flourish, and all the flowers would come out of it body, and it’s special for it viewer, it individual and it very personal the way it reacts to you, it comes out behind the forest and it approaches you. So the flowers and scenery was ARTE META’s creation and Hackatao did a whole research on eastern and western means around the figure of the deer, the deer represented in pop culture, and also about the spiritual aspect of what this spirit stands for. And all of this is on the body of the deer, it’s 3D and it’s a very large canvas. And this show is now in GANGNEUNG, in ARTE MUSEUM VALLEY in Korea.
What about a 4th and last project to see quite fast.
This is « Hack the Tao » , it’s Hackatao’s collaboration with The Sandbox. They have been working for it for about 2 years now and it’s a fantastic game where you can see little logo, it’s the Tao affirming the yin and yang and in all this world, everywhere you can see Hackatao’s art, some beasts, fighters and allies. There are different platforms, we cannot show much but you can expect it in this coming year. So you can see this is « Lady Hack » and she has to be in this world that is parallel to the crypto one. I will not spoil much but this will be very enjoyable. And Hackatao do see a huge increasing interest in gaming and art together but they have also had it themselves with games they play and also they’re big fans of philosophy and reading. So there is a little bit of everything in this game when it comes to dialogue, imagery and the platforms. It’s all what Hackatao stands for, likes, enjoys and lives.
M: So my next question is a question that many creators are wondering : What’s Hackatao’s secret to reach this success ?
S: Their secret is never to stop studying the Blockchain and the crypto world, to always be innovative and push the boundaries that might be the technology, the art field, the creation, and also choosing partners. For example, for the next year, there will be also generative art project behind the corner, so they have been working on these projects for such many months, so they didn’t not hesitate in creating complex projects but the opposite. They believe that it has no sense to replicate what it has already been done and no innovation. So the idea is to go always ahead to imagine new things and try to realize them. To them, it’s not a strategy but something they love to do. They always are in contact with the collectors, the community on social and the interest that comes out from these brainstorming help to realize these big projects.
M : And regarding your community, I can see in your discord that people are very active, sharing thoughts and doubts. So I was wondering, what’s the importance of community for Hackatao ?
S : The community is a very important aspect for the crypto space in general and for Hackatao it’s one of the most important values inside their philosophy. Hackatao appreciate a lot their community and they’re grateful to them for all the support that they’re doing because the role is a sort of constant brainstorming together. And every project organized, prepared by Hackatao is always double checked with the community because they understand that the opinion and suggestions of all the people that are working with us are absolutely essential for the success of a project. It’s a very dynamic environment, very open minded. Obviously, there are different opinions but the positive thing is that in Hackatao community there are no negative vibes, no people doing opposite vision in a negative way but exactly the opposite. Even if people are proposing different things, there is a sort of common discussion, open minded discussion and ideas are coming out, and it’s very stimulating from an artistic point of view, from an innovation point of view, in terms of technology of tools that maybe experimented so the combination between the imagination and that people can imagine things, and then other people that technically can support and the Art of Hackatao to realize their artistic side as well. It’s a friendship environment. The final aim is to improve the system.
Faceless team
