• XTZ's Newsletter
  • Posts
  • Interactive Art Installation ‘CryptoPong Participate’ Fuses The Past And Present Of Gaming

Interactive Art Installation ‘CryptoPong Participate’ Fuses The Past And Present Of Gaming

CryptoPong Participate (2022)

Today, the artist group Kvetny&Velasco announced a new, interactive art installation CryptoPong Participate (2022) which explores a new aspect of consumerism and digital behavior – transparency of transactions, NFT collectibles, gamification, and how we relate to a new reality that combines the physical and virtual worlds with digital assets that are verified.

The CryptoPong Participate installation is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of one of the first computer games, Pong, which symbolizes the beginning of the digital age – and whose significance on several levels is reflected in the installation.

During the exhibition period, 50 unique CryptoPong Participate NFTs from the installation will be minted using the energy-efficient Tezos blockchain and transferred to the person that physically finds the same artwork on a ping-pong ball at the art installation in Nikolaj Kunsthal.

Each NFT has a unique artwork by the Danish artist Ida Kvetny.

The participant can then choose to keep a physical or virtual version of the artwork. If the person chooses to receive an NFT they deliver the ping-pong ball to the exhibition place and get further instructions.

You can see the CryptoPong Participate NFTs here, the artists behind the installation, Radar Contemporary nor Nikolaj Kunsthal cannot be held responsible on anything related to the blockchain, nor help in setting up any technical aspects.

Games like Pong’s highly pixelated aesthetics bear some resemblance to the contemporary, popular NFTs and the now cultic CryptoPunks, which have played a central role in the spread of NFT as a phenomenon – hence the installation name CryptoPong.

The CryptoPong Participate installation also refers to some of the earlier interactive film installations from the 1960s with a focus on behavior and consumption, such as Valie Export’s legendary work Ping Pong from 1968 and later Agnès Varda’s work PingPong, Tong, et Camping from 2006.

After the exhibition period all remaining NFTs and ping-pong balls will be donated to the artist-driven Museum of Nordic Digital Art – MoNDA. The goal is to have multiple CryptoPong Participate matches and that the installation will be touring to new art venues in different countries.

The CryptoPong Participate installation is part of a larger exhibition (also named CryptoPong) about art on blockchain curated by Radar Contemporary. The installation can be experienced in Nikolaj Kunsthal’s Upper Gallery from September 16, 2022 to January 22, 2023.