First published on 2 May 2023
FMK’s Q1 AXL LE
FMK's Q1 AXL LE from gallery chosun on Vimeo.
Axl Le discusses his solo exhibition FMK's Q1 Axl Le at Gallery Chosun, Seoul (4–28 May 2023).
Q1
Governments around the world, concerned about the economic crisis along with the COVID crisis, implemented quantitative easing policies, and while there was turmoil in the logistics market due to China's blockade policy, bubbles formed in the financial markets. As a result, cryptocurrency prices surged, and the prices and transactions of NFT art, which is traded using cryptocurrencies, also skyrocketed. Along with social distancing policies, many people have become accustomed to online meetings, and various media have begun talking about the metaverse. Now that the COVID crisis has abated, inflation and rising interest rates have arrived, and people are returning to the streets. It seems like the time when everyone was talking about new technologies has passed, and we have returned to the pre-COVID era.
However, nothing can be exactly the same as before after such a significant event in history. Although the prices of cryptocurrencies and NFT art have declined along with the drop in cryptocurrency prices, Pace Gallery is operating its own NFT platform, and Gagosian Gallery, which was previously skeptical of NFTs, recently issued a Murakami Takashi NFT. Art Basel and Frieze have been steadily operating online viewing rooms since the COVID crisis, and Christie's and Sotheby's have launched and operated their own NFT platforms. Moreover, there has been a lot of interest in AI technology, represented by ChatGPT, and artworks created using AI technology. Many artists are already using image-generating AI to create their works, and MoMA recently exhibited Refik Anadol's artwork created using AI technology, attracting a lot of attention and interest.
However, the changes in art resulting from these new technologies seem somewhat ambiguous. There seem to be many tasks that the products of new technologies need to solve, and the customs of enjoying art have not changed significantly. The world known as 'virtual' is shrouded in issues such as limited energy and resource mining, as well as labor. The source of the data that AI learns from and the copyright issues of its results are also contentious issues. There are still questions about the value of NFTs, and the criteria for judging works created by machines rather than humans are also ambiguous. Will all these problems and doubts be resolved by the time we reach the digital native generation? Will the perspective of enjoying art remain unchanged despite this? Will art be simply divided into two categories, 'classical modern art' and 'digital modern art'? Or why did we ever consider art to have certain values in the first place?
Gallery Chosun plans to hold the exhibition FMK's Q to assess the impact of digital technologies such as blockchain and AI on art, which has recently gained much attention. The exhibition is the first in a series of irregularly planned events, and will feature Chinese new media artist Axl Le.