01 Feb 2021
FIVE THINGS I RED: ISSUE 5, JANUARY 2021
A monthly dose of five art, design and lifestyle-related things that have piqued my interest.
Here are my January picks:
Source: Fully Crypto
1. Crypto Art
I spent a good chuck of January reading up about cryptocurrency and inevitably ran into crypto art (thanks to my crypto friends SA and JL for introducing this strange, exciting world to me). One of my goals this year? To create crypto art.
So what the heck is crypto art?!
In short, crypto art is digital art with unique and provably rare tokens that exist on the blockchain. Just like an original physical painting signed by an artist that can have its authenticity and ownership authenticated, crypto art can be verified in the same way using an NFT or a non-fungible token.
If that sounds like a bunch of gibberish to you, that's because I condensed hours of digging around the internet into two sentences.
Here is an NFT painting featuring Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, dressed like a medieval harlequin. This is the default painting (or more accurately...the original painting?), but on special days - like Vitalik's birthday on 31st January (today,, in time of writing!), Vitalik will be seen holding a cupcake, as seen below:
2. "3 Science-Based Strategies to Increase Your Creativity" by Steven Kotler via TED
Illustration by Angus Greig
My best ideas come to me when I'm in the shower, and turns out there are science-backed reasons as to why. Steven Kotler mentions three strategies:
#1: Befriend your brain's anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). What fires up the ACC? The answer: A good mood. So was the idea of the lonely emo genius artist just a myth?
#2: Understand the importance of non-time and no one. I totally concur, and I'm even more glad my team has one day off exploring and experimenting on projects all by ourselves.
#3: Think side the box. Constraints and limitations drive creativity. Heck, the pandemic and lockdowns might be a time that will drive our most creative ideas.
3. Clubhouse
If you haven't heard of Clubhouse yet, now you have! Imagine joining a conference with many rooms where a bunch of speakers and audience congregate to discuss a certain topic. You occasionally get big names like Jared Leto, Marc Andreesen and even Elon Musk joining in on live discussions. Sometimes audiences get handed the mic to ask questions. It's on 24/7. That's Clubhouse.
The app is currently invite-only, but I wouldn't be surprised if goes public in the near future. If you're on it, let me know. I might host an art/design/creative-themed room sometime in the future!
Source: Fully Crypto
5. "Why art has the power to change the world" - an essay by Olafur Eliasson
Olafur reminds us the artist's role is unique and important, and that it is a responsibility to help people understand something with their minds, and to feel it emotionally and physically.
From Olafur:
"One of the great challenges today is that we often feel untouched by the problems of others and by global issues like climate change, even when we could easily do something to help.
Giving people access to data most often leaves them feeling overwhelmed and disconnected, not empowered and poised for action. This is where art can make a difference.
Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a good work of art can connect you to your senses, body, and mind. It can make the world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, engagement, and even action."
Thank you all for the Pizza Fairy submissions! We had three winners last month: @wann_yingg, @fievel_w and @vincento_. A special thanks to Provisions Pizza who will be delivering pizzas to our three winners in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The Pizza Fairy couldn't go international because she's in lockdown in Malaysia...but next month, she's hoping to fly around the globe to deliver pizzas, so stay tuned for the next Pizza Fairy announcement!
Much love,
Red a.k.a. Pizza Fairy
Pizza Fairy Updates!
4. "How to Be A Better Human" - a new podcast by TED
True story: I googled "how to be a better human being" last year and didn't find anything very helpful. Perhaps the pandemic triggered some sort of existentialism in me, forcing me to pause and reflect on what I wanted to get out of life. There's only three episodes on it as of today; I've tuned into two: "How to fund the emotional support you need right now (with Guy Winch)" and "How to challenge conventional wisdom - and change any industry (with Franklin Leonard)". Valuable advice and lessons.
I also want to do Yale's wildly popular course, "The Science of Wellbeing" one day when my next few projects are done.
The piece sold for 260 ETH or approximately $141,536.20 in November 2020. "Ethboy" is the most paid, in dollar terms, for a work of crypto art to date.