April. 25, 2021 ///

Vol. 1.2 - ONE/OFF

May 1, 2021 - Donor Preview 12-3pm

On View May 8– June 19, 2021

Sat + Sun 12pm -4pm

Reserve a Viewing + Study Session

The second show at Conceptual Fade features ONE/OFF, a collective lead by Brandon Bailey, Herman Marigny IV, and Martel Campbell. ONE/OFF’s mission is to liberate the Black imagination through digital art and technology so that the distinctiveness of Black creative expression is embraced and valued for its transformative cultural contributions.

I am a Founding/Collector of ONE/OFF and also a part of ONE/OFF’s Genesis cohort for their Black Arts District where they’ve invited an intergenerational cohort of Black artists and creatives to take over parcels of land, at no costs, in the cryptovoxels metaverse for a residency period of six months. During this residency period the invited artists are expected to do only one thing - experiment and explore this space for its immense potentiality in relation to Black art production, digital art and non-traditional exhibition presentation.

This initiative brings together an interdisciplinary community of creative entrepreneurs, artists, curators, and cultural institutions from across the African diaspora to explore what it means to create immersive digital or hybrid (physical + digital) spaces as an innovative way to engage audiences online and showcase cultural assets developed on the blockchain. Housed on more than 30 parcels of virtual land acquired by ONE / OFF within the Cryptovoxels metaverse, a virtual world powered by the Ethereum blockchain, this Black Arts + Culture Ecosystem provides the space necessary for residents to play, risk, fail, learn, and grow in the emerging cryptomedia field. – ONE/OFF

I believe in the mission of ONE/OFF and am moved by their generosity as they engage with artists across a range of practices. I also am interested in encouraging the Black community to learn more about cryptocurrency and how it can offer an alternative version of financial literacy. The opportunity to share ONE/OFF’s work within Conceptual Fade is an opportunity to highlight leaders of a new field that is current, on time and not in retrospect.

Each exhibit featured at Conceptual Fade will always center a single work as its point of inspiration, in this case the single work is ONE/OFF’s inaugural exhibition in the cryptovoxels metaverse. Beyond Provenance: $Black Speculative Futures on the Blockchain features thirty-three (33) Black Artists from eight (8 ) countries utilizing seven (7) leading crypto art marketplaces alongside five curatorial themes centering Blackness. The exhibition in Conceptual Fade will feature a single laptop connected to its own secure Wi-Fi access point with the exhibition available for browsing. There will also be essays for browsing, and a selection of publications sourced from the NFS Library arranged to highlight sections that relate to ideas exploring concepts of Black digital art, land, and sovereignty.

Vol. 2 is for the Black artist and futurist who dares to think beyond the limitations of physical boarders, access, genres and forms. To accompany the virtual center of this presentation, a majority of the readings will be made available online as well as I will try to match digital space that ONE/OFF provides.

Thank you for your support, especially during such difficult times for us all. I hope that you enjoy the space that Conceptual Fade offers.

X Tiona Nekkia McClodden

Founder + Director, Conceptual Fade