The 105 Collective throw open the doors as part of the First Course in ASYNC’s massively collaborative Forever Supper
WELCOME TO THE IMAGINARIUM
The 105 Collective (oculardelusion, urben, Unrealcity + Stina Jones) cordially invites you into the IMAGINARIUM – its laboratory of gloriously creative madness.
INTERLINEATED WITH THE INDIVISIBLE, INTERLEAVED WITH THE EXTENSIONLESS, INTERCORRELATED WITH THE IRREDUCIBLE, INTERROGATED WITH THE INTERMUNDANE: NOW HERE IS THE NOWHERE THAT DREAMS ALL OUR MEANING…
Launching today, the IMAGINARIUM (flings open the doors to the 105 Collective’s virtual – yet very real – inner sanctum.
When programmable art platform Async honoured us with an invitation to create an expansion pack for the First Course in the Genesis of its massively collaborative Forever Supper dynamic blueprints function, we knew this was our chance to offer the community a glimpse of the rich creative imaginary space that we have forged between us as artists.
As a collaboration within a collaboration, we’re extremely excited to be releasing IMAGINARIUM in the First Course alongside other legendary cryptoartists Hackatao, Skeenee, Gernplam, Neurocolor and Uczine.
In the years since the artists of the 105 came together in early 2020, the collective has functioned as a safe haven in a volatile space. It’s a lab for playful experimentation with new technologies, an incubator for collaborative projects, a mutual support group championing our individual art practices, a place to get a reality check, a knowledge exchange, and a source of inspiration.
Yet we’ve only all met in person once: in July 2021, at the Tate Modern museum in London, to view the exhibition Surrealism Beyond Borders. Not only was it incredibly emotional to finally be able to give each other actual hugs, but the exhibition itself mirrored back to us our own core preoccupations – including collective creation, transnational identity, the importance of dreams and symbolism, and finding the uncanny in the everyday.
Hence, IMAGINARIUM was born – both a representation and a celebration of our collective imagination, through the time- and technology-bending lens of Surrealist artists who came before us, and those who will come after us.
The IMAGINARIUM expansion pack includes a complete set of 13 NFTs, which will be fully interoperable with other artists’ works in the FOREVER SUPPER collaboration:
⚡️characters >> At the table, surrounded by the tools of their trade and preside the founding members of the 105 interpreted as five Surrealist artists: Stina Jones as Remedios Varo, Sparrow Read as Max Ernst, Unrealcity as Pablo Picasso, oculardelusion as Victor Brauner, and urben as Salvador Dalí. / artist: oculardelusion
⚡️table >> Exquisite Night / Illuminated Table / A slab of starry night, illuminating our darkest creations / artist: oculardelusion
⚡️tabletop objects >> Wunderkammer / Trophies of our collective knowledge; objects of curiosity / oculardelusion with all
⚡️frame (left) >> Text Corpse / 3A / "A small mechanical figure stands inside a futuristic world made of geometric shapes, its determined expression centred against a backdrop of dramatic skyscrapers and glowing neon fairy lights." / artists: Stina Jones with all
⚡️frame (right) >> Text Corpse / 27B / "A kraken sitting deep in thought, surrounded by a colorful environment, with a bustling, neon-lit world made of geometric shapes in the background." / artists: Stina Jones with all
⚡️foreground (left) >> Heart Machine / An apparatus of energy, organically generated and artificially incarcerated / artist: Unrealcity
⚡️foreground (right) >> Vat / The most complex object in the universe, both preserved and dynamic / artist: Unrealcity
⚡️outside >> Intelligence / An exploration of universal intelligence using organic effects / artist: urben
⚡️room >> Painting with AI / AI-assisted mural of organic and digital fusion / artist: Stina Jones
IMAGINARIUM is available from 18 April to 9 May, at .05 Eth per mint, in an open edition to encourage as many people as possible to join us at our conjuring table. Needless to say, this is just the beginning: this sanctum never sleeps, and the Collective conjures continually…
Enter our world – and prepare for enchantments and evolutions.
👁
THE 105 IS A COLLECTIVE OF UK-BASED ARTISTS BRINGING A DIVERSITY OF VOICES TO THE CRYPTOART SPACE. READ MORE ABOUT US, AND VISIT OUR PREVIOUS PROJECT, MORE THAN GLASS, ON VOXELS.
We are oculardelusion, urben, Unrealcity + Stina Jones
Follow:
TWITTER @105collective // Instagram @105collectiveuk // + Linktree
105 imaginarium preview trailer with Surrealist artists and faint crackling synthesizer music