The virtualisation and commercialisation of our lives is increasingly advancing. Virtual reality technology enables more and more realistic immersion in digital worlds. At the same time, non-fungible token (NFT) technology suddenly allows everything to be turned into a digital item – from digital art to fragments of real skyscrapers. Virtual reality and NFT technology come together in the idea of the metaverses, which has been pushed forward with billions in budgets. Metaverses are customisable digital realities in which digital goods can be presented, traded and consumed in the form of NFTs.
“Good Buy, Reality!” marks the beginning of Munich’s digital sell-out into metaverses. Two 25m² fragments of our common everyday life were each photographically isolated, stored as NFTs on a public blockchain, and turned into trade goods for metaverses. The billboards on the art island show two NFT sales offers, which can be accessed via the QR link shown. The NFT offers each include the exact reality cutout that would be seen behind the billboard if it were not covered by the offer. However, the perspective of the digital sections of reality is distorted, so that they only match the analogue reality for a very short time from a certain point.
Against the background of increasing virtualisation and commercialisation of our lives, the cross-media installation “Good Buy, Reality!” invites us to appreciate shared reality. Two such small moments of reality are artificially created in order to threaten their sale at the same time. As long as this sale is not completed, however, the supposedly all-commercialising NFT platform functions as a community-promoting community archive. In this way, the art installation emphasises our often underestimated personal responsibility and power vis-à-vis new technologies.
Max Haarich, born in 1983, lives and works in Munich.
