Throughout history, artists have been some of the first to adopt and experiment with new tools, allowing their practices to evolve with and influence technology as they develop. In recent years, the rise of digital economies, coupled with the growing overlaps and intersections of artists and technologists, have led to an upsurgence of interest in digital and new media art, further accelerating how artists are exploring ways of art-making and sharing in a truly digital age. Proof of Concept brings together 25 artists whose works demonstrate how artists are utilising emerging technologies to break new grounds and reinvent traditional mediums, especially on and around the blockchain.

The works in Proof of Concept are categorised across two broad directions, both of them intimately and intricately linked. In the first section, the exhibition focuses on artists and technologists whose works are self-reflexive of the technological spaces, by experimenting with the depths of smart contract infrastructures, commenting on market participatory dynamics introduced through programmable scarcity, or zooming in on the nuances of the very mediums the works are built upon. The second section dives into how artists are reinventing traditional mediums such as photography, to consider new canvases and new ways of image-making, whether it is through the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and pixel-sorting, data visualisation, generative art, or more.

As our world moves towards becoming increasingly digital and digitalised, our visual cultures adapt and evolve alongside. Proof of Concept is a reflection of artistic practices closely following – and driving forward – the developments of technology.