Layering viral time across Armageddon

I walked through the ruins (Tel) of Megiddo, taking photos of an archway amid flower fields. There I was, on the site in Israel of the ancient Canaanite city that the Greeks called Armageddon. I walked through the ruins (Tel) of Megiddo, taking photos of an archway amid flower fields. Here I was, on the site in Israel of the ancient Canaanite city that the Greeks called Armageddon.

These digital landscapes accompany a poem on Meta/ Phor(e) /Play from 2013—the ruins and flowers move from more saturated (but dreamy) in #1 to less saturated and more watery-blue as shadows of Ibis become more saturated and solid by #3—reflecting how ancient shadows gain strength and the present moment’s details fade with time. Deeper shadows from other lands lurk below the surfaces… 

Check out all three of these in sequence. I hope it conveys a sense of standing on the ancient site of Armageddon that holds so much religious and popular-culture influence on apocalyptic ideas today. Sense the surrealistic-mystical merge past-present-future and wonder at what might come through time’s layers for us to consider about apocalypse, life, significance.

Something both disquieting and soothing to resurrect in this time of pandemic and turmoil…?

I’ve decided to experiment with putting these three digital landscapes of mine up for auction as NFTs. In short, NFT (non-fungible tokens) are digital files created using Blockchain technology, which also supports Cryptocurrency. This prevents the specific file from being copied and certifies its unique status—provenance for the artwork. Other copies may still exist online, but they are not the “original” or “unique file.”

As with art prints, there may be “editions” with more than one copy of the work. Or there may be a single “original.” The Mona Lisa has been used as an example—there is one in the Louvre, but there are many, many copies.

The NYTimes has had several articles about NFT art sales since Beeple’s NFT photo montage sold for 69 million US dollars:

• What the Heck are NFTs? Let’s Ask Beeple.
• Still Don’t Get What an NFT Is?
• The Latest Artist Selling NFTs? It’s a Robot.
• NFTs Are Neither Miracles nor Scams

Is this a new way to sell art? Another tulip mania? More online hype?

My experiment uses both poetry and art. Will this prove to be a way for writers and artists to make some money for work online that otherwise gets easily copied? Will it make digital / online work less ephemeral?

I guess I’ll find a sense of an answer as I try my hand at it.

This series is my first venture in creating NFTs for auction. I’m selling them separately…but perhaps an #NFTCollector would be interested in all 3?