PROOF Signal: Q&A with Aaron Penne, Burn your Oddities ASAP, PACE x PROOF on October 26

Welcome back to PROOF Signal, your exclusive gateway to the world of all things PROOF. Let's dive into the latest updates.

TL;DR:

• Notes from a Neutron Star: Launching October 26 at 8am PST, featuring Aaron Penne, Luke Shannon and Jesse Woolston's tributes to Peter Saville's design for Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures".

• NFTStats Comeback: Catch Sam's (NFTStats) exclusive market and art reports in PROOF's Discord every Monday, Wednesday, and the weekly wrap up on Fridays on 100 PROOF.

• Moonbirds Mission Update: Space Helmet trait holders should register by October 23 for the Moon Mission at the Kennedy Space Center on November 15. Expect a detailed email itinerary later in the week.

PROOF Updates

Notes from a Neutron Star

Minting will begin October 26 with new work from Aaron Penne, Jesse Woolston, and Luke Shannon.

Aaron Penne's tribute to Peter Saville, reworks the seminal design for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album cover. The 100-piece generative drop will progress in 2 phases:

• Phase 1 (24 hours): Exclusive to PROOFxPACE Full Set Holders and Phase 1 Archive of Feelings raffle winners.

• Phase 2 (October 27 until sold out): Open to PROOF Collective Pass, Moonbirds, and Archive of Feelings holders.

The five new pieces contributed to the show by Luke Shannon and Jesse Woolston will be sold via public English Auction. These auctions will begin October 26 at 8am.

NFTStats brings back “NFT Countdown” in Discord

Sam, aka NFTstats, returns with his market and art reports exclusively in PROOF’s Discord. Watch the show every Monday and Wednesday and share your thoughts in the chat!. For a weekly wrap up, catch Sam’s “Market Overview”, Fridays on 100 PROOF.

Oddities Announcement

This week, Kevin revealed that the Oddities burn option may conclude by month's end. If burning your Oddity has been on your mind, be sure to nominate your Oddity. More details to come soon!

Moonbirds to the Moon Reminder

• Owners with the Space Helmet trait: Register by Oct 23 to watch the Moon Mission at the Kennedy Space Center on Nov 15!

• Later that week, you’ll receive an email with additional itinerary details.

Community Updates

Lunar Society Voter Appreciation

A big thank you to all who participated in last weeks’s voting round! We’ll share the Moonbirds raffle results this Friday!

A Deeper Look into ‘Notes from a Neutron Star’

PROOF asked the participating artists to reflect on their experience creating work for the show. The following Q&A with artist Aaron Penne has been edited for length and clarity.

PROOF: Tell us about how your work created for “Notes from a Neutron Star” is connected to Peter Saville’s iconic cover for “Unknown Pleasures.”

Aaron Penne: There are several parallel themes: echoes from a distant star and the echo of Ian Curtis’ powerful voice reaching people far removed in time and space.

The steady pulsating drums of Stephen Morris and the steady pulse of the star’s radiation, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell’s discovery of the pulsar during a short period of time altered how we see the universe as Joy Division’s short existence changed the face of music. The grooves in vinyl and the lines drawn on the graph paper during CP1919’s discovery in 1967, the monolithic feel of the image on Unknown Pleasures and the central symmetrical focus of “Receive Transmission”, and ultimately the power and energy of Joy Division’s music has been condensed into the album cover and into my work as diligently as possible. The artwork description captures the connection best, I recommend reading it.

P: How does this work reflect the direction that your artistic practice is going?

AP: I have been iterating on the techniques used in “Receive Transmission” for 5 years, iterating through possible coding tools (python, javascript, glsl, etc) and approaches to reach a signature style. This project is a culmination of that work, exerting some measure of control to achieve a rhythm and repetitive structure that I have been seeking for some time.

Incorporating human stories and music and the power of universal observations is at the heart of my practice, and channeling that through this technical capability allows me to push generative work in new directions.

P: What’s next for you and your art? What are you excited about for the rest of the year?

The idea of “next work” is infinite, there is no shortage of fascinating paths to explore with systems. Currently, I am working on a project with Herbert Franke’s estate, diving into my own aesthetic research, and beginning two collaborations that will grow into fruitful experiments. There is always more to learn and more to give, and I am excited to embrace those challenges passionately.

This Week in PROOF Media

Here is a quick rundown of some of the top highlights from PROOF’s weekly content!

100 PROOF

Tune in to this week’s live 100 PROOF on Youtube or Twitter Spaces, this Friday at 10am PST. And here is last week’s 100 PROOF episode with special guest Peter Saville, for those that may have missed it!