PROOF Signal: Week of August 14

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

TL;DR:

• PROOF Members at LACMA: Enjoy free entry to LACMA for PROOF Collectors (+1 guest), stay tuned in our Discord for more information coming soon.

• Grails Fun Isn’t Over: Grails IV wraps up with unique artist insights, raffles for physical pieces, and an exclusive poster for full-set holders.

• Inside Look - 'Clarity on Operator’s Unamused': Clara Peh's exploration of Operator's Grails IV piece, ‘Unamused,’ challenges perceptions of the female nude in art.

PROOF Updates

PROOF Members at LACMA 

PROOF is on a mission to broaden the conversation on digital art. To that end, we're pleased to introduce a unique benefit for our community – free general entry to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

What you get:

As a PROOF Collector, enjoy free general entry to LACMA (+1 guest). We recommend you visit LACMA.org to see what is on view at the museum, click here.

What is LACMA:

Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 152,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.

How to redeem:

Stay tuned for a post that will explain all the steps in Discord. It's a straightforward process to set you on your art-filled adventure.

Grails Unveiled

Last week, Grails IV came to a close and the hype was real! 910 pieces minted in a season highlighted by big web3 names like BASIIC, Jack Butcher, and Per Kristian Stoveland as well as a genesis NFT from Hans Dehlinger. While the fourth season of Grails has ended, the fun isn’t quite over yet. Here are some additional drops and raffles for the folks that took part:

• Dive deep into the artistic journey of Shavonne Wong, as she shares insights into the three captivating variations of her Grail. Holders of these variations will receive an exclusive unrevealed piece, adding a touch of mystery to their collection. More information in the thread below:

• Ayla El-Moussa and dieswithmostlikes are set to raffle physical prints of their Grails, post-Foundry Exhibition. Stay tuned for participation details and a chance to own a tangible piece of Grails IV.

• An exclusive Grails Season IV poster is in the works for holders that own pieces from all four Grails seasons. Also, as a special thank you to all of our ‘full-set’ holders, we’d like to present the Patron Wall at Foundry! Our supporters are the backbone of this project and will always be present in spirit, even if they can't be there in person.

Upcoming Events Schedule:

While we understand the FOMO for those that live outside Los Angeles, exciting official PROOF meetups are coming soon in Seoul, London, and Basel. Be part of the energy and stay tuned for dates and details. Meanwhile, Munich's community-led meetup on August 26 is right around the corner, RSVP here.

Official announcement for the Seoul Meetup on September 6th! We will be throwing an exclusive gathering for PROOF Collective, Moonbirds, Mythics, and Mythic Eggs holders. Limited tickets are available on the PROOF events site now. Engage with PROOF artists, Sam, Eli, Maggi, and more for an evening of cocktails, bites, and conversations at the historic Dugahun.

Empowering Holders Through The Lunar Society:

Quick recap: What is the Lunar Society?

The Lunar Society is a community-controlled grant program.that embodies Moonbirds' vision to become a global leader in the NFT space. By harnessing the community's creativity and passion, Moonbirds and Mythics holders can propose, vote, and follow along with unique PROOF-funded ambitions that are pushing the NFT space forward.

Take a look at the impact of the Lunar Society through @crisgarner's recent NFT workshops in Honduras, empowering artists and design students to embark on a web3 and NFT journey. Get insights into the NFT workshops and the upcoming ‘Future of Art Exhibition,’ in this article released by the team.

For those interested in exploring our active proposals, take a peek at the Lunar Society Proposal Library.

Community Updates

Big shoutout to Floor for integrating the Mythic Hearth Feed into their app! The slow reveal mechanic has kept the community on its toes, and now you can keep track of freshly hatched Mythics directly on your Floor app.

An Inside Look: ‘Clarity on Operator’s Unamused’

This week’s art piece is written by Clara Peh, an independent curator and art writer based in Singapore, highlighting Operator’s Grails IV piece ‘Unamused.’ Twitter: @claracxw

In Unamused, a vast field of grass grows wild across the land. Piles of dry grass weave and twine, creating patterns like waves . Looking at the image, one’s eyes are drawn first to the tall group of stalks in the foreground, and one’s gaze follows the motion of the grass towards the top, where a nude figure lies. The figure is Ania Catherine, one half of the artist duo Operator who have captured this image, hiding in plain sight to her viewers.

Captured in 2017, this image was spontaneously created when the artists stumbled upon the landscape and were inspired by the curious curves of the grass field. At this time, Operator had just begun working on A Page Intentionally Left Blank, a long-term feature film project inspired by the hidden lives of Surrealist muses. Ania and Dejha Ti are working to recontextualize the female nude as an active and empowered figure, away from the limited framing of the ‘muse’—a passive object of desire who serves to inspire others but has little of her own voice. Building on this ongoing exploration, the duo reacted to the scene and created this photograph on the spot, placing the artist both in the frame and behind the camera to consider how the female nude can be portrayed through the eyes of a woman and the artist herself.

Presented as part of Grails IV, Operator chose to showcase this photograph for the first time to an audience without knowledge of the artists and the work’s context in the duo’s wider practice. In doing so, the viewer is made to interpret the role of the female nude on their own. Some may have viewed the nude to be purely decorative and placed to achieve an aesthetic goal. Few would have considered the possibility of the artist being the muse herself and the one who framed this shot. It is only after the Artist Reveal that viewers are presented with this information, a twist that prompts us to question our assumptions of the relationship the artist shares with their muse and what a female nude can be.

This Week in PROOF Media

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

PROOF Daily NFT Countdown

This week, our Director of Research, Sam, highlighted DeGods Points Parlor allowing staked DeGods holders to win prizes like a Tesla or a MacBook Pro on PROOF Daily NFT Countdown. Catch the insightful discussion here.

100 PROOF

Be sure to tune in to this week’s live 100 PROOF, Friday at 10am PST with special guest Sam Spratt on Youtube or Twitter Spaces.