Artist John Gerrard Releases Iconic Environmental Artwork Western Flag as the First “SuperNeutral” NFT

Gerrard's recent projects include Mirror Pavilion, originally commissioned for Galway International Arts Festival 2020. Mirror Pavilion is a work of two parts: Corn Work and Leaf Work.

Corn Work will now be presented at Gwangju Biennale from 1 April, 2021 and Leaf Work will premiere at Derrigimlagh Bog, Connemara, County Galway later this year with dates soon to be announced.

John Gerrard Releases Artwork as "SuperNeutral" Non-Fungible Token (NFT)

Western Flag (NFT) is a unique 1.8k x 1.8k sequence derived from Gerrard’s solar simulation, Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017, an artwork that was commissioned for Earth Day 2017 by Channel4, UK as a TV hack. The artwork was subsequently shared worldwide in the form of digital clips and stills, and became an icon of climate change protest.

Gerrard’s project aims to create an entirely ethical and radically transparent NFT sale, which captures the philosophy of the Blockchain. This will be the first “superneutral” NFT in the marketplace.

50% of ethereum proceeds from the Western Flag (NFT) sale will be transferred to regenerate.farm / iridescent.eth, an emergency cryptofund dedicated to soil restoration and post petroleum agricultural practices in Ireland. regenerate.farm, which is both the title of the fund and its domain name, was founded by Gerrard in March 2021. It exists in dialogue and partnership with a collective of creators: artists, farmers, thinkers, organisers, and families, who will ensure that the ethereum is transferred directly and transparently to biological and regenerative farmers and organisations. It will be used for carbon reversal efforts that remove petrochemicals and nitrogen fertiliser from soil and “draw down” carbon dioxide into the ground. These practices are known as carbon sequestration as opposed to carbon offsetting, which has no real impact on reversing climate change.

The energy usage associated with the auction will be tracked by the website, Carbon.FYI, which will create a real-time record of the project’s carbon footprint. Ethereum will be donated to regenerate.farm to offset this usage at a rate of 0.1 eth per tonne of carbon dioxide, or approximately 16 times standard industrial rates, making it “superneutral”. Gerrard will also be compensating for the ethereum mining generated by the purchaser of the work during their transaction by donating the equivalent ethereum to the farming cryptofund from the artist’s proceeds.

Western Flag (NFT) was minted and listed on Foundation as of 6pm EDT on Saturday, March 20th. A 24-hour auction will be initiated when the reserve of 250 ETH is met. The singular NFT augments the existing software edition of Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017, which exists as an edition of 5 plus 2 AP.

This project returns Western Flag to the digital community who made it famous. As part of the NFT project, a video file of the work can be freely downloaded as public art from regenerate.farm/NFT

See the original solar work live across day and night on sim.stream

About Artist John Gerrard

Gerrard is considered a pioneer of simulation within contemporary art. His annual softwares are in the collections of MoMA, Tate, SFMoMA, LACMA, Pinault Collection, Ullens Foundation, M+, Pinakothek der Moderne, IMMA, and TBA21, among others.

Gerrard works with Pace Gallery in New York, Thomas Dane Gallery in London, and Long March Space in Beijing.

Find out more about Gerrard's Mirror Pavilion, which premiered at Galway International Arts Festival 2020, here.