BETWEEN BEASTS AND ANGELS

As media artists, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy have always been interested in art that creates effects in real time. Quantum Leap, a generative NFT with a three-year cycle of evolution, is the longest-term artwork the artists have made to date. Quantum Leap evolves as it ages, extending the terrain of the work of art into something akin to an eco-system. The work was inspired by Kevin McCoy’s 2014 work Quantum, the first artwork tokenized on a block chain. The title alludes to the attempt in theoretical physics to develop a theory of the universe. This approach strives to answer questions about the first phases of the universe. This process is emulated in the structure of Quantum Leap whose shifting mandala changes color as it ages, inspired by the lifecycle of stars. The images also change form, becoming more circular as the code-generated images mature, evolving from three to twenty sides and spinning off grayscale tokens as they age and die.

For Between Beasts and Angels exhibition, the McCoys have released a video to visualize each stage of the piece’s life.  

 

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s work has been widely exhibited in the US and internationally - their exhibitions include the Center Pompidou, Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, BFI (British Film Institute) Southbank in London, Hanover Kunstverein, the Beall Center in Irvine, CA, pkm Gallery in Beijing, the San Jose Museum of Art, Palazzo della Papesse, the Addison Museum of American Art, the Sundance Film Festival, and Artists Space in New York. Their work can be seen in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the 21C Museum, and the Speed Museum. They received a Creative Capital Award in 2003, the Wired Rave Award for Art in 2005, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011, and a Headlands Alumni Award in 2014. Their work is represented by Postmasters Gallery in New York and Johansson Projects in Oakland, CA.

https://www.mccoyspace.com/