Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia and new media art collective Filamen today made history with the launch of Accelerated Futurescapes, a collection of exclusive Arteon NFT.
Four one-of-a-kind crypto art based on the flagship Volkswagen model are available for purchase on Pentas, a SouthEast Asian NFT platform powered by Binance Smart Chain. The NFTs are also presented on Filamen’s virtual gallery and co-curated design research platform, No-to-scale.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets based on blockchain technology that allows for digital ownership.
As each piece is uniquely certified with no one piece is the same, it is expected to appeal to art collectors and Arteon enthusiasts alike.
Syed's creation (left) and Jason's.
“Volkswagen have always been at the forefront of digitalisation initiatives in Malaysia, and pushing digital boundaries is something we constantly strive to do,” said Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia managing director Erik Winter.
"What we wanted to do, at the heart of it all, was to express human emotions inspired by the Arteon,” said Filamen co-founder Abdul Shakir Abu Samah.
Up-and-coming Filamen artists, Syed Mohamad and Jason Choo, were commissioned to create the NFTs, and the results were four “otherworldly”, visions of the future inspired by the Arteon’s design and performance - from the sound, to shape, and the little details that matter.
Syed's work revolves around the themes of ‘energy’ and ‘motion', manifested into an oscillating landscape of particles that ebbs and flows. Though digital, the work mirrors natural phenomena such as waves on the ocean surface - mesmerising pieces that hint at poetics within an unseen technological framework.
Where Syed's art was more concerned with abstracted notions of unseen forces at play, Jason, on the other hand, focused on fictional imagery. His interest lay in visualising the performative aspects of the car in faraway worlds. Using themes such as 'life' and 'flight' to represent the Arteon's intangible dimensions, Jason's work acts as a mediator between him and the audience, relaying the artist's feelings on the Arteon.
The NFT project is the second art collaboration to feature the Arteon. In 2019, VPCM partnered with Wei-Ling Contemporary art gallery on “Makings of a Masterpiece”, which featured 13 Arteon Art Cars by 13 local artists that were then successfully auctioned off for charity.
All four Arteon NFTs are available for viewing at http://www.wearefilamen.com/thearteoncollection and purchase at https://app.pentas.io/volkswagen
