2022-08-15｜Written by Leyuan Passage International Co., Ltd. / Edited and compiled by Art Emperor

How art can exist within society as a form of expression that both reduces harm to nature and carries spiritual significance has long been an important question for creators. In the urban planning project “Taoyuan Technology City – Streetlight Chapter,” organized by the Taoyuan City Government, the public artwork Sustainable Technology: Heart of the Key offers one response to this inquiry.

Sustainable Technology: Heart of the Key is a public artwork co-created by artists Hsu Jui-Chien, Wang Hsin-Yen, and digital artist Funny Sandwich. Curator Tung Yi-Chun stated: “The world’s first NFT public artwork is in Taoyuan. Created primarily with decommissioned streetlights, the artwork is located on the second-floor corridor of Fenghe Park in Taoyuan. Taking Taoyuan’s ponds, Taiwanese ferns, and the heart of sustainable technology as its three conceptual starting points, the work combines childlike geometric forms with text, transforming discarded streetlights into an installation. By integrating generative art NFTs, the decommissioned streetlights are illuminated once again and transformed into a technology corridor. Beyond the original function of streetlights as a source of illumination, technological art further brings interactivity to the public, creating a profound and engaging viewing experience as visitors move through the space. In collaboration with Lootex, Taiwan’s first decentralized blockchain digital asset trading platform, the project also launched the world’s first NFT public artwork, allowing the artwork to exist permanently in the metaverse.”

The World’s First NFT Public Artwork: Heart of Sustainable Technology

Digital artist Funny Sandwich departs from the mainstream geometric algorithmic art style often seen on the Ethereum-based generative art platform Art Blocks. Through playful and childlike lines, Funny Sandwich brings a sense of warmth to what is often perceived as cold algorithmic art. The artist’s recently released works have received strong recognition and achieved notable success.

For this project, Leyuan Passage International Co., Ltd. invited the artist to create an NFT work for Taoyuan’s smart streetlights. The work symbolizes different stages in the development of sustainable energy and humanity’s dependence on light, creating a new metaverse landscape while also giving rise to the world’s first public artwork incorporating NFTs. Through programming and rich interactivity, Funny Sandwich skillfully builds a bridge between the virtual and the physical. The artist’s warm and charming illustrative style is combined with programming, creating an elegant integration of digital and real-world experience. As a result, the NFT becomes interactive and playful, adding greater interest to the artwork.

The component work Streetlight Chapter by highly regarded contemporary sculptor Hsu Jui-Chien begins with a two-part structure. Through support frames, reflection, and staggered heights, the streetlights are given new angles of illumination and viewing. Elegant and refined proportions, along with a strong sense of materiality, have long been defining elements of Hsu’s artistic language. In Streetlight Chapter, pale green terrazzo cement and curved stainless-steel arc elements give Taoyuan’s discarded streetlights new vitality, transforming them into enduring works of art.

Wang Hsin-Yen graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts. Taking Taoyuan’s ponds and electrical resistors as creative elements, Wang planned two stainless-steel works inspired by the forms of Taoyuan’s distinctive pond landscapes. Through etching and resistor symbols, the works record the history of streetlight development in Taoyuan, using artistic expression to write another chapter in the city’s urban development.

NFT Artwork Link: https://lootex.io/zh-TW/stores/oneoffs-funnysandwich

Public Art Installation Address: Second-floor corridor, Fenghe Park, Taoyuan City
No. 688, Ciwen Road, Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City 330

Government Agencies: Taoyuan City Office of Public Construction Maintenance; Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd.

Public Art Planning and Execution: Leyuan International Co., Ltd.

Promotional Design Execution: Baudelaire Design Company

Article Link: https://artemperor.tw/focus/4971