Power vs Meaning is a conceptual blockchain artwork based on historian Yuval Noah Harari’s idea that modern society is a deal in which humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power. The series consists of two looping animations (Power and Meaning), each minted as an edition of 8 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Playing on the idea of utility and collector rewards as prevalent themes in the NFT space, holders of Power will be granted the power to reward themselves with an additional edition of their NFT whenever they wish. Meaning, on the other hand, is simply a piece of art, and holders will not be granted any sort of utility or rewards. During the primary sale, collectors must choose between one or the other and are not able to bid on both. A social experiment that will only be able to fully tell its story as people interact with it, Power vs Meaning asks viewers to confront their own motivation for collecting NFTs in the first place. While Power offers utility, interaction, collector rewards, a rarity system based on exponential growth, and the potential for a community to organically form and evolve, Meaning offers nothing but the chance to own a digital penguin that infinitely waddles towards some sort of glowing metaphor for human motivation. As time goes on, how will the collection change, and what will it say about us? Artwork by Gavin Shapiro. Smart contracts by Manifold. Music by Tomas Novoa. Power holders can mint a new edition of Power at powervsmeaning.com.

Power #124

“Seeing Both Sides” was created for the Dalbin Table. Keeping in mind that viewers may be seated around any side of the table, the work was designed to accommodate all perspectives and even be understood when viewed upside-down. Oftentimes the key to seeing both sides is finding common ground. Groups of marching penguins are periodically introduced onto the table from a rotating center tile. Although the emerging groups alternate between opposing orientations, the ground they walk on supports both. Faced with clashing points of view, the viewer is forced to see both perspectives in order to fully make sense of the image. Music by SoundLoungeStudio. This NFT is auctioned on SuperRare separately from the Table. Buy your Table in the Dalbin Store and import your NFT art collection. The file resolution is 3840 x 2160 px (4K UHD). More info: dalbin.com

Seeing Both Sides

And so it begins. The penguins accumulate and the rookery grows, increasing their gravitational pull. Burn one edition of Power in the 8^3 rarity tier to receive one edition of The More The Merrier. 

Burn page: https://app.manifold.xyz/br/themorethemerrier  


The More The Merrier

In what began as a whimsical exploration into a wonderland of mathematical curiosities, “Self-Similarity” celebrates the allure of fractals, particularly those that retain the same underlying structure even when viewed at increasing levels of magnification.  Upon reaching deeper into the fractal, however, awe and bewilderment are gradually replaced by the harrowing realization that this neverending geometric hellscape is in fact a psychological prison; a hauntingly infinite numerical abyss where beginnings and ends are one in the same; an inescapable blight on the psyche that teases the illusion of progress but in fact holds captive those who wish to find their bearings within its endless shapes and forms. Can some grand sense of meaning possibly be derived from this nightmare of infinite contexts and hierarchies? Is reality in fact a bleakly quantifiable existence in which everything can be distilled into the same set of rules on varying scales? Do we truly have free will, or are our decisions merely shaped by our environment and the behavioral patterns we’ve developed throughout our lives? What are we aiming towards, both as individuals and as a species, and why do we do what we do?  Through the comforting lens of the majestic penguin, “Self-Similarity” invites viewers to reflect on the source of meaning in their own lives and asks why we choose to move in directions we seemingly decide on our own.

Rising up to follow #28/36

Power #494

Some birds enjoy the unforgettable summer of 2020.

Social Distancing

Power #315

Power vs Meaning is a conceptual blockchain artwork based on historian Yuval Noah Harari’s idea that modern society is a deal in which humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power. 

Playing on the idea of utility and collector rewards as prevalent themes in the NFT space, holders of Power will be granted the power to reward themselves with an additional edition of their NFT whenever they wish. Meaning, on the other hand, is simply a piece of art, and holders will not be granted any sort of utility or rewards.

A social experiment that will only be able to fully tell its story as people interact with it, Power vs Meaning asks viewers to confront their own motivation for collecting NFTs in the first place.  As time goes on, how will the collection change, and what will it say about us? 

Power holders can mint a new edition of Power at [powervsmeaning.com](https://www.powervsmeaning.com).

Power vs Meaning by Gavin Shapiro

Bronze and cement.
120 statues, 120 feet in diameter.


Zoetrope 120

SuperRare

A repeating pattern featuring pentagons and ten-pointed stars, known in Persian as Umm al-Girih, the mother of patterns(knots). Came across this in Daud Sutton’s book “Islamic Design: a genius for geometry”

This piece can be obtained for free by burning any squad from the Five Penguins series.

Burn page: https://app.manifold.xyz/br/ummalgirih

Five Penguins: https://opensea.io/collection/fivepenguins

Umm al-Girih

Multi-edition artworks by Gavin Shapiro that can be redeemed for free by burning the following Gavin Shapiro NFTs:

Power: https://opensea.io/collection/power-vs-meaning-by-gavin-shapiro
Five Penguins: https://opensea.io/collection/fivepenguins

You can see currently available burns here:
[manifold.gallery/shapiro500](https://manifold.gallery/shapiro500)

Gavin Shapiro Editions

Rising up to follow #10/36

Gavin Shapiro is a digital artist whose ultimate goal is to produce work that makes you smile. He focuses primarily on playful conceptual artworks that explore how we can use digital tools to confront our expectations of what’s possible in a traditionally physical art world. He's lived in New York, Osaka and Paris, working on a large variety of projects including tv shows, commercials, outdoor displays, large-format stage visuals, and animations for casino games. 

His personal work, released under the name “shapiro500,” has been used as visuals at music festivals and concerts all over the world, and has been shown on digital billboards as part of art exhibitions in New York City and Tokyo. His animations have accumulated hundreds of millions of views across Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Giphy, and have been sold as NFTs on Nifty Gateway and SuperRare since mid-2020.

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