„Mixing dance and 3D to discover the bodies, movements and dances of the web3.“
Meet the Artist
Diego Mac, why do you make art?
I make art to reprogram the world. Currently, I create art to answer some specific questions that guide my work: how to dance in Web 3.0? How to choreograph in the metaverse? How to reprocess the revolution brought about by the relationship between dance and 3D simulation? How to show other bodies, other movements and other dances? As a dance artist, I seek creative answers to these questions by articulating dance and 3D, NFTs, web3 and metaverses, provoking a dialogue between the classic and the contemporary and reflecting on the future of Art and Dance. When I create dances with digital materials, my whole body is involved in this process. In my body there is no distinction between physical performance and digital dance. I believe that this has to do with the future of relationships in the metaverses, with the conditions of existence and with the forms of coexistence mediated by digital technologies.
How did you find out about NFT & what made you decide to deal with it and create NFTs yourself?
Artistic creation mediated by technology is not something new to me. “Pas de Corn” (2006) is the first and most emblematic work resulting from this relationship: a video that presents a corps de ballet made up of popcorn and uses humor to satirize the dancer's body. The work received many awards, participated in several festivals and is used as a reference in research on videodance. “Por Baixo da Mesa” (2007) and “Mexendo nas Partes” (2008/Prêmio Açorianos Novas Mídias) are other works created in the continuity of the research with videodance. In 2009, I received a CAPES scholarship for a master's research in Visual Poetics (PPGAV/UFRGS), supervised by Sandra Rey. At that time, I had already come to understand that video is the body that dances and that I was dealing with a dance of images, not a dance in images, resulting in the question: how does this video dance? “The Collector of Movements” (2011) is the work resulting from the research, which engendered concepts of movement, collection, hypertext and interaction.
In 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I started using 3D techniques and technologies to create dances, and I discovered NFTs as an alternative to distribute and market this type of work.
And that has been revolutionary for me and my work. First, because the profusion of artistic creation with 3D technologies and NFTs has to do with a vital artistic need for expression, to talk to people, to be in the world, acting, creating, publishing, criticizing, and that dance, in its form more traditional, does not allow, and perhaps even castrates, either because of the necessarily physical and face-to-face elements, or because of political-economic contingencies. Second, because the possibility of creating my own things, deciding when, where and to whom I want to sell, how much I want to charge, setting royalties, monitoring the movement of the work and continuing to receive payment for subsequent sales made are actions that deconstruct and rebuild my self-image as an artist, bringing necessary empowerment in a reality where art is increasingly being swept under the rug. In fact, these technologies have brought me closer to a goal that I have pursued for many years: “putting my dance on the Amazon shelf”. More than a commercial goal, it is, above all, the desire to popularize scenic/performative dance, to form an audience and to dominate the economic processes that involve artistic making. As these new technical possibilities allow dance to be understood and operationalized as an item, as a digital object, possibilities also open up for placing this object on shelves, marketing and distributing it as a product, keeping the due specificities. This is one of the applications I've been making in these environments: using technologies to distribute and market the artistic work I do in different marketplaces and communities.
What personal info do you want the audiences to know about you?
A lot has happened quickly and powerfully since I started working in the NFT and web3 environment. And I am very proud to be able to tell people where I and my work have been, and how incredible it is to be able to take the language of dance, body and movement to different contexts and audiences.
My most recent approval was to participate in NFT.NYC, with the work “Asas”. But before that my work was shown in several festivals and exhibitions, such as: moveMINT NYC: The Experience; NFT São Paulo; Naw Talks Neosutras Metaverse; LATAM ART on Open Metaverse; International NFT Competition (7th place); NeoForms LA SuperChief Gallery; Neoforms, 1st Performance Art Drop Makers Place; Gallery Into The Unknown Tezos; Gallery Trudentity Search Light.art; Zoratopia Gallery Art Beasel Miami; Kuwait’s 1st IRL NFT Exhibition WAGMI; Digital Art Biennial; Origen Videodance Festival; Festival Movimentale de Audiovisual (only Brazilian); International Meeting on Video-dance and Video-performance (one of 25 selected from over 1000 submissions); Sardinia Film Festival (one of 50 selected from over 1000 submissions); Cuerpo Mediado Videodanza Festival; International Videodance Festival of RS; Eku'e International Videodanza Exhibition in Asunción; Serbest International Film Festival; Imajitari – International Dance Film Festival; International Screendance Festival of Chile; Foco Dance Festival; Festivalito Rodante Internacional de Choreocinema; Context.Film Festival; Future Vision Tokyo & Amsterdam; Moovy Tanzfilmfestival. For his work in Art and Technology, I received the 2022 Açorianos de Dança Award from the city of Porto Alegre (RS/Brazil) as Personality of the Year for his work in research and creation in new dance media.
Diego Mac‘s Artworks
Diego Mac, where can we find you?
