Ascend

Chapter 4: Realms, 2024

'Ascend' (2024) is a 1-of-1 artwork and digital artifact inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain from the project 'The Wild Within,' a series that brings new life to abandoned buildings from a bygone era.

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Based on a real-world physical space that artists Ryan Koopmans and Alice Wexell traveled to and captured, this piece creates a digital rebirth by combining photography with three-dimensional techniques. 'Ascend' is inscribed on a satoshi mined on March 24, 2021, the same day the first artwork from 'The Wild Within' was minted on Ethereum. 

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This is the first artwork ever inscribed on Bitcoin to be auctioned in a live sale at Christie’s, and was the only digital artwork in the auction, The Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale.

A physical print of 'Ascend' was on display at the Christie’s London Gallery prior to the live auction on October 10, 2024, and the winning bidder received a framed print of the artwork sized to their preference.

When viewed on the blockchain, the artwork is alive and dynamic. It automatically transitions between day and night modes at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. GET daily, synchronized with the Bitcoin clock to reflect the time zone of the abandoned building's location in Georgia.

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The architecture depicted in 'Ascend' is the interior of a crumbling sanatorium in Tskaltubo, Georgia, built between 1952 and 1962. Once a popular health destination, thousands of people visited the town’s sanatoriums annually from the 1940s to the 1990s. After the collapse of the USSR, the buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

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Since the early 1990s, the sanatoriums have been slowly dismantled and stripped of their valuable material, leaving behind empty shells of what were once grandiose classical structures. This abandoned lobby in the Iveria Sanatorium, constructed in Classicism style, provided the perfect environment for the artists to apply their creative touch to 'Ascend.'

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Over the past decade, the artists have explored architectural ruins around the world, photographing buildings that have undergone dramatic transitions.

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Upon returning, they digitally introduce vegetation, modify the structure and lighting, and alter the scenes with the intention of reviving the empty spaces, essentially bringing life back into the rooms.

The result is 'The Wild Within,' a project that represents a surreal collision between the past and future, natural and manmade, physical and digital, and the real and imaginary.

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'Ascend' aims to depict a surreal representation of the cyclical essence of time, delving into architectural history and its intricate connection with the natural world. The artwork also serves to permanently preserve this imagery on the blockchain.

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Many of the buildings depicted in 'The Wild Within' have been demolished in recent years. This building continues to deteriorate and is being slowly disassembled, further emphasizing the primary theme of the work: the passing of time in a cycle of growth and decay.