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Decentralized Value Systems 1 — Mantou
Mantou and the non-fungibles
The “mantou” is the first participatory actor in our embodiment of questions around decentralized value systems. The mantou is a plain steamed bun which is a daily food staple in northern China. Its history can be traced back to a steamed bread form recorded some 2300 years ago during the period of the Warring States. Legend attributes the present name to military strategist Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD), who directed river-crossing troops to make large buns in the shape of human heads as offering to the river god. The mantou’s main ingredient is wheat, a food crop that was cultivated since 9600 BCE, and one of the most universal foods around today.
The mantou is also our earliest and longest-staying subjects through our various art projects. We have been purchasing mantous from the same local market in Beijing since 2010. One mantou cost 0.5 renminbi (0.075 USD) in 2010. In 2020, the price reached exactly 1 renminbi (0.15 USD). Extending the possibilities of this unitary figure, we position the ubiquitous mantou to formulate spatial cognizance of value.
How would the mantou’s value change, crossing from physicality into a digital and extended virtual universe? Its innateness is self-defined but perhaps invites us to imagine its relational margins. The pure ordinariness of the mantou exudes almost unnerving realism. Does its being differ from perception as a commodity, a rarity, a random product of creation?
Our 88 non-fungibles
In the next phase of the DVS project, we present the work in a non-fungible token (NFT) form. For many artists and creators, NFTs have gained popularity as an alternative to traditional collectibles. Both similarly necessitate uniqueness, but have different collector profiles and gatekeepers. Realistically, a key attraction of NFTs is the relative openness of platforms for building global community support and interaction. The creator, the object, the collector, the platform, the exchange, the currency and its purposed equivalents, all become parts of the new ecosystem which draw parallels but also variance with the conventional art world.
For our inaugural DVS NFT project, we lay the fundamentals of a tiered structure with individual mantous appearing in three variations — white (80 units), silver (5 units), and gold (3 units). Each unit denotes its relative rarity in the natural world. White mantous in pre-industrial China were considered more expensive due to more processed flour, while silver and gold were found in their near-natural state since millennia ago. All together, 88, an untouchable and palindromic number is offered in its totality.
What’s in a name
“Eh bien, mon prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now no more than family estates of the Bonapartes.” This is the first line of War and Peace, a literary work written by Leo Tolstoy in 1869. This 587,287 word, 1,300 page book is described as “not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle” is considered one of the greatest books ever written.
What is striking is the realism on how a book written more than 150 years ago to remind us that humans of yesterday are just as clueless as us humans of today. It’s 1812 in Moscow. Napoleon has invaded Russia, and he gets closer to the city each day. Their Emperor Alexander I has left his people behind, and its inhabitants aren’t certain of what to do next. So instead of taking precautions, in the absence of what feels like an authority figure who knows what he is doing, the people of Moscow instead decide to just have a good time.
Each of the mantous will have a name, bearing singular words to short phrases randomly extracted from the historical work.
It is a considered decision to launch the mantous in the NFT sphere, allowing us to experiment, observe and engage in this virtual ecosystem. We are cognizant of inherent issues with cryptocurrency and NFTs, and seek to build our knowledge and capabilities on this. We pledge to donate a portion of the NFT sales proceeds to the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee agency, a humanitarian organization that we highly respect.
The virtual space is seemingly a microcosm of social operating systems, in its own limited and limitless ways. We track the evolving ways of exchange and guarantee, as a format of engagement, presentation and existence.
Our artworks
0001
It is more difficult
0002
Naked eye
0003
Bagration
0004
and of Jerusalem
0005
always seems good
0006
role of lover
0007
both important and unimportant
0008
and
0009
except a few
0010
9
0011
all to himself
0012
about his father
0013
breaking everything
0014
with the sick man
0015
occupied by an enemy
0016
freedom
0017
Epilogue
0018
and of nations
0019
a shoemaker
0020
only has no action
0021
Did he know that?
0022
husband
0023
ancient historians
0024
sealed the letter
0025
Ostrovna
0026
Commander in Chief
0027
judgement
0028
plants, notices
0029
Life was not gay
0030
the Lodge
0031
Ellen
0032
plain, plaintive face
0033
That is my promise
0034
smoke
0035
to the window
0036
Digging like a swarm of white ants
0037
taken an oath
0038
little Princess
0039
sorrow and devotion
0040
perhaps you'll see him
0041
sun was just
0042
impasssioned
0043
unexpressed conviction
0044
dissatisfaction at the slowness of the pursuit of the enemy
0045
Man is the creation of an omniscient, omnipotent, and infinitely good God
0046
Russian aim
0047
Did you?
0048
held out her skirt
0049
betraying us
0050
my part has provoked
0051
Stop!
0052
Napoleon's soldiers
0053
rapidity of the French
0054
for dinner
0055
general circle
0056
still as tranquil in her love
0057
fear of death
0058
The time has come!
0059
Petersburg
0060
Je suis très aimable et très caustique
0061
taking advantage
0062
smoke appeared
0063
Be a man
0064
mother and son
0065
awfully nice, but so funny!
0066
Why is that?
0067
fury and violence
0068
Be quiet, be quiet
0069
White beringed fingers
0070
never thought of danger
0071
great importance
0072
barely perceptible smile
0073
crossed on her breast
0074
go along, go along
0075
marriage
0076
longer with the family
0077
impossible
0078
agitation and perplexity
0079
rapturous joy
0080
heroes
0081
Does it ever happen to you
0082
should be so
0083
A mocking look
0084
Yes, it is true
0085
patience and time
0086
I have never
0087
Now then, you foxes!
0088
divine power
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DECENTRALIZED VALUE SYSTEMS
How would the value of our food change, crossing from physicality into a digital and extended virtual universe?