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OPERATOR

PRIVACY

COLLECTION

an ongoing series exploring privacy and transparency in web3.

On the heels of winning the coveted 2021 Lumen Prize and ADC Gold Cube for their immersive artwork I’d rather be in a dark silence than, Operator takes their trademark conceptual technological approach to blockchain art with the Privacy Collection.

‘‘Ambitious multidimensional project that explores contemporary concerns around privacy”

says the Lumen Prize jury

  • Christiane Paul, Adjunct Digital Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art 

    Ben Vickers, CTO, The Serpentine Gallery, UK

    Melanie Lenz, Digital Curator, The V&A

    Nathan Ladd, Assistant Curator, Tate Britain 

    Boris Magrini, Curator, Hek Basel, Switzerland

  • Society has arrived at the crossroads of privacy and the insatiable human desire for digital self-expression. At the epicenter of this tension has been the immersive, experiential work of digital art pioneers, Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti, known together as ‘Operator.’

    Over the past six years, the duo have built an innovative art practice around bringing together performance art, immersive environments, and creative technology to examine contemporary issues of data privacy, extractive technologies, surveillance capitalism, and beyond.

    To date, they have created more than twenty critically-acclaimed works, but until now have intentionally avoided numerous opportunities to sell their art or components thereof. After years of close proximity to the crypto art community, they are excited to introduce this NFT collection.

    Even before winning the Lumen Prize for Immersive Environments in 2021, Ania and Dejha have been ​​referred to as “the two critical contemporary voices on digital art’s international stages” (Clot Magazine) and a “LGBT power couple” (Flaunt). Their work has received awards from S+T+ARTS (Honorable Mention) and the ADC Awards (Gold Cube for Experiential design, Digital Design, and Fashion Innovation) and they have been featured speakers at Metaverse Fashion Week, Crypto and Digital Art Fair, Christie’s Art & Tech Summit, Bloomberg Art + Technology TV series, MUTEK, the first CADAF in New York, and MoCDA (Museum of Contemporary Digital Art).

LOT 03 : HUMAN UNREADABLE - PRIVACY COLLECTION

HUMAN UNREADABLE

Release date: May 24, 1pm EST

Human Unreadable immerses audiences and collectors in a three-act, embodied, generative art experience. The acts weave together code, choreography, blockchain, generative art, cryptography, and performance into an evolving conceptual experience - the slow recovery of the human. The work brings flesh and viscerality into code and vulnerability [as a feature] into long-form on-chain generative art. In order to realize the work, Operator created a novel on-chain generative choreography method.

Volume Sold (Primary): 350.24ETH

Collection Size: 400

SOLD OUT

LOT 02 : UNKNOWN SITTER - PRIVACY COLLECTION

UNKNOWN SITTER

SOLD 4888XTZ

Created through Operator’s Privacy Portraits, a durational performance installation in London where collectors had their portraits taken and anonymized, this portrait developed with no visible subject. As no names were attached to the photos, we have a sitter who is not only unidentifiable, but also invisible.

Release date: October 15, 2022

LOT 01 : PRIVACY PORTRAITS - PRIVACY COLLECTION

PRIVACY PORTRAITS

During Proof of People, Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti opened the Operator Atelier where they created a limited number of 67 Privacy Portraits as part of their ongoing Privacy Collection. The artists merge durational performance, installation, and chance operations to create an anonymized portrait of the collector.  

Release date: July 6-8, 2022

SOLD OUT

LOT 00 : ATTEMPTS - PRIVACY COLLECTION

ATTEMPTS

Attempts, eleven unique works, is the first lot of the Privacy Collection. In this work, the body inhabits and hides inside a digital shell in the form of a translucent glass avatar, speaking to the pseudonymous nature of web3—pfps, usernames, wallet addresses—where one can ironically be known for being unknown. 

Release date: May, 2022

Volume sold: 46ETH

SOLD OUT

PRIVACY KEY 00 - PRIVACY COLLECTION

PRIVACY KEY 00

The 9 coveted Privacy Key 00s are the first minted works by Operator in the history of their practice.

A holder of a Privacy Key 00 is granted unique privileges—revealed (and concealed) along the way—throughout the release of Operator’s two time Lumen Award winning “Privacy Collection.”

The durational and performative structure of the Privacy Collection is a journey reflecting the experiential nature of Operator’s practice (established 2016).

Privacy Key 00 holders are given early access to the lots, opportunities for interaction, access, and experience.

Release date: February 15, 2022  

SOLD OUT

HISTORY - PRIVACY COLLECTION

HISTORY OF THE PRIVACY COLLECTION

 

December 2022

Privacy Portraits and Attempts go on view during Art Basel Miami at FEMGEN presented by Right Click Save, VerticalCrypto Art and Art Blocks.

Attempts included in the Gagosian Quarterly

October 2022

Unknown Sitter Lot 02 was auctioned in partnership with VerticalCrypto Art

Attempt 0 was on view at NFT Factory (Paris) alongside CryptoPunks, Beeple, Chromie Squiggle, and more.

July 2022

Privacy Portraits Lot 01 was released through a performance installation at Proof of People London

June 2022

Attempts Lot 00 went on view at Sonar+D Barcelona

May 2022

Attempts Lot 00 become available to collect

Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti presented their journey and approach to the blockchain through the Privacy Collection at Contemporary Istanbul

April 2022

I'd rather be in a dark silence than is displayed in a group exhibition, Cognitive Awareness, in Rome curated by Eleonora Brizi.


Attempts, lot 00 of the Privacy Collection premieres at Bright Moments monumental exhibition NFT Art Berlin at Kraftwerk. The group exhibition included Robert Wilson & Phillip Glass, Casey Reas, PussyRiot and others.

At Non-Fungible Conference Lisbon, I’d rather be in a dark silence than goes on view as part of Breezy Art Gallery alongside Hackatao and the Vault Collection by $WHALE


The duo co-host the infamous experiential Privacy Dinners in Lisbon, Berlin, and Paris with Bright Moments Gallery to introduce the concept and collection in their native medium.

March 2022

UnicornDAO showcases the Privacy Key 00 during SXSW 

RightClickSave and the Lumen Prize announce The NFT Award and feature the Privacy Key 00 and I’d rather be in a dark silence than.

At Metaverse Fashion Week and inside CashLabs Gallery, I’d rather be in a dark silence than went on view alongside The Dematerialized, DressX, Krista Kim, Brytehall, Auroboros, and SHOWstudio / Nick Knight.

February 2022

During Frieze LA in the Vertical Crypto Art x Rarible x Tezos exhibition, the artists release Privacy Key 00, their first ever NFT, which unlocks access and experience throughout the Privacy Collection release. Also, on view was I’d rather be in a dark silence than (trench coat) and AR filter.

October 2021

The immersive art installation, I’d rather be in a dark silence than, go on to win the coveted Lumen Prize for Art and Technology in the Immersive Environments category received at the Barbican Centre.

May 2021

Catherine and Ti win a Gold Cube for Fashion Innovation at the 100th Annual ADC Awards in New York City for the I’d rather be in a dark silence than trench coat.

December 2020

In Berlin, Catherine and Ti create a multimedia interpretation of the coat, displaying the coat’s function through an immersive experience including 360 projection, art photography, custom score, an AR filter, and poetry.


October 2020

The groundbreaking trench coat was shown publicly for the first time in Rome, at the historically significant group exhibition, “Renaissance 2.0 2.0” curated by Eleonora Brizi, that included works by Ai Weiwei, Hackatao, and Sofia Crespo.

December 2019-May 2020

In conversation with the Museum of Contemporary Digital Art (MoCDA), the idea of a wearable speaking to the subjects in Ania and Dejha’s seminal installation On View was discussed. It is there, where the duo’s iconic signal-blocking trench coat—I’d rather be in a dark silence than—was born. Read the interview on MocDA.

EXPLORE THE PRACTICE OF OPERATOR