Released in April 2021, Flight Studies was created as part of a coordinated NFT release uniting more than thirty-five leading digital artists in support of #CleanNFT. A movement advocating for the migration of digital art toward low-energy, environmentally responsible blockchain platforms.
Extending *Flight Studies* beyond the blockchain into the physical, Patricio builded by upcycling discarded screen monitors, these frames repurpose obsolete technology as sites of renewed attention and care. By transforming electronic into contemplative objects, the frames make visible an alternative model of digital production, one in which sustainability is not an afterthought, but an integral part of how the work is created, circulated, and experienced.
The series is generated through custom GLSL shader code and takes inspiration from the pre-cinematic motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge. Algorithmically produced chromatic aberrations—synthetic rather than optical—function as both aesthetic strategy and conceptual lens. They point to attention as a double-edged force: a means of intensification and revelation, but also one of capture, extraction, and control.
More than a century after Muybridge’s investigations into motion, contemporary image-making is deeply entangled with infrastructures of consumption and resource extraction. Proof-of-work cryptocurrency systems heighten this tension, embedding ecological cost within acts of circulation and display. In Flight Studies, the gaze is subtly redirected back toward the viewer. Our appetite for images, data, and uninterrupted visual flow emerges as both generative desire and latent threat. Like birds in open flight, we often move freely while remaining unaware of the invisible systems that shape—and constrain—our possible trajectories.
* FlightStudies 001 — single edition, minted April 2021, acquired by Zack Lieberman
* FlightStudies 002 — single edition, minted April 2021
* FlightStudies 003 — edition of 9, minted April 2021
* FlightStudies 004 — edition of 33, minted April 2021
Extending the ecological ethos of the work into its physical presentation, Flight Studies is exhibited on bespoke digital frames constructed from repurposed electronic waste. Obsolete LCD screens are diverted from landfills and reconfigured as minimalist display objects, transforming discarded technology into contemplative viewing instruments.
Drawing inspiration from the anti-industrial principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, these frames combine metal, wood, and software into hybrid artifacts. Craftsmanship, sustainability, and digital media converge to produce an object with its own material presence—one that foregrounds care, longevity, and environmental responsibility alongside the immaterial circulation of the NFT itself.
This series of works was produced for The FEN, a coordinated CleanNFT drop initiated by curator Juliette Bibasse, visual artist Joanie Lemercier and more than 35 pioneering digital media artists in response to the outrageous greenhouse-gas emissions of CryptoArt releases on the Ethereum blockchain (PoW).
Our goal was to encourage the community to transition their NFTs to a low-energy platform, such as hic et nunc (Tezos Blockchain, PoS). Minting an NFT on hic et nunc has associated emissions equivalent to an email.
As part of this project, The FEN invited each creative to donate 10% of the proceeds to a project of their choice (local project, NGO, activism, etc..).”
For more information please visit thefen.io
Artists include: beesandbombs (Dave Whyte), Memo Akten, Myriam Bleau, Mike Brondbjerg, Cinzia Campolese, Alex J. Champandard, Raphael de Courville, Ali M Demirel, Cadie Desbiens, Zai Divecha, Diane Drubay, Saskia Freeke, Nettrice Gaskins, Han, Auriea Harvey, Mario Klingemann, Joanie Lemercier, Golan Levin, LIA, Zach Lieberman, Shantell Martin, Kelly Richardson, RubenFro, Helena Sarin, Sasha Stiles, Patrick Tresset, Mike Tyka, Universal Everything, Patricio Gonzalez Vivo and Addie Wagenknecht