Art Golden Gai Tower

January 11, 2025 - Nox Gallery / Superchief Gallery

An experimental exhibition in Tokyo, Japan brought me and a tower full of international artists together to transform an abandoned 10-story building. we filled the space with immersive art installations, hosted dynamic parties, and lived on-site until its eventual demolition.

Room 301

Superchief—the first NFT gallery—and Nox, Japan's pioneering NFT space, set the stage for this installation by giving me the third floor of a soon-to-be-demolished building in Shibuya. Being one of the last people onboarded to the tower, I was left with a mere day and a half to finish everything in my room before the public opening. I began by embracing pure destruction—gathering construction gear and hammers, I tore everything I could down, then started to paint. Amidst the ruins emerged the twin indiGO Kids, wearing “deconstruction” uniforms as a symbol of dismantling all outdated structures that no longer serve us. Yet, they both peacefully smile and bow in respect for all that has come before them, for it is due to the history of the structure that they can even stand there at all. This installation further reflects our role as disruptors, disruption within Japan, the art and traditional finance world as NFT creators and web3 users, and a disruption of the literal building itself. On so many levels, I felt the people within the tower were vessels of drastic change and disruption within Tokyo. However, attesting to the bow of the indiGO Kids in my painting, the artists within Golden Gai showed both respect and disregard for tradition simultaneously in their values. Traditional painters, sculptors, and photographers occupied rooms directly next to digital and memetic artists spawned from deep internet culture. More juxtaposition could be seen in the cultural exchange between Eastern and Western cultures. musicians, for example, would perform during events following the public opening, featuring traditional Japanese musicians, shibari performances, and tea ceremonies, somehow paired with highly experimental, Western-inspired rock, metal, and hip-hop performances. The Art Golden Gai Tower was a cultural exchange and cosmic beacon of both harmony and disruption within the heart of Tokyo, and what felt like the world.

The building was shown for a month, and the art progressed with performances, music, and raves happening every day often simultaneously. during this time the art in my room evolved as I permitted attendants to grab hammers from the floor and destroy the room further. all the way until the final destruction of the Golden Gai Building.

The numbers covering the indiGo kids’ helmets and room represent the numerical code within all things, revealed through the cracks of the material world. and stand for the “Numerology Foundation” group which sponsored the installation with their recently launched token $Number.

Notably Japanese attendance had strong impressions to the composition of the bowing figures, most likely due to the fact that I sampled the pose from the Iconic construction signs prevalent at every site, showing a bowing construction worker appologizing for the inconvenience of their work, It was fascinating to see it get recognize immediately by locals, while western attendance didn’t seem to notice