oldthunder ⚡

CryptoPunk #110 and Autoglyph #25 by Larva Labs are now on view at the West Bund Museum in Shanghai, as part of Computer Worlds, an exhibition spanning 70 years of computer art from the Centre Pompidou collection, alongside works by Vera Molnár, Manfred Mohr, Herbert Franke, and Cory Arcangel. Curator Philippe Bettinelli sent me a photograph from the opening: a little kid who ran across the gallery to hug the Punk. He apologized for the terrible photo, but I think this photo perfect. I recall when the same Punk first went on view at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2023. At the time, the curators were a little nervous about how to present CryptoPunks. They were more accustomed to abstract computer art, and Punks were a strange proposition for a museum; they challenged some pretty fundamental assumptions about what art could or should be. And then a group of teenagers spotted the Punk from across the gallery and ran straight toward it. The curators looked at each other, suddenly reassured. Here was a work they'd spent so much time thinking about how to contextualize, and these kids already had a relationship with it, the Punk quite literally MOVED them. Three years later, a little kid in Shanghai is doing exactly the same thing. And I love how uncomplicated that response is...kids don't run toward art because they've been told it's important. They run toward something they recognize, something that already feels like part of their world. No explanation of the blockchain, no art history, no discussion of ownership or value. Just the simple pleasure of seeing something you love. These little 24×24 pixel portraits have come a long way since 2017, but the instinct to connect with them remains the same. And maybe that's enough?