A Magazine curated by

A Magazine Curated By presents our first NFT project entitled D.I.Y. Butterfly, which debuted last weekend during Paris Art Week. The artwork, a collaboration between French upcycling designer Vanille Verloës and French CGI artist Dylan Da Silva, is inspired by the D.I.Y. Sock Sweater published inside A Magazine Curated By Maison Martin Margiela, 2004. Verloës appropriates the original pattern and concept of the bricolage sweater, applying her own aesthetic principles to transform its minimalist foundations with a kaleidoscope of butterflies.

The creation of DIY Butterfly raises a dichotomy between Margiela’s open source dissemination of the instructions and the artwork’s actual configuration as an NFT. The rise of popularity among artists in making NFTs can be partially attributed to its safeguarding of artist’s rights. While ownership can and does quickly change hands, credit and royalties permanently remain going towards the creator. In traditional art sales, visual artists generally do not take a cut out of resales nor receive future royalties, unlike musicians or novelists.

In a show of two way subversion, DIY Butterfly privatises Margiela’s open source with Verloës’ upcycling in generating the NFT. The juxtaposition is further enhanced with Da Silva’s elaborate 360° video work as iridescent hues and butterfly wings flutter around the virtual garment, blurring the lines between the physicality of Verloës’ upcycling practice, the Maison Martin Margiela’s ‘meta-fashion’ principles, and the post-internet aesthetics and politics surrounding first-wave NFT artworks.

1.500 €

All proceeds from the sale of DIY BUTTERFLY will benefit Sea-Watch.org

Special thanks to Ground Effect, Paris