Very short experimental films on the faces and personalities of concepts and entities.

You Can Name It and You Can Make It Exist, You Can Abandon It, And You Can Burn It If You Want!

“Eidōla” by Kaybid

→ From “Silent Steps” to “Eidola”

→ Since 2018, I have been making collages of small-sized wild animals on the streets of cities. To this day, I have made over 400 unique collages and have worked with more than 30+ different animal species. When you view the photos of these collages one after another, you see that the animals are walking. I mint these works of mine on SuperRare. You can see the ones that I have minted on SuperRare. And you can also read the details of the Silent Steps project here: FROM CONCRETE BLOCKS TO CRYPTO BLOCKS, Street Art Becomes Crypto Art with Kaybid

The seeds of the Eidōla project, which I had planted six years ago, have reached their present form after many names, techniques, and material trials to this day. In fact, the Eidōla project has also been a source of inspiration for the “Silent Steps” series. Because; I was making my collages in the “Silent Steps” series by tear apart the paintings I made while researching Eidōla. Last year, when I started working on the Eidōla series again; I began with a basic philosophical concept. The idea and its essence; a concept, an idea, and its essence; and the image of this essence. The face of a spirit, or the face of a concept. How would a concept gaze at us and how would we see it?

→ In the Eidōla series, I worked with emotions, concepts, and entities; and tried to capture the images that may represent their essences. What if ideas, concepts, or feelings had faces, and they looked at us through these? What would they look like? As I searched for answers to these questions, I documented my process and connected them through animated gifs and videos. In the videos, you witness the emergence of each Eidōlon and a part of how it came to being and you're watching little clues about their personality.

Each Ediola has its own unique story. You can watch the NFTs like a short film and get more ideas about Eidōla. You can find information about their passions, weaknesses, traumas, personalities. In a sense, with these short films, a character analysis of a concept was made and a short story about them was revealed.

The project explores the faces and expressions of emotions, concepts, situations, thoughts, and things by doing the physical painting. I, as the artist, perform a special ritual for this. The work itself consists of a total of 7 frames. In a sense, the project creates a fulcrum in which classical painting, video art, animation, short movie, and NFT are intertwined. 

In fact, these works, within a period of 40-45 seconds; It also includes the basic elements of cinematic narration such as character analysis, personality and identity, introduction, development and conclusion. In these experimental works, which you can watch like a short film; I tried to fit a story, a point of view, a character into their time. I aimed to give a personality to his concept, to give it a story, and to create a short drama by taking into account his feelings.

"Contact" 
Edition 1 of 1, MPEG4, 41.4 MiB, 41 s 40 ms, 2246 x 1592 px

→ Capturing the spirit of concepts

→ I choose the concept I want to work with. I begin meditating about that concept. I try to imagine what kind of story it might have, what would it be like if it had a personality, would it have any past traumas, strengths, and weaknesses.

Then I begin making sketches of these thoughts. This is what I mean by the ritual. Here I try my best to not interfere with the image and allow for it to emerge on its own. In order to allow for this, I make my impression only on the first one. All the others are made by the mono-printing technique of the first one onto the others cyclically. 

Eventually, when the Eidōla emerges the final image appears with the finishing touches I make on the first painting. Then I bring together all seven images; I make a video that hints at the creation backstory of the Eidōla through the image of the spirit of the personality of the captured Eidōla. These videos tell the story of Eidōlon almost like a short film. Like a fairy tale.

First collectors of the work will have access to the physical with all seven frames superimposed and framed in a housing. Every artwork has its own unique web page which portrays the frames that constitute the physical work of art and a minted NFT.

→ Naming anything is of the utmost importance in all cultures and traditions.

Special ceremonies and rituals are organized for this. In ancient cultures, members of the society pass various tests to earn their names and are named based on their achievements. The name of a newborn grandchild is whispered into their ears by their grandparents. New discoveries are named after the person who made the discovery. Humans evolved as oral beings. They exist as they name themselves and their surroundings, and they create meaning as they continue to give names.

After the genesis work of the Eidōla that are minted, the collectors of the pieces will be able to propose a concept for the next artwork that I will create and so offer a name. As each Eidōlon owner names the next Eidōlon, we will witness the birth of a new Eidōlon. So they can name the next mint. (Of course, this will be possible only on the precondition that the suggested name is in line with the project) This will enable communication and a bond between the collectors. They can acquire works named by each other. Thus, collectors will also be included for the project.  A chain will be formed with the names, connecting the stories of the spirits through their collectors.

In fact, the project will have handed over the indefinite line between creation and destruction to the collector's hands. What kind of Eidola will emerge will be visible through time and coincidences, rituals, and most importantly, the trigger name given by the collector.

→ The collectors who request the physical artwork will have the option to burn it.

Although to be honest, I am not looking forward to their destruction. By burning the artwork, the collector will be able to set the spirit, that was once captured within the frame of an A4-paper, free. By giving them this option, I am aiming that the collector will form a different sort of bond with the concept that they adopted. Hence when they are picking the next concept they will have the freedom to pick a specific concept just as I as the artist have the choice for the genesis Eidōla series that I’ve created. 

 If the collector chooses to burn the artwork and let the spirit free, they have to film the process and we will put this also on the website of the artwork as a ritual. By this manner, we will be able to track the life cycle of each Eidōlon.

At the same time, if the collectors prefer, I can handle this liberation task for them too. Or they can choose to leave the physical copy behind or they can ask me to use the artworks as material for the street collages of my "Silent Steps" series. This way, the Eidōlon will reincarnate in a sense and turn into the spirit of a wild animal wandering the streets of the cities.

You can think of this as a game. It is a game that is played between the physical and the digital, the spiritual and the material, of ownership and loss, of choices and progress. So what concept follows the generation of the first Eidōla and how do they play with the existing Eidōla? 

The existential story between the creation or destruction of a new work will not only be a story of the work but also the story of the collector. I have absolutely no idea what image will be generated from this concept, and what the video will look like; I don’t yet know what the story will be. Yet I am very excited to see the process continue. This, we will witness together.

And thank you very much for joining the game!
Best,
Kaybid