Catalog view is the alternative 2D representation of our 3D virtual art space. This page is friendly to assistive technologies and does not include decorative elements used in the 3D gallery.
Silicon Valet is pleased to announce believe in us but not too much, a solo show of work by New Mexico-based artist Adrian Pijoan opening online on March 17th. Consisting of an immersive, virtual environment hosted by New Art City, and accompanied by a series of limited edition 3D and still image artworks sold as NFTs via the Hic et Nunc v2 smart contract, believe in us but not too much both expands upon and chronicles the artist’s forensic analysis and participation in online paranormal phenomenon communities.
For more than a decade, Pijoan has been an active member and devout student of various paranormal fora–particularly those dedicated to extraterrestrial activity and related government conspiracy theories. Over the years, he has accumulated an extensive collection of digital ephemera related to the history of documented alien activity around the world. The result is an esoteric and little known chronology that spans the better half of the last century; an ephemeral record culled from cult blogs, online bulletin boards, and niche social media fan communities. For believe in us but not too much, Pijoan reflects upon his research journey and presents an interactive 3D archive that creates a fantasy chronicle of this history as a virtual landscape.
Over the course of his life, Pijoan has had a number of personal encounters with the paranormal; phenomena that have strengthened the artist’s interest in the relationship between perception and reality. His research efforts, and the artworks and environments that result, materialize in believe in us but not too much as an externalized interior landscape of the self–both affected by and affecting his own understandings of those experiences. Throughout history, folklore has helped people to make sense of and exist in the world: creating alternate realities that allow people to cope with the unknown or unrecognizable. In the context of a contemporary era of hyperreality, where perception is reality and feeling trumps logic, objectiveness loses meaning and what is left behind is what we feel to be true. While pushing at the sharp edge of the role of belief in society, Believe in us but not too much also urges us not to lose our capacity for fantasy in the midst of an, at times, protocol-driven society.
This exhibition represents Silicon Valet’s first solo presentation of an artist with digital editions available for sale. All works will be sold via the artist’s own Hic et Nunc page, with all proceeds going directly to them. Silicon Valet hopes that this curatorial endeavour in the cryptocurrency ecosystem will serve as a replicable model for value creation through curatorial labor, contextualization, and care.
After being teleported inside the space ship from the abduction beam, the user finds themself inside of the flying saucer.
Inside the flying saucer, there are images of all of the NFTs that are for sale. Each one is either a GLB 3D sculpture, or a gif image created by Adrian Pijoan.
Around the spaceship, flashing lights and dancing aliens creating the feeling of a party. The user can fly outside of the spaceship, where a purple starfield greets them. Various symbols, like crop circles, are scattered around the space.
infinite loop video, edition of 10, 2022
No audio. looing video that depicts a 90s computer monitor against a blue background. a number of documents covering paranormal phenomena emerge from the computer, including heavily redacted FOIA documents, UFO photographs, and eyewitness sketches.
infinite loop video, edition of 10, 2022
No audio. video depicts a pair of hands reaching outwards towards a morphing, algorithmically generated landscape that consists of a grassy field with a blue sky overhead. the hands come in and out of focus as a circular rainbow pattern pulsates in the sky. In the center of the rainbow algorithmically generated UFOs morph into one another.
3D object, edition of 51, 2022
3D object, edition of 51, 2022
3D object, edition of 51, 2022
3D object, edition of 51, 2022
Infinite loop video, edition of 10, 2022
No audio. video depicts two grey aliens standing in a bedroom with the floor covered in sand. a UFO hovers overhead and lightning bolts strike the desert floor. through a window we see two juvenile owls. through an open doorway we see two more aliens. in the lower right corner green text reads "HIDDEN TRUTH." as the video loops images and eyewitness sketches of aliens appear and then disappear.
Infinite loop video, edition of 10, 2022
no audio. video shows a pixelated low resolution image of Bigfoot against a pixelated forest. behind the trees are an owl and the moon. throughout the loop, various eye witness sketches of Bigfoot, mothman, and other cryptids pass by the camera. the drawings have a glow effect applied to them so that they glow red or purple.
3D object, edition of 5, 2022
No audio. 3D scan of the head of a white man with curly brown hair. the back of his head has been removed. the bottom of the inside of his head is filled with sand. various cacti grow from the sand amidst red rock features. above this miniature desert a UFO hovers. six aliens dance on top of this UFO. Above that UFO three more UFOs circle in the upper part of the head, casting red and blue lights down onto the aliens dancing below.
3D object, edition of 5, 2022
No audio. 3D object depicts a grey alien head with two disembodied hands. The hands surround a corkboard covered with various paranormal documents including newspaper clippings, screenshots of webpages, UFO photos, and FOIA documents. additional documents fly in circles around the corkboard, forming a vortex of UFO and paranormal documents.