Marco Brambilla’s newest NFT is the third he has released this year. Composed of audio samples and sound bites sourced from various interviews, viewers are confronted with avatars of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who obscurely try to decode the future of cryptocurrency.

The general public may only know of the Winklevoss twins as the Harvard “row bros” played by Armie Hammer in The Social Network (2010), or heard of their unsuccessful lawsuit against Mark Zuckerburg—and the resulting $65 million settlement—in 2008. But this is not where their story ends. The Winklevii, as the brothers are more popularly known as, were early investors in cryptocurrency and are now ostensibly Bitcoin billionaires. Brambilla's NFT is not a criticism of the brothers, nor is it an adoration of their achievements, but a simple portrayal of major players in the crypto world.

Why turn the Winklevii into an NFT?

Brambilla’s previous NFT, Partial Equilibrium, appropriates, interrogates and recontextualizes the first American readymade—Jeff Koons’ One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank. As part of Brambilla’s ongoing look at cultural phenomena, Partial Equilibrium was essentially a comment on the language of the art world and the readymade.

The Winklevoss NFT uses that same spirit to investigate the language of finance through two of its biggest players. “There are these buzzwords that are used in finance and motivational speakers now promise great wealth,” says Brambilla. “I looked at some of the interviews and talks by the Winklevoss twins and they have a very narrow range of emotion. There were many similarities in the words they were using.”

Brambilla cites that in the same way “greed is good” became an axiom for traders in the Nineties, today’s financial community have developed a series of phrases to create their own lexicon, which we we whipping around the twins’ 3D modelled head.

So, what is actually happening in this NFT?

“The twins resemble a Greco-Roman boss,” Brambilla says of Winklevii: Bigger Than Both of Us. “Their values activate the sculpture, it feeds the avatar, and then they become a vortex of frantic expression.” As their dialogue builds with optimism and fervor their heads spin into a version of themselves more attuned to the ancient mythological creature, Cerberus: the three headed guard dog of Hades.

Mythology and the collective consciousness is a thematic thread that needles its way through Brambilla’s thought-provoking art. Whether he’s borrowing from An American in Paris, Wizard of Oz, or Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase No. 3, Brambilla mines pop culture only to reflect modern society back on itself. 

“Films were meant to allow you to escape The Great Depression,” says Brambilla on the evolution of entertainment. “If you were watching theater at the turn of the century, they were burning ships on stage. Now, we’re in this moment where tech has been unleashed in every aspect of life. It has a destabilizing effect on the collective consciousness.” 

Is NFT art even art?

“Just like Dada was a fuck you to conventional systems, NFTs are doing the same. There’s no legitimate reason to say this is not art if an artist says it is. Now money is coming out of the market there’s also better work going into in. It’s attracted figures like Urs Fischer, Tom Sachs, and the work of new artists who would never be seen in a gallery.”

Naturally, the traditional art world has met cryptoart with some skepticism but Brambilla assures us that good artists will always win out, no matter the platform. “All the things people were skeptical about were already happening in the art world before NFTs arrived. There has always been “good” and “bad” art. NFT art is not something invasive that is going to corrupt the industry."

What makes “good” cryptoart then?

“There has to be some emotion. It would be boring to show a video installation in a gallery and then decide to make it an NFT. Recently, we’ve got lost in a technological labyrinth of immersive installations. That’s the noise that’s being released, that’s just a kind of generic material. For me, good art has to have an intention and a conceptual underpinning. The subject matter tends to be about tech. It’s a celebration of the new lexicon of cryptocurrency and a visual reflection of how things have become more entropic. It’s not just about technique, graphics, or animation. There’s a message, emotion, soul."

Winklevii: Bigger Than Both of Us will be released on SuperRare to coincide with the twin’s 40th birthday on August 21, 2021 and is Verisart certified