Kirk Finkel

Kirk Finkel [untitled, xyz] is a Brooklyn-based artist and virtual architect. His work investigates metaverse architecture through modular design concepts with a focus on virtual art galleries and public spaces. Prior to xyz, he practiced as an urban designer in New York. Kirk is the Director of Architecture at the Museum of Crypto Art. He holds a master’s degree in urban design (MsAUD) from Columbia University and a bachelor’s of architecture (BArch) from Cornell University.

Coincidence or sign of fate? The celebration of the Olympic Games coincides with that of Halving, an event specific to the Bitcoin community which is also celebrated every four years since its first edition in 2012.

Kirk Finkel, aka "untitled, xyz", looks ahead to the year 2140, the last Halving event. He imagines that technological progress and overdeveloped brains have stifled the notion of physical well-being: our relationship with the body is no longer the same, and sport is a forgotten practice, replaced by intellectual competition. So much so that the celebration of the Olympic Games has merged with Halving: competitions take place in virtual worlds, where athletes are avatars with augmented intelligence. The artist proposes a complex imaginary construction reminiscent of the impossible structures of the artist M. C. Escher. His columns have lost their supporting function, seeking a new role, trying out new tasks: filling gaps, punctuating surfaces, becoming bridges (obsolete since the avatar is capable of leaping great distances) or pedestals (useless since nothing will be placed on them). One thing's for sure, these columns remain a familiar and reassuring part of the scenery in a world where all the rules have changed.

An immersive environment on Hyperfy accompanies the work:  https://hyperfy.io/2140/ . A challenge is proposed, consisting of moving one's avatar through a three-dimensional labyrinthine structure. Those who find their way out are rewarded with an NFT: mental performance wins the award here.

Representative of the Web3 generation, convinced by the participative and cohesive dimension of the Internet of the future, Kirk Finkel sees the metaverse as an opportunity to rethink how we consider architecture, in a more reactive, creative, flexible and participative way. Virtual architect of the Museum of Cryptoart’s 40 rooms (museumofcryptoart.com), displaying a variety of styles featuring a welcome, unbridled imagination, as well as the initiator of a village on Hyperfy (where designers from all over the globe can participate), untitled, xyz yearns for these new philosophies of working and creating to inspire architectural practices IRL.