Harm van den Dorpel

Indiscreet Units (Maldives)

Indiscreet Units by Harm van den Dorpel is a group of more than 266 hue-rotating flags, stored on the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS. This is a project about the indeterminacy of color, and that variability as a metaphor for larger social and political forces. Each NFT in the series is the official flag design for nations (and related entities) around the world. The project asks: Is there a perfect or ideal version of a flag? How far is too far, when it comes to color? This work also learns from art history, and the influential work of Josef Albers, whose color research showed how context and proximity are hugely influential on our perception of colors. One color surrounded by another dramatically alters how the central color is seen, almost like a visual illusion. These flags are intended as a provocation to countries, and a metaphorical blurring of borders—a disruption of the categorical certainty that national boundaries suggest. 

This particular NFT, titled Indiscreet Units (Maldives), is particularly relevant as the  country has become a key symbolic example of the direct impact of climate change, and may be the world’s first endangered country. By current predictions, 80% of the Maldives will be underwater by 2050 due to sea-level rise. Ethereum and other popular blockchains are involved in serious energy and resource consumption, and while they may not be directly to blame for climate change, some point to the environmental impact as the greatest argument against NFTs. Art in all its forms and formats speaks to key political issues of the moment, and the undulating colors of the Maldives flag seem to suggest a changing tide, and a shifting status.