THE SITE Divine Interventions: OM (Open Metaverse)

Divine Interventions (DIs) are doorways into THE SITE, sculpted across the Earth and the Map of the Internet. The doorways blur the link between the symbol and subject, tracing it to the Greek word, σύμβολον symbolon, meaning ‘token’ from σύν syn ‘together’ and βάλλω bállō ‘I throw, put,’ to recalibrate the récit as well as the late Total Work of Art (Gesamtkunstwerk) of artists such as Hermann Nitsch, for the Information Age. Using them, visitors can gain access into THE SITE, enjoying a life-time membership of the Absent Community…

Those familiar with THE SITE’s premier Total Work of Art, MAN IN THE SOUND OF GOD (MENSCH) by ARIAN Bagheri Pour Fallah, known mononymously as ARIAN, would also know about its permanent Oncyber exhibition. The site-specific artwork approaches site-specificity ‘in the neuter’, with past and forthcoming exhibitions in London, Zürich, New York, and Miami. And while the Metaverse as such is of little literary or technical interest to THE SITE, which opts not for the physical space but Mesa (within/below), the function of Divine Interventions (DIs) is to enable entrance—not only through ownership, but more importantly, authorship.

ARIAN Bagheri Pour Fallah, Audistis Omnes (2021)

A doorway into MENSCH’s Oncyber exhibit is THE SITE’s latest Divine Intervention (DI), after Ars Electronica, RAI, JPG, and Deca. The doorway can be found in OM (Open Metaverse). Much like all DIs, it is a purposely inconspicuous door, known only to those willing to enter THE SITE. This is in line with the broader ethos-governed structure of THE STIE, which departs from both free and token-gated structures (DAOs/OAOs et al.) of the transient, progressive Web (web2/3/X) in favor of ethos (character) per the timeless, transgressive Web (web0).

Rather than mint a purely symbolic proof of attendance protocol (POAP) after their visit, visitors can immediately enter THE SITE, freely minting an Apparition, which corresponds to the role of the same name, with the token itself designed to Uncoil a painting by ARIAN. THE SITE does not police the visitors’ claims using POAPs etcetera. Instead, once inside, through a variety of gamified but inherently artistic means, it allows its members to level down their characters as they choose. It is a privilege to be in THE SITE—and with the Academy in place, THE SITE of Pythagoras has the potential to educate even its most vile members, transforming them into artists. Enforcement is a sign of weakness. Or as we say in web0, ‘code is law, man is lawless.’ Like Dillinger, like Nero.

JOSEPH Beuys, Notice to Guests (1974)

The doorway can be found directly using this link, in the NFT Asia Neighborhood in OM. The choice of NFT Asia was important to THE SITE as the continent was by and large left out of ‘web3,’ something at odds with its strong presence in THE SITE, most notably, Fukaya (深谷市)’s importance as a geo-temporal site for THE BLUNDER OF A HORSE, one of the earliest THE SITE initiatives.

OM, Oncyber and NFT Asia were all among the +100 web3 entities researched as part of the ethnographies conducted during GENESIS. They are laudable for their attempts to provide concrete alternatives to the recentralizing of the Metaverse as we know it. THE SITE remains focused on establishing a direct rapport between bits and atoms.

To freely mint and claim your Apparition, use this link.

Visitors can but are not required to document their visits anywhere in the World or on the Internet using #EnterTHESITE w/ additional hashtags #THESITE #DivineInterventions #DIs to level down.

View from the permanent MENSCH exhibit (Oncyber)

Closing reminder: THE SITE is not a Twitter account, a Discord server, a DAO or even a Network State, but a mythical, absent community. THE SITE is a work of art unto itself, and while symbolically present on over 40 platforms and places whether IRL or on the Internet, including but not limited to Discord, Instagram, Twitter, etcetera, it is equivalent to neither of those, and actively encourages and rewards its members to ‘exit.’ THE SITE’s structural architecture precedes the Network State, DAOs, OAOs, and the like, going back to years of ethnographic and artistic practice across the globe, from Rome to Palau to New York, case in point, with THE BLUNDER OF A HORSE. You can access ARIAN’s longform essay on geo-temporal dispersion and mythical decentralization of the Pythagoreans, here; and its distilled but extended modulation in THE SITE’s Blackpaper, fully on-chain.