Oviators is an eyewear collaboration with Salvino Armati, launched in December 2023 during Miami's Art Basel week at an address in Wynwood.
It takes an image that lives online, the Opepen silhouette, and puts it on a face in the street.
The glasses have black frameless lenses cut to the Opepen shape. Buyers got a token on Base during a 72-hour release that could be redeemed for the physical eyewear, and on redemption the token would turn into a generative work. Its rule turns the serial number into binary, a half-loop for 1 and a circle for 0, with some number patterns inverting the colors.
In the 1960s Hélio Oiticica made Parangolés, capes meant to be worn and danced in, which only became art when someone put one on and moved. Lygia Clark made masks and goggles that changed how the wearer saw. Oviators belongs with that work you wear. It is a sculpture that needs a body, and here it brings an internet sign out into public space.
Who is looking at whom when the image is the lens?
From token to object
The artist's 8 December 2023 launch post describes a 72-hour release on Base. It announces a physical eyewear redemption and says the token will transform into a generative work when redeemed. That account is more specific than describing the token simply as a receipt.
In April 2024, Butcher explains the proposed image rule: a serial number becomes binary, using a half-loop for 1 and a circle for 0. Certain number patterns invert the canvas colors.1,2
Where it appeared
The launch invitation gives a Wynwood address, 316 NW 25th, and invites visitors to try prototypes. OpenSea's report places the debut during Miami's Art Basel week. Together these identify a presentation outside the fair; they do not establish participation in the Art Basel Miami Beach fair itself.1,3
An image worn in public
The wearer carries a recognizable internet form into everyday space. This distinction keeps a collaboration from being mistaken for the original protocol.
Redemption as a developing process
An 8 April post schedules the claim for 15 April. On 16 April, Butcher reports a bug affecting redemption for credit-card purchases. The chronology documents a delay and the artist's response rather than treating the original first-quarter plan as a completed outcome.2
Development
Launch, December 2023
Notes on the record
- The project's connection to Opepen is visual and social; the evidence reviewed does not give eyewear holders the set-selection powers of Opepen tokens.
Sources and further reading
Artist statements describe intention. Reporting and interviews record different perspectives; exhibition announcements establish specific presentations. How sources are classified.
1. Artist / studio · Selected posts from the downloaded account archive
Oviators: launch and the Wynwood invitation
3 selected posts. The December launch explains redemption and gives the address of the prototype presentation. Original wording and links are preserved; headings and notes are editorial. This is artist testimony, not independent verification.
2. Artist / studio · Selected posts from the downloaded account archive
Oviators: serial numbers, images and redemption
7 selected posts, through 2024-04-16. An April explanation connects serial numbers with binary compositions; a later update records a redemption problem. Original wording and links are preserved; headings and notes are editorial. This is artist testimony, not independent verification.
3. Gallery / platform · Marketplace news digest
This Week in Web3 and NFTs: Jack Butcher, [REDACTED], Flipkart & more
Records the December 8 release and Wynwood presentation; Q1 2024 redemption is a plan in this source, not a completion record.