Yelling at Clouds: On Musée D’Orsay’s First Foray Into NFTs, Arielle Acosta
September 2024
Girl, same.
There’s this great meme from The Simpsons that features a cartoon newspaper clipping with an image of the character Abe, Homer Simpson’s elderly father, angrily shaking his fist at a fluffy white cloud against a flat, blue background. The headline next to the image reads: “Old Man Yells at Cloud”. This meme has been circulating around the internet for years; Know Your Meme database contributors attribute its origins to Joey deVilla, a tech blogger who used the animated still to make a “humorous commentary on cloud computing technology” in 2008.1 A few weeks ago, standing in Musée D’Orsay and wincing at exhibition text, I found myself conjuring the image of Abe Simpson and his troublesome cloud in my mind’s eye.
AGORIA {Le Code de D’Orsay}, ran from the 13th of February to the 10th of March 2024. The exhibition’s posters became a ubiquitous sight in plenty of metro stations around Paris – it featured a photograph of a gentleman, standing on the roof of the Musée D’Orsay at dusk, the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the background. The man holds a fluorescent light like a scepter that illuminates his face, sunglasses, and trendy short-sleeved shirt, whose print radiates what I can only describe as a hypebeast-caucasian-really-into-Japanese-culture vibe. The image is striking, if not reminiscent of a fashion advertisement. I hadn’t thought much of the exhibition until I saw a post on my Instagram feed of a high-production, nine-minute long promotional video produced by the museum. It turns out that the man in the poster is Agoria, a digital artist, music producer and DJ, who is interested in the metaverse and NFTs.2 The video was informative and flashy, and effective in convincing me to see the exhibition in-person. I must confess, I had gone to see it for myself to justify my dislike of bro-y, Silicon Valley buzzwords.
AGORIA {Le Code de D’Orsay}, ran from the 13th of February to the 10th of March 2024. The exhibition’s posters became a ubiquitous sight in plenty of metro stations around Paris – it featured a photograph of a gentleman, standing on the roof of the Musée D’Orsay at dusk, the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the background. The man holds a fluorescent light like a scepter that illuminates his face, sunglasses, and trendy short-sleeved shirt, whose print radiates what I can only describe as a hypebeast-caucasian-really-into-Japanese-culture vibe. The image is striking, if not reminiscent of a fashion advertisement. I hadn’t thought much of the exhibition until I saw a post on my Instagram feed of a high-production, nine-minute long promotional video produced by the museum. It turns out that the man in the poster is Agoria, a digital artist, music producer and DJ, who is interested in the metaverse and NFTs.2 The video was informative and flashy, and effective in convincing me to see the exhibition in-person. I must confess, I had gone to see it for myself to justify my dislike of bro-y, Silicon Valley buzzwords.
Screencap of now-defunct Time Cube website
Agoria, the stage name of Sébastien Devaud, collaborated with Musée D’Orsay and Blockchain software company Tezos to mount the exhibition consisting of two works, and two auxiliary activities: a conference and a DJ set both held on different days at the museum. The first piece that is part of the show, entitled Sigma Lumina, is heralded by an online publication as the museum’s “first NFT exhibition.”3 A metal sculpture resembling a sundial, situated in a small, dark space, is periodically lit in different angles until the work casts a shadow in the shape of a QR code. This in itself was visually striking, spurring the curiosity of visitors. When scanned, the QR code leads to a webpage featuring a blurry picture, where a viewer is encouraged to blow air on their device until an iconic painting from the Musée D’Orsay’s collection becomes clear on their screen. Helpful docents were present in the space to guide this process (docents who have, likely during their entire shift, heard different versions of “What do we do? Oh. Oh! There it is. Now what?” from all types of visitors, locals and tourists alike. bless them). This is supposedly where one can “mint” their free NFT, which viewers who did not want to bother installing a new app on their phone did not claim. Why one had to blow on their phone to reveal a painting seemed unclear from the exhibition wall text.
Found text. Courtesy of the author
The second work, entitled Interpretation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae of The Painter's Studio by Gustave Courbet (2024) is meant to dialogue with an enormous 19th century painting by way of yeast. Agoria is interested in the role that biology plays in “generative art” and collaborated with four microbiologists to create an inexplicable video located to the side of the actual The Painter’s Studio Courbet painting.4 The work is an image of the aforementioned painting, occasionally moving and rippling to reveal a sandy picture of growing yeast cultures meant to “mimic” the artistic development of Courbet, an explanation that strains for profundity. Unfortunately, the work is played on a screen that resembles touch screen maps located in large malls or airports—viewers had approached the work thinking it to be interactive (it wasn’t), touching the display hoping to manipulate the video. After tapping the screen multiple times, making some confused noises, and a final disheartened “tsk”, the older couple standing next to me had walked away from the display muttering that it was broken.
I entered the museum with a level of distrust that, I now admit with some regret, colored how I experienced the exhibition. Like an old curmudgeon, I scrutinized the work through a metaphorical monocle of suspicion. Writing this text now, my skepticism is largely pointed, not at the artist, but at the museum. Musée D’Orsay had extended an invitation to Agoria as part of a larger partnership with Blockchain company Tezos, to encourage new ways of seeing and to attract a younger demographic.6 Christophe Leribault, the museum’s new president, set his eyes on NFTs as a way to attract a larger audience following dwindling visitor numbers caused by the pandemic.7 This begs the question: is this the future that the Musée D’Orsay sees for itself, and for its audience? More importantly, is this the museum’s idea of fostering accessibility and engagement?
The exhibition and its activities clearly indicate D’Orsay’s receptiveness to the evolution of the museum as a space that must be more “accessible and inclusive.”8 Agoria had played the first ever DJ set performed inside the D’Orsay, transforming its iconic train station interiors into a music venue. This openness is admirable, but the museum’s conception of a future that aligns with Silicon Valley values, which are shaped by an insanely wealthy minority, does not sit right with me. If NFTs are a way to bring art to the masses, then why do Agoria’s exhibition wall texts, buzzy with tech industry words like Web3, NFT, and Blockchain, not provide the average museum visitor with enough clarity to truly interact with the work? Pushing for a niche hobby like NFT collecting is mind-boggling. It’s as if the museum operates on the false assumption that as long as something is digital and on the internet, it instantly becomes widely accessible and appealing to young people.
I expressed the following thoughts to my friends and felt like Abe Simpson, a person yelling at a large and nebulous cloud that remained deaf to my protestations. Frankly, I am tired of the tech industry’s Zuckerberg-ian brand of futurism. It grates my nerves to think of a significant amount of capital being invested in the optimization of the so-called metaverse, while a devastating war rages in Palestine, and a feeling of precarity looms over the future. I am 28 years old—many young people have accepted, to varying degrees, an early death due to economic, political, or environmental instability. I do not care about Non-Fungible Tokens. If the Musée D’Orsay and similar institutions are willing to take risks in order to secure the relevance and longevity of its organization, it must start by playing a role in ensuring that humanity will actually see a collective future that isn’t a cruel wasteland. It sounds bleak, but I speak from a place of hope. I am shouting at a cloud not to appeal to the heavens, but to catch the attention of people within earshot.
I entered the museum with a level of distrust that, I now admit with some regret, colored how I experienced the exhibition. Like an old curmudgeon, I scrutinized the work through a metaphorical monocle of suspicion. Writing this text now, my skepticism is largely pointed, not at the artist, but at the museum. Musée D’Orsay had extended an invitation to Agoria as part of a larger partnership with Blockchain company Tezos, to encourage new ways of seeing and to attract a younger demographic.6 Christophe Leribault, the museum’s new president, set his eyes on NFTs as a way to attract a larger audience following dwindling visitor numbers caused by the pandemic.7 This begs the question: is this the future that the Musée D’Orsay sees for itself, and for its audience? More importantly, is this the museum’s idea of fostering accessibility and engagement?
The exhibition and its activities clearly indicate D’Orsay’s receptiveness to the evolution of the museum as a space that must be more “accessible and inclusive.”8 Agoria had played the first ever DJ set performed inside the D’Orsay, transforming its iconic train station interiors into a music venue. This openness is admirable, but the museum’s conception of a future that aligns with Silicon Valley values, which are shaped by an insanely wealthy minority, does not sit right with me. If NFTs are a way to bring art to the masses, then why do Agoria’s exhibition wall texts, buzzy with tech industry words like Web3, NFT, and Blockchain, not provide the average museum visitor with enough clarity to truly interact with the work? Pushing for a niche hobby like NFT collecting is mind-boggling. It’s as if the museum operates on the false assumption that as long as something is digital and on the internet, it instantly becomes widely accessible and appealing to young people.
I expressed the following thoughts to my friends and felt like Abe Simpson, a person yelling at a large and nebulous cloud that remained deaf to my protestations. Frankly, I am tired of the tech industry’s Zuckerberg-ian brand of futurism. It grates my nerves to think of a significant amount of capital being invested in the optimization of the so-called metaverse, while a devastating war rages in Palestine, and a feeling of precarity looms over the future. I am 28 years old—many young people have accepted, to varying degrees, an early death due to economic, political, or environmental instability. I do not care about Non-Fungible Tokens. If the Musée D’Orsay and similar institutions are willing to take risks in order to secure the relevance and longevity of its organization, it must start by playing a role in ensuring that humanity will actually see a collective future that isn’t a cruel wasteland. It sounds bleak, but I speak from a place of hope. I am shouting at a cloud not to appeal to the heavens, but to catch the attention of people within earshot.
Arielle Acosta is interested in museums and cities. She is currently a graduate student under an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters program entitled Managing Art and Cultural Heritage in Global Markets (MAGMa) and is currently living in the EU. She has worked for an auction house, a commercial art gallery, a creative hub, and a chain bookstore; all of which have led her down the unexpected path of honing her skills as (what the internet would call) a “marketing girlie.” Arielle often daydreams about effective cultural and artistic public programs, vibing in the park on a sunny day, good noodles, books, and spending time with her loved ones. She was born and raised in Quezon City, Manila, Philippines.
1. “Old Man Yells at Cloud,” Online Database, Know Your Meme, November 20, 2015, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/old-man-yells-at-cloud.
2. AGORIA Au Musée d’Orsay - Interviews - FR/EN | Musée d’Orsay, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouwCNGSMaBo.
3. Sander Lutz, “Agoria’s ‘Le Code d’Orsay’: Inside the Musée d’Orsay’s First NFT Exhibition,” Decrypt, January 23, 2024, https://decrypt.co/213803/agorias-le-code-dorsay-inside-the-musee-dorsays-first-nft-exhibition.
4. Baptiste Piégay, “French DJ Agoria on the Internet, Biology, and Moving Into the Metaverse — NFT Web3,” Magazine, L’Officiel USA, June 20, 2022, https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/agoria-sebastien-devaud-french-dj-nfts-metaverse-web3.
5. “Exhibition AGORIA { Le Code d’Orsay }” Musée d’Orsay, accessed February 28, 2024, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/agoria-le-code-dorsay.
6. Sander Lutz, “Musée d’Orsay Embraces NFTs in Push to Reach New Audiences,” Decrypt, September 29, 2023, https://decrypt.co/199278/musee-dorsay-embraces-nfts-push-reach-new-audiences.
7. Lutz, “Musée d’Orsay Embraces NFTs in Push to Reach New Audiences.” 8. “Museum Definition,” International Council of Museums, accessed February 29, 2024, https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/.
1. “Old Man Yells at Cloud,” Online Database, Know Your Meme, November 20, 2015, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/old-man-yells-at-cloud.
2. AGORIA Au Musée d’Orsay - Interviews - FR/EN | Musée d’Orsay, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouwCNGSMaBo.
3. Sander Lutz, “Agoria’s ‘Le Code d’Orsay’: Inside the Musée d’Orsay’s First NFT Exhibition,” Decrypt, January 23, 2024, https://decrypt.co/213803/agorias-le-code-dorsay-inside-the-musee-dorsays-first-nft-exhibition.
4. Baptiste Piégay, “French DJ Agoria on the Internet, Biology, and Moving Into the Metaverse — NFT Web3,” Magazine, L’Officiel USA, June 20, 2022, https://www.lofficielusa.com/music/agoria-sebastien-devaud-french-dj-nfts-metaverse-web3.
5. “Exhibition AGORIA { Le Code d’Orsay }” Musée d’Orsay, accessed February 28, 2024, https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/agoria-le-code-dorsay.
6. Sander Lutz, “Musée d’Orsay Embraces NFTs in Push to Reach New Audiences,” Decrypt, September 29, 2023, https://decrypt.co/199278/musee-dorsay-embraces-nfts-push-reach-new-audiences.
7. Lutz, “Musée d’Orsay Embraces NFTs in Push to Reach New Audiences.” 8. “Museum Definition,” International Council of Museums, accessed February 29, 2024, https://icom.museum/en/resources/standards-guidelines/museum-definition/.