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An Exhibition of Photographs, and a long term experiment with NFTs

Artist Laura Diffenderfer offers an exhibition of photographs, “It Won’t Be This Way Forever,” at Opus 40 in Saugerties, NY August 11–September 30. Opening reception on Saturday, August 13 from 4pm-6pm.

The photographs, which feature Cuban dancers, ask viewers to pause in in-between moments—the ones we want to last forever, the ones we want to pass quickly, and moments of uncertainty and change. “Many of us feel like we are suspended in time in some kind of transition right now given Covid-19, which has been particularly destabilizing to the dance community, and to Cuba,” says Diffenderfer. The photographs feature dancers not on stage, but in quiet moments of transition in the studio and in the wings of a theater. 

Since 2012, Diffenderfer has made more than a dozen trips to Cuba, capturing the movement and the mood of a group of Havana’s contemporary dancers. This show includes a selection of intimate photographs of one of Cuba’s best dance troupes — Malpaso Dance Company — taken over several years.

The show’s title, “It Won’t Be This Way Forever,” also nods to the American understanding of Cuba—that the island is “suspended in time” due to its 1950s cars and fading pastel building facades. “When people heard I’d been traveling back and forth to Cuba, many people shared that they also hope to visit the island before it changes. As I came to understand more about Cuba, this sentiment, while understandable, started to make me uncomfortable. A large part of why Cuba looks so nostalgic to us is a result of the U.S. Embargo, which prevents trade between the two nations,” says Diffenderfer. The last time Cuba could import American cars was 1962, when the embargo—the longest in modern U.S. history—began. 

But, you won’t see pastel colors or classic cars in this series of photographs. Diffenderfer says she wanted to turn attention toward a resource that Cuba has in spades: extraordinarily special dancers.     

The photographs will be available for purchase, with a portion of each sale benefiting Malpaso Dance Company, which operates independently from the Cuban government. 

Further reflecting on our human desire for the everlasting, and the reality that all things are ever-changing, one pair of photographs in the series will be sold in two different ways: the first pair as an NFT, and the second through an agreement on paper. Both pairs will be sold with smart contracts which stipulate how artists will benefit from the first sale, and each future sale (Malpaso and Diffenderfer will receive percentages each time). One sale will be agreed to by contract, while the other will be programmed into the NFT, allowing payments to be executed automatically. This experiment aims to explore which method of exchange will work best—and for whom—over time.   

“There is a lot of discussion about collectives and trust when blockchain—the underlying system through which NFTs are sold—is described. It’s been referred to as a new architecture for trust, where ownership of something is not mediated through an institution, but is logged forever in a ledger that is collectively maintained. It tries to solve the problem of a lack of trust in institutions and governments with technology. NFTs can be programmed in interesting ways to provide automatic payments to artists when a work is resold, allowing them to participate in the art market in new ways. But, how exactly this will all work in the future is unknown. In many ways, I think of blockchain as a kind of utopian hope for trust, community, and things that do not change—and for a system in which people are less exploited. The rhetoric around this new system reminds me of how we talked about democracy in the United States when I was growing up, and the way I imagine some felt about socialism in Cuba when it began. The question is, will blockchain offer us access to more community, freedom, and trust? Can we trust computers more than humans—or at least groups more than individuals? Is the opposite true? Will blockchain offer artists new ways of creating a sustainable life? Will it provide collectors with more value? Or, is blockchain most useful as a metaphor for our desire for community, for trust, and for a more equitable way of organizing resources in society,” says Diffenderfer. 

If this all sounds heady, rest assured that the photographs are poetic not pedantic. 

Caroline Crumpacker, the Executive Director of Opus 40 noted, “We are delighted to showcase these remarkable photos by Laura Diffenderfer as we close out our 2022 gallery season. Hers is a deeply thoughtful lens onto a fascinating dance company that we would love to welcome to Opus 40 at some time in future, hopefully also ushering in a moment of more fluid international artistic exchange.

The exhibition will run from August 11–September 30, 2022. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, August 13 from 4pm-6pm, including an artist talk, drinks, and music. Tickets to the reception are offered on a sliding scale. Visit https://opus40.org/events/gallery-openings/ or email info@opus40.org for more.