Thomas Webb (artist)

Last updated

Thomas Webb
Tom-london-profile.jpg
Official Press Shot
Born
Thomas Webb

(1991-12-11) 11 December 1991 (age 32)
Ashford, Kent, UK
Occupation(s)Artist, creative hacker
Website http://webb.site

Thomas Webb (born Thomas Webb; 11 December 1991) is a contemporary artist, hacker, video game developer, TEDx speaker and magician. [1] The theme of his work explores how society interacts with technology and the effect of social media and AI on mental health. [2] His artwork is programmed into electronic installations using real-time data sources, AI and computer algorithms. [3] [4]

Contents

Early life

Webb grew up in Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. As a child, he attended Friars School which later became Ashford School. He enjoyed playing video games and has said that he had an early interest in magic. At age 11, Webb started Karate at his local JKA dojo. In December 2006 he passed his black belt grading in Walton on Thames aged 15. [5] A few weeks later he was selected to represent his country in the JKAE Karate squad. [6] He was selected to represent England in the French International Championships which took place early in December 2007 in Le Touquet in France. Tom received a gold medal in the U.18's kumite category. [7] Webb also competed in Slovenia for the European karate championships where he placed in the final 5 earning him sponsorship from Adidas. [8] He then attended St Edmund's School in Canterbury. Whilst there he hacked the school's computer network. [4] He later attended Norton Knatchbull School in Ashford before attending Highworth Grammar School 6th Form where he was House Captain. [9] He founded [10] internet radio station filth.fm, [11] which in 2011 was voted best radio station at the DMA's. [12] At 18 Webb was billed as a warm up act alongside Hadouken!, Caspa and Chip and [13] in 2010 he was the warm up act/DJ for Chase and Status. [14]

Worldwide Webb

Webb is the founder of the popular metaverse and MMORPG Worldwide Webb, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain. The release of the digital world occurred in November 2021, following a primitive version of the game being released in 2020 at the KÖNIG GALERIE in Berlin as a solo show entitled "An Exercise in Hopeless Nostalgia: Worldwide Webb". [15] Art & Culture outlet MuserMeku said that "while Thomas Webb's works in the digital König gallery refer to the grievances of our world and society, which are dominated by technology corporations, the game itself shows how it could be if data is not used for profit but for the benefit of the user." [16] The exhibited version of the game featured in a collection curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and was later nominated for a Webby Award, [17] while the full version of the game has risen to be the 6th largest metaverse by land sales as of May 2022. [18] According to Venture Capital fund Andreessen Horowitz, secondary sales of land in Worldwide Webb have totalled $42 million. [18] Notable owners of Worldwide Webb land include digital artist Pak, [19] who holds the record for the most expensive NFT sale, and musician Mike Shinoda. [20]

America's Got Talent and magic career

At the age of 16 Webb became interested in close-up magic tricks and found a restaurant willing to let him perform. Etienne Pradier heard of his performances and invited him to learn advanced close up magic. Webb's audition was broadcast in Episode 1204 under the stage name Tom London. His Judge Cuts performance was in Episode 1207. Webb's performance was not strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals, eliminating him from the competition instead of Eric Jones. In an interview with Metro, he said that he had thought about doing Britain's Got Talent for a long time but decided to audition for America's Got Talent as he thought the show would help him more with his dream of performing in Las Vegas. [21] In 2017 Webb delivered a keynote for WIRED magazine on combining technology and magic as an art form to explain the possibilities of VR, drones and robotics. [22] [23] He programmed an Amazon Echo to perform mind reading tricks and built drones that could perform the three card monte card trick. When asked about his inspirations for creating magic with technology Webb refers to Marco Tempest and French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. [24]

Keynote speaking

In 2018 he delivered a TEDxBerlin talk on creative hacking [1] and a TEDxBucharest talk on hacking the internet to create real-time art. [25]

Art career

In July 2018 Webb held his debut art exhibition 'STRANGERS' at Woodbury House gallery in Soho. [26] The exhibition was attended by Professor Green, Jamal Edwards and Reggie Yates. [27] Webb's work focuses on using endlessly looping video game programs that use real-time data and algorithms to express his views. He pulls data from various internet sources such as social media and NASA's api's. [28] To create his video-game like computer simulations, Webb created a digital infinity mirror. [29] In 2019 Webb created an installation for Valentino during Art Basel in Switzerland. [30] Webb was awarded the new media prize at the 2019 Ashurst emerging artist of the year competition for his piece "depressed twitter". The creation of the piece was described by The Face magazine as "looking at making us feel less alone". [31]

Directing

In March 2019 Webb wrote and directed a fashion film for Valentino and Mytheresa. The film was a part of a series of installations and artworks created for the collaboration. [32] He was named as one of Saatchi & Saatchi's 2019 class of New Creators during a showcase at Cannes Lions festival for his short film "STRANGERS". [33] The film features a real-time art piece typewriting tweets about depression. [34]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigil</span> Magical symbol

A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. The term usually refers to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashford United F.C.</span> Association football club in England

Ashford United F.C. are an English football club based in Ashford, Kent. The 'new' United was formed in 2011, resurrecting the name used by the town's football club between 1891 and 1907. Following the demise of the original Ashford United club in 1907 and through to 1928 Ashford was represented by Ashford Railway Works FC and after that between 1930 and 2010 by Ashford Town F.C. The current club is effectively a 'phoenix club' having risen from the ashes of the financial ruin of its predecessor. Although not a supporter owned club, like most non-league clubs, it relies on contributions of volunteers and supporters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monochrom</span>

Monochrom is an international art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993, and defines itself as "an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism". Its main office is located at Museumsquartier/Vienna.

This timeline of magic is a history of the performing art of illusion from B.C. to the present.

Quick-change is a performance style where a performer changes quickly, usually within seconds, from one costume into another.

Val Valentino is an American magician. Valentino is best known for starring in the television show Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, where he exposes the methods behind numerous classic magic tricks and illusions on the Fox network. In the specials, he used the stage name the Masked Magician and concealed his true identity by wearing a mask with a squid like design, being aware of the stigma amongst the magic community with publicly exposing tricks. As the finale to the final special, Valentino revealed his identity as the Masked Magician, garnering some notoriety amongst the magic community, and instigating several lawsuits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopinath Muthukad</span> Indian magician, escapologist, life coach, and motivational speaker

Gopinath Muthukad is an Indian magician and motivational speaker from Kerala. He employs magic as a medium to convey his messages to public. Muthukad founded the world's first magic academy, The Academy of Magical Sciences, and first magic museum, Magic Planet at Thiruvananthapuram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Pitchford</span> American businessman, co-founder, president and CEO of Gearbox Software

Randy Pitchford is an American businessman. He co-founded the video game development studio Gearbox Software in 1999 and was president and CEO for the company until 2021, upon which he became CEO and president of Gearbox's parent company, The Gearbox Entertainment Company. In 2016, Pitchford became the owner of the Academy of Magical Arts publication Genii magazine. Pitchford purchased the Hollywood Magic Castle in April 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Rolè</span>

Brian Rolè is an active international Maltese magician and illusionist. He was born on Malta's sister island Gozo in 1972 and became a full-time professional magician in 2000. Currently Brian is one of the most popular magicians in Malta due to his regular grand scale illusion shows and various television appearances. Usually he performs with his partner Lola Palmer under the stage name The Palmers. He is a full member of The Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians as well as the Malta Magician's Society IBM Ring 202 the International Society of Magicians and most recently in 2020 the Society of American Magicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yutaka Yaguchi</span> Japanese karateka (1932–2023)

Yutaka Yaguchi was a Japanese karateka who was the Chief Instructor and Chairman of the International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF) Mountain States Region. He was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1932 and began karate training in 1952. He later tested under masters Gichin Funakoshi for his 1st dan black belt and Masatoshi Nakayama for his 2nd through 8th dan black belts. As one of the first graduates of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) Instructors' Training Program in 1959, he played an important role in the growth of JKA karate and the internationalization of Shotokan karate. Yaguchi first arrived in the United States on June 5, 1965. In 1974, Yaguchi founded the ISKF of Colorado, the regional headquarters for the Mountain States Region.

Dean Alan Carnegie is an American stage magician, escape artist and painter. He has appeared on numerous television programs and has performed for three different US Presidents. He is called 'The Artist of Mystery'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magic (illusion)</span> Performing art involving the use of illusion

Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close-up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.

Behance, stylized as Bēhance, is a social media platform owned by Adobe whose main focus is to showcase and discover creative work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray SawChuck</span> Canadian magician

Murray John Sawchuck is a stage illusionist, magician, comedian, actor, and host. Based in Las Vegas, SawChuck has dubbed himself "The 'Dennis the Menace' of Magic," and his shows often consist of a blend of "comical mishaps" that result in illusions and magic tricks. He was featured in the fifth season of America's Got Talent, and is the resident magic historian on Pawn Stars. SawChuck has also appeared as a magic coach on five episodes of the VH1 series Celebracadabra, and has been a guest star on shows such as Reno 911!, Last Comic Standing, Celebrity Blind Date, War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, and Ring of Darkness.

Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) was founded by Keigo Abe in 1999. Abe was a former instructor graduate of the Japan Karate Association and trained and taught at the JKA Headquarters for nearly 35 years. He held a number of senior positions within the JKA and latterly the Matsuno section of the JKA. He had been a senior student of Nakayama and as such the teachings of Nakayama remain an integral part of the evolution of the Shotokan style within the JSKA. Abe Sensei died on December 20, 2019. And he was awarded a posthumous 10th Dan by the JSKA Shihankai on his passing. The current Chief Instructor is Mitsuru Nagaki, 9th Dan, a student of Abe and former instructor with the Japan Karate Shotorenmei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek DelGaudio</span> American interdisciplinary artist

Derek DelGaudio is an American interdisciplinary artist, primarily known as a writer, performer and magician.

Benjamin Hart is an English magician. In 2007, he was awarded the "Young Magician of the Year" award by The Magic Circle. Hart has worked on British television and is an inventor and designer of magic tricks and stage illusions. In 2014, he starred in Killer Magic on BBC Three. Hart was a finalist on Britain's Got Talent in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shin Lim</span> Canadian-American magician

Liang-Shun Lim, known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand. He is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during which he remains silent with the tricks set to music. He is self-taught, having learned most of his skills from watching YouTube, and has in turn shared some of his own techniques in videos on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collins Key</span> American YouTuber and magician

Collins Key is an American YouTuber, entertainer, and magician. As of December 2020, his channel has amassed more than 24 million subscribers, generating more than 170 million views per month with over 5.4 billion total lifetime views. As a magician, he was a finalist on the eighth season of America's Got Talent, and later toured as part of Demi Lovato's Neon Lights tour.

References

  1. 1 2 "Moon Shot". 3 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "'Exercise in Hopeless Nostalgia,' Thomas Webb's Virtual Exhibition at König Galerie, is a Hopeful Vision for Art's Future". Forbes .
  3. ↑ "Digital Artist Thomas Webb Teams up with Mercedes-Benz EQ to Unveil New Artworks at ARS Electronica". Complex Networks .
  4. 1 2 "Artist-Come-Hacker Thomas Webb on His Data Driven Art". Forbes .
  5. ↑ "JKA Grading Results December" (PDF). Japan Karate Association England. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "SESKA Blog". South East Shotokan Karate Academy. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Thomas Webb European Championships". St Edmunds School. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  8. ↑ https://www.pressreader.com/uk/kentish-express-ashford-district/20070802/282020437896171 . Retrieved 14 December 2023– via PressReader.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ "America's Got Talent star surprises school". 24 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "About Filth FM". Filth FM. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Lester, Paul (27 June 2012). "Guardian Quotes Tom". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Results of Voting". Dub Step Music Awards. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  13. ↑ https://www.pressreader.com/uk/kentish-express-ashford-district/20100812/282050503363611 . Retrieved 14 December 2023– via PressReader.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ https://www.pressreader.com/uk/kentish-express-ashford-district/20101028/282527244806111 . Retrieved 14 December 2023– via PressReader.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ "Dieses Onlinespiel bietet einen Ausblick auf die Zukunft der Ausstellung und Vermittlung von Kunst". www.monopol-magazin.de (in German). 16 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  16. ↑ "Thomas Webb: Exercise in Hopeless Nostalgia". musermeku (in German). 1 September 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  17. ↑ "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  18. 1 2 a16z, Andreesen Horowitz (12 May 2022). "State of Crypto 2022" (PDF). a16zcrypto. Retrieved 30 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ OpenSea. "Small Apartment 0 - Worldwide Webb Land". OpenSea. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  20. ↑ OpenSea. "Small Apartment 1706 - Worldwide Webb Land". OpenSea. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  21. ↑ Metro.co.uk, Caroline Westbrook for (18 July 2017). "America's Got Talent magician Tom London on why he chose the US show". Metro. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "WIRED2017: Next Generation Speakers" . Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  23. ↑ WIRED. "How to inspire the next generation of tech innovators" . Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  24. ↑ Turk, Victoria. "Magic and AI are mixing to create tricks you won't believe" . Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  25. ↑ "Meet the speakers – TEDxBucharest". Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  26. ↑ "Love island is over! Here's everything you need to watch, see and do instead". 31 July 2018.
  27. ↑ "Thomas Webb Debut Art Exhibition Strangers Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images".
  28. ↑ "Hacker Artist Thomas Webb Looks to the Future at the Mercedes-Benz EQ Home". 11 March 2019.
  29. ↑ "Artist-Come-Hacker Thomas Webb on His Data Driven Art". Forbes .
  30. ↑ "Intimate dinner with Mytheresa and Maison Valentino".
  31. ↑ "Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2019" (PDF). artprize.co.uk.
  32. ↑ "MyTheresa x Valentino collaboration".
  33. ↑ "29th Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators Showcase presents the best new talent in directing and creating : News".
  34. ↑ "Experience" . Retrieved 14 December 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.