Artist Ed Fornieles joins Verse Talk to discuss Borrowed Lives: Anon 2026, a  body of work exploring how the internet shapes identity.

The conversation ranges from Tumblr and 4chan to memes, online belonging, gamer culture, masculinity, AI, and what it means to grow up in a world where images never stop arriving.

Along the way, Ed discusses his wider practice, why online communities matter, and how visual culture quietly changes the way we think about ourselves.

00:00 Introduction

03:45 Introducing Ed Fornieles & Borrowed Lives: Anon

05:45 How Tumblr inspired the project

08:35 4chan, anonymity and internet culture

12:00 Cell: recreating online communities in real life

20:25 "The memes meme you"

22:55 Why Borrowed Lives isn't a traditional narrative

25:10 Growing up through images

29:45 Building Anon: research, internet rabbit holes & image collecting

34:40 Inside the artworks: grids, chapters and visual storytelling

37:20 Why it's called Borrowed Lives

39:45 Are online communities inherently dangerous?

44:35 Masculinity, belonging and growing up online

49:45 How the artworks are actually made

53:00 Pepe, Wojak and the evolution of internet identity

56:10 Future characters, AI and where the project goes next

58:50 Raising teenagers in the internet age

1:02:15 Final thoughts

00:18 - Welcome Trevor Paglen

01:17 - Co-curating Zero 10 Basel

03:34 - Beyond labels and distinctions

05:36 - Blending traditional and digital audiences

08:45 - A blockchain agnostic view

11:44 - NFTs, legitimacy and cultural perception 

15:08 - How the art world has shifted 

18:00 - The collapse of the mid-tier gallery 

20:45 - NFTs as an alternative path for artists  

22:58 - Selecting artists for Zero 10 

27:00 - Why digital galleries do fairs 

31:00 - Presenting digitally first work in a physical context 

32:29 - Verse as a cultural archive for the internet 

35:00 - Art, collecting and cultural stigma

36:55 - What success looks like at Zero 10 Basel

40:04 - Programme highlights

https://x.com/trevorpaglen 

00:24 - Welcome Jalil 

03:29 - From art to coding 

07:04 - Finding Web3 and NFTs 

08:05 - Finding Visualize Value and community  

14:01 - The Permissionless Apprentice and connecting with Jack 

18:47 - Embracing Ethereum and learning Solidity 

22:10 - Scapes  

24:24 - Experiencing the NFT boom  

29:46 - From rock bottom to Checks  

35:08 - Building the Checks contracts  

39:39 - How Checks works 

41:53 - Rarity, MEV risk and gaming the system 

43:26 - From Checks to Opepen and an ongoing collaboration  

44:24 - Creative roles, collaboration and ego 

45:58 - The impact of AI on Jalil's practice 

50:38 - Obsession as a path to exceptionalism  

53:58 - Exploring an individual art practice again     

56:43 - CryptoPunks V1 and V2 

01:00:50 - Fixing V1 trading on-chain and the issue with wrappers 

01:04:22 - V1 drama and shifting views on IP 

01:09:33 - The birth of Networked 

01:14:32 - Building for wider understanding with EVM Now  

01:18:40 - A new auction house for Punks 

01:21:01 - New launches and ideas at Verse  

Scapes: https://scapes.xyz/ 

https://jack.art/checks-originals 

https://opepen.art/ 

https://x.com/jalilwahdat

00:14 - Welcome Nuclear Samurai

02:51 - Expectations going into the mint 

06:13 - Why choose Verse for BRAINROT 

08:59 - Early explorations in digital art  

11:59 - Fine art to fashion photography  

16:04 - Rediscovering NFTs in 2022

17:30 - Finding community on X

20:27 - New technologies and artistic freedom 

24:21 - Cultivating a broad audience 

28:03 - The Artist as a Founder   

29:14 - The importance of a considered rollout  

33:28 - Timing the drop, attention, and outreach 

36:50 - How trends shape culture 

38:28 - Scaling the work 

41:06 - The power of a custom contract 

42:51 - The next steps for BRAINROT 

46:34 - Community and Discord plans

47:55 - Why BRAINROT resonated so widely  

53:29 - Zeitgeists and references 

Nuclear Samurai: https://x.com/nuclearsamurai

BRAINROT: https://verse.works/series/brainrot-by-nuclear-samurai

00:18 - Welcome Brian Droitcour and sssluke

02:50 - Burnout and returning online

04:50 - Brian and the origins of Outland

07:54 - A mismatch in value systems and the importance of critique 

10:03 - Outland's relaunch as a nonprofit

12:41 - How important are NFTs to digital art 

15:46 - Why try to bridge different art worlds 

21:11 - New Bad Image

22:27 - Evil Biscuit and the avant scene 

25:51 - Trait Maxing, Mythmaking and the birth of new movements

29:10 - The meaning of New Bad Image

31:39 - Brian on schizocollage  

35:37 - Rejecting the good image

39:04 - Curating a group show

42:00 - Emergent online culture

46:54 - Why subculture matters 

50:27 - Where credibility comes from today

54:30 - Art as collectibles 

56:29 - After the Art World and Drifella III

58:41 - The goal of New Bad Image 

01:01:45 - Following a curatorial path 

01:03:14 - Collaborating with Andreas Gysin 

01:05:30 - The state of the space

sssluke: https://x.com/sssluke1

Brian Droitcour: https://x.com/briandroitcour

After the Art World: https://outlandart.substack.com/p/after-the-art-world-part-1 

Brian's thread on schizocollage: https://x.com/briandroitcour/status/1932829548720369949

00:30 - Welcome Simon Hudson and Justin Gilanyi 

05:32 - Building cultural architecture  

06:46 - How Justin and Simon met  

10:33 - Art Basel Hong Kong group dynamics  

11:55 - A collaborative mindset  

12:47 - Comparing the energy in Miami and Hong Kong 

14:58 - Botto installation lessons 

18:54 - Pre-sales and fair prep  

20:55 - New gallery models working with fairs   

24:00 - Exposure costs and thinking long-term    

29:26 - Focusing on patronage and support 

31:20 - Adapting to the Art Basel environment 

35:49 - New collectors, immersive work and tiered entry points 

37:31 - The art world's multiple centres 

39:25 - Jack Butcher's Work, Luck, Play 

42:43 - Balancing online and physical worlds 

44:44 - Fair economics and infrastructure 

46:50 - Botto, CNN, and moving beyond the crypto space 

51:30 - The Botto token and novel patronage models  

53:25 - Strategy for future fairs  

Justin Gilanyi: https://x.com/justingilanyi 

Simon Hudson: https://x.com/hudsonsims

00:23 - Welcome Harvey Rayner and Tabor Robak

01:40 - Human Resources launch and mint-out

04:44 - Tabor's thoughts post-mint

07:00 - Organic growth, communication and momentum building

09:00 - First reactions: risk, confusion and conceptual clarity

11:00 - Roleplay, identity and embodying PFPs

13:00 - Timing, AI and why the project works now

15:00 - The state of PFP culture and shifting expectations

17:00 - Market dynamics and collecting behaviour

19:00 - Collecting as belief in the artist, not just the asset

21:00 - Risk, politics and performing identity online

23:00 - Narrative construction and PFPs as creative tools 

28:00 - Clowns, anti-status and rejecting “cool” aesthetics

33:00 - Mr Happy and corporate ideology

34:30 - What's next for Human Resources?

35:00 - Tabcorp as an art company and long-term vision

37:00 - Expansion, tools and the limits of the ecosystem

39:00 - Gender, identity and ethical boundaries

42:00 - Harvey on ChatFUKR, PFP fatigue and lessons learned

45:00 - Community management, responsibility and burnout

47:00 - New collectors and shifting audience dynamics

49:00 - Phase two and sustaining long-term value

51:00 - Glitches, clones and technical refinement

53:00 - Subjective rarity, provenance and long-term meaning

56:00 - Maintaining momentum

58:00 - Balancing engagement with artistic practice

01:00:00 - Institutional context and gallery reception

01:01:50 - Harvey on Art Basel Hong Kong and physical work 

01:04:30 - Translating digital practice into physical space

01:07:00 - Presentation, scale and audience perception

01:09:30 - Series mechanics and live minting 

01:10:55 - Focusing on accessible art for a more traditional collector base 

01:15:40 - The power of the modern print process 

01:19:15 - Finding positivity amid market swings 

01:22:55 - Social media and the politics of art  

https://x.com/harvey_rayner 

https://x.com/taborrobak 

https://www.taborrobak.com 

https://rayner.art

00:20 - Welcome Abigail Miller and Micol

01:07 - Micol’s journey into digital art and NFTs

02:20 - From corporate to crypto art

04:12 - Expectations and burnout

05:26 - Abigail’s background

06:26 - The Fulbright program, Russia and cultural diplomacy 

09:32 - Crypto roots and art school

11:07 - Space struggles and growth

14:25 - Echo chamber and reset

18:46 - Financialization vs. experimentation

21:28 - Changes in identity, fame and cultural experience

23:54 - Art Basel Miami and Zero10 

27:11 - The missing middle ground for artists

30:53 - Avant Arte operations

36:01 - Artists, curators and different value propositions

40:41 - Industry challenges behind the scenes 

41:33 - Vertical’s hard lessons

45:10 - Building in public

45:36 - Feeling on the periphery of the community

47:46 - Women going quiet

49:18 - Social media burnout

56:09 - Beyond Twitter, IRLs and mailing lists 

58:09 - Why female artists tend to be under represented  

01:06:05 - Bro culture and access

01:10:24 - Sustainability and long-term thinking 

01:12:37 - Women supporting women

01:22:03 - Checks, balances and ensuring growth 

https://x.com/micolmicolmicol 

https://x.com/proofofgail

https://x.com/avant_arte

00:24 - Verse Talks returns

02:55 - The state of affairs in digital art

04:40 - Launching new work, market cycles and algorithm whiplash

07:56 - Focusing on the internet as a canvas 

09:15 - The difficulty in bridging crypto and wider internet culture 

16:15 - Where are all the new artists post Art Basel's success? 

17:55 - Crypto liquidity and its impact on the digital art market  

20:34 - Building a diversified practice 

22:35 - Has there been a shift in Jack's audience post Art Basel Miami?

28:40 - Over-indexing on institutions, the same names and public fatigue

31:27 - What actually changed after Art Basel Miami?

35:57 - Moving beyond Crypto Twitter 

37:20 - Parallels between institutions interacting with crypto art and BTC's adoption by TradFi 

42:09 - The benefit of releasing work into a quiet market 

45:45 - Is 2020–21 Ethereum culture dying?

49:53 - The SILK model: global events, Eastern markets and physical-first collabs

52:48 - Jack Butcher at Art Basel Hong Kong

01:00:28 - Batsoupyum, cabals and treating money as meaning

01:03:55 - An argument for looking outside the echo chamber  

01:06:41 - NFT aesthetics and the BAYC era

01:07:21 - Crypto art vs. art on the blockchain

01:08:13 - Node’s opening

01:10:42 - SuperRare's new exhibition, "We Have Digital Art At Home"

01:12:01 - Why Art Basel is so hard: costs and risks

01:13:33 - Bridging to the traditional art world and expanding beyond our bubble

01:17:24 - Martín Bruce's GEOCITIES auction

01:20:23 - Fresh blood, new energy and what’s next 

https://x.com/pocobelli

https://x.com/jackbutcher 

https://x.com/DnoTAO 

https://silkarthouse.com/

00:26 - Welcome (back) Tabor Robak

01:40 - Broken Printer and Tabcorp Labs

03:25 - The Tabcorp universe

05:25 - Human Resources and exploring PFP as a genre 

11:10 - A critique of corporate culture

12:45 - The process behind Human Resources 

16:05 - Traits and rarity  

19:00 - Are we the PFPs?   

19:57  - Community and the future of Tabcorp 

21:50 - Between the traditional and web3 art worlds 

25:50 - Determining the number of traits 

29:07 - The relationship between Human Resources and Tabcorp 

31:05 - Building the network 

36:09 - Addressing diversity and conceptual challenges

41:36 - Exploring release mechanics and mint allocations 

47:31 - How NFTs have fed into Tabor's broader practice

51:49 - What drew Tabor to NFTs as a medium  

55:25 - Challenges and perceptions in the art world 

58:20 - Online fatigue and a move back towards IRL

59:49 - Indexing Human Resources 

01:03:34 - The simulation as a medium 

01:06:20 - Tabcorp Labs artwork updates 

01:08:25 - Keeping pace with technological change 

01:10:22 - Art as a brand and the studio as a factory  

01:13:47 - The social dimension of an artwork 

https://www.taborrobak.com 

https://x.com/taborrobak

Human Resources: https://verse.works/series/human-resources