Organizer Information
Padimai Art & Tech Studio is an independent art-and-technology space founded by Vignesh Sundaresan, known as Metakovan — the blockchain technologist, entrepreneur, and collector best known for his 2021 purchase of Beeple's "Everydays: The First 5000 Days," an NFT auctioned by Christie's for $69.3 million. Padimai opened in November 2025 in Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Distripark, inaugurating its program with "Your view matter," an immersive VR commission by artist Olafur Eliasson. The Studio functions as both a physical site and an intellectual framework where artists, technologists, and thinkers convene to explore new modes of creation, collaboration, and cultural preservation through exhibitions, residencies, and commissions, with a particular focus on blockchain-based infrastructure that supports creative sovereignty and self-determination for artists. OOPS: Origin Of Primary Source is the first edition of Padimai's Onchain Artist Residency program.
Title & Description
OOPS: Origin Of Primary Source — Onchain Artist Residency
A three-month remote residency inviting art practitioners to critically and creatively engage with NFTs as both artistic registers and systems of knowledge, documentation, and access. Structured around the four pillars of Object-Oriented Programming (Inheritance, Polymorphism, Abstraction, Encapsulation), OOPS uses this programming framework as a conceptual toolkit for exploring source ideas, artistic lineage, and interconnected relationships as patterns, stimulus, or code. The residency is designed as an experimental, playful, and discursive site that aims to archive creative knowledge production and foster collaborative learning across disciplines.
Theme
Origin of Primary Source (OOPS): an exploration of the "object" as a central structure — examining whether ideas expand outward from an object, or whether the object is the endpoint a creative process arrives at. The residency also investigates how blockchain-based systems can trace creative lineages, including interactions with AI tools, while preserving visibility of human authorship, intent, and contribution.
Categories
- Residency
- Blockchain / NFT Art
- Digital Art
- New Media
- Conceptual Art
- Archival Practice
- Technology-Based Art
- Research
Eligibility
- Open to creative practitioners interested in exploring the intersection of art, technology, and blockchain
- Individuals with prior experience in any of the above fields
- Individuals with the rigor to expand the boundaries of NFTs and blockchain technology
- Those interested in sharing working processes, methodologies, and acquired knowledge, contributing to the digital commons
Program Benefits & Awards
- Honorarium of SGD 15,000 per selected artist
- An additional SGD 5,000 per artist for documentation purposes (audio, video, and photography)
- Participation in a remote residency with community engagement designed through online meetings
- Inclusion in a cohort of five practitioners selected for the residency's first edition
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Full name and email (required)
- CV, submitted as PDF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP (required; 10 MB per file, 30 MB per submission)
- Proposal (required)
- Phone, country/location, and artist statement/bio (optional)
- Up to 10 optional supporting documents (portfolio PDFs, images, references)
- Up to 10 optional supporting links or URLs (portfolio links, video references, websites)
At the end of the three-month residency, participants are expected to deliver three NFTs developed during the residency to Padimai.
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 15 August 2026
- Announcement of Selected Proposals: 15 September 2026
- Residency Duration: September 20 – December 20, 2026
Location
Remote / Online residency. Organizer based in Singapore.
Additional Details
- Five practitioners will be selected for this first edition of the residency
- Selected artists will work within OOPS as a conceptual framework touching on: the role of technology in shaping artistic production; blockchain as a tool for documentation and archival practice; translating source materials into digital formats; developing individual methodologies for organizing creative data; and examining the reciprocal relationship between art and technology
- Padimai's blockchain infrastructure is designed to let practitioners collate and process source materials locally, store digital artworks, establish provenance, and build community for knowledge sharing