Serial Experiments Lain 2020 eXhibition
| Event Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Website | https://lp.anique.jp/exhibition/en/lain2020/ |
| Dates | Oct. 28, 2020 - Oct. 30, 2023 |
Overview
The Serial Experiments Lain 2020 eXhibition was an online event held by the Japanese company Anique from October 28, 2020 to October 30, 2023. The event was run in conjunction with NBC Universal's own "#lainTTL" event, which encouraged the posting of Lain-inspired fan works with relaxed copyright enforcement from a period of 2019 to 2028.
The main purpose of the event was to host an online Serial Experiments Lain exhibition, which would allow users to travel through a 3D space and view a variety of Lain official art, fan artwork, videos, and more.
In addition to hosting this 3D exhibit, Anique sold Lain-related merchandise that featured a variety of previously-published official Lain artwork. This merchandise included acrylic stands, phone cases, framed prints, a 3D model for use in VR games, and "digital collectibles".
Contributing
Anique supported two methods of contributing to the exhibition, described below.
"Participation 1: Your lain will be exhibited"
The event allowed internet users to post illustrations, photographs, novels, music, videos, etc. on Twitter with the hashtag "#lain2020". These pieces of artwork would be incorporated into the event, hand-picked to be displayed in the gallery as a tribute to the fans' love of Serial Experiments Lain.
The requirements were as follows:
- Any works submitted via Twitter must use the hashtag "#lain2020"
- You may submit illustrations, photographs, novels, music, videos, etc. - any format is accepted
- Past works (works created before this event) are accepted
- Anything that violates the rules of #lainTTL is not accepted
- Only works produced by the individual submitting them are accepted
- The Anique Twitter account (@anique_jp) should be mentioned to get updates on your artwork
This exhibit allowed fans to submit their "love, feelings, commentary, etc." for Lain as a video or audio file, submitted on a form on Anique's website. The users' spoken voice was "processed and mixed with the voices of the creators of lain", and played as the voice of the "(RUMORS)" in the exhibition.
Exhibition Contents
Layer 01
1998: Landscape where lain was born in 1998
Layer 02
2020: Omnipresence of serial experiments lain nowadays
Layer 03
玲イN: 玲音, レイン, lain. And otherl the people.
Layer 04
Prophecy: Reality that catches up with the story
Layer 05
club cyberia: After 20 years, Cyberia is realized.
Layer 06
ROOM: how to build lain's room
Layer 07
illustrations: lain drawn by yoshitoshi ABe
Merchandise
Main merchandise page: Serial Experiments Lain 2020 eXhibition Merchandise
During the exhibition, a number of pieces of Serial Experiments Lain merchandise were sold by Anique. Many pieces of merchandise could be purchased in either a digital or physical form, and came with a digital "Certificate of Ownership" which could be viewed on the Anique website. This certificate of ownership was limited in scope as it could only be viewed by the owner when logged into their account, could not be exported, and could not be transferred to another user.
A number of key visuals and pieces of official Lain artwork were also sold during the exhibition. These pieces were sold as "unique digital collectibles", which could only have one owner at a time. Once purchased, owners of the artwork could allow or disallow users to send them offers for the artwork on Anique's website, and Anique attempts to track the current estimated value of each piece on their website. Because these pieces of artwork are not NFT or Blockchain-based, these certificates of ownership and unique single-owner collectibles are likely managed solely using the Anique website back-end.