Space Race #1 [Completed - Nov '21]

[aliakawar4]

Space name / team name: Emergeast

Name of primary contact: Alia Kawar

Names of additional Space admins: Nikki Meftah, Dara Meftah, Dima Abdul Kader

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin: aliakawar

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Founded in 2014, Emergeast is a leading online gallery in the Middle East that champions emerging and mid-career artists from the MENA region. A large part of our roster of artists are digital natives whom we aim to guide into the NFT space and we believe that SuperRare Spaces is the optimal platform to do so. As a creator on the platform we aim to list a curated selection of artwork, as well as host various projects, auctions and exhibitions from the following artists that are shaping the Middle Eastern art scene & who have already agreed for us to represent them.

Website & Social Media Links:

Website: https://emergeast.com/

Instagram: Login • Instagram

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMERGEAST

Facebook: Redirecting...

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emergeast/

TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSe1BQ6aB/

Youtube: Emergeast Ltd - YouTube

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

We believe storytelling is at the core of everything - whether that be physical art or NFTs - at the end of the day, we collect art because we connect to it. Our space is unique because not only do we place those stories that champion the artists at the forefront but we are also equally invested in the artist as we are the collector. We believe that the art ecosystem cannot function without this balanced co-existence and exchange between the two. As an established online gallery pooling the Middle East’s emerging creatives, we aim to present a highly curated selection of NFTs from the region’s most promising digital artists. We aim to bridge the gap by educating new and existing collectors and taking full advantage of the revolutionary opportunities of our time.

The type of art we will focus on is any that revolves around powerful narratives, cultural influences, socio political views and personal identities. Art that pushes boundaries of preconceived notions and ideas and utilises the full potential of technology.

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Since Emergeast’s inception 7 years ago, we have grown to house 75 emerging and mid-career artists whom we’ve been continuously promoting, collaborating with and curating their work through exhibitions and auctions. We organized 4 auctions on the ground in Dubai focusing on young collectors as well as having hosted an online auction in collaboration with Art Net in 2017 called ‘New Voices In Middle Eastern Art’. We organized and curated over 5 exhibitions including two online ones on our website. We’ve collaborated with established institutions like the Aga Khan Museum to launch our joint Damascus room celebrating emerging artists’ work and a selected number of our artists have been acquired by the Oriental Museum of Durham University. In the past year we have also expanded into African Art with an ongoing process of onboarding new African artists to our roster.

We’re currently working on organizing our first NFT exhibition, called META MENA on KnownOrigin with 10 promising digital artists. It’s set to launch on November 7th.

Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

• Online, offline exhibitions
  • Sept 2015 ‘Like’ Group exhibition in London
  • April 2017 ‘Currents’ Group exhibition in W Hotel, Doha, Qatar
  • May 2021 ‘Unveiling Realities’, Online solo exhibition, Elham Etemadi
  • March 2021 ‘Ecstatic Nature’, Online solo exhibition, Tarik Chebli
  • Nov 2021 ‘META MENA’, NFT group exhibition
• Partnerships
  • May 2020 Oriental Museum Durham University Artwork Acquisition
  • March 2021 Aga Khan Partnership - Damascus room of Emergeast artists in Aga Khan Shop
• Auctions:
  • 2015 1st Young Collectors Auction in Dubai
  • 2017 4th Young Collectors Auction in Dubai
  • Aug 2018 Online Auction in collaboration with ArtNet ‘New Voices in Middle Eastern Art’
• Fundraisers:
  • May 2020 Raising $15,700 for Yemen & $5,050 for Beirut
  • May 2021 Raising $33,000 for PCRF in Palestine
• Networking with collectors
  • Existing solid collectors base of young urban professionals (majority in their 20s-40s)
  • Emergeast Members Club (those that have been loyal to Emergeast since inception, acquired 3+ artworks, receive special rates)

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

• With a large and growing roster of artists, we aim to guide and encourage them into the NFT space. Some of the new artists we are currently working with on NFTs are:
  • Mays Al Moosawi, Parham Ghalamdar, Jalal Sepehr, Shadi Ghadirian, Babak Kazemi, Adra Kandil, Beya Khalifa
  • We have close relationships with our artists whom we talk to on a weekly basis. We currently represent these artists on Emergeast

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

• Leading & investable NFT artists: Muhcine Ennou, Ali Sabet, Nic Courdy, Farbod Mehr, Keyvan Shovir, Sasan Nasernia, Amelia Hadouchi

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

• Relevant and exciting themed exhibitions focusing on new artists and existing NFT artists. Will be hosted on an ongoing basis.
• Auctions with mostly 1/1 artwork - can be single work auctions or group ones.
• To begin with, a selection of around 10-15 curated artworks
• Use of our multiple social media platforms and email/sms marketing campaigns to promote artists and projects.
• We know the power of cultivating conversation and aim to host weekly/ monthly talks on Twitter Spaces, host Zoom conversations and Instagram lives.

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

We have an agreed contract between us and the artist that will state the commissioned rates including the set rate to SuperRare - with the main intention of encouraging and rewarding the artist, what this ecosystem was built for.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

We believe NFTs are redefining the creative economy, and redefining it for good. Blockchain technology and NFTs have allowed for artists to express themselves and their creativity more freely. With the right marketing/building of a community, artists can instantly receive support and rewards that then gives the space to expand their creativity. This newfound mode of transaction, provenance, peer-to-peer exchange, transparency, ownership, permanency and artist to collector exchange is helping prioritize our values: one of which is placing the community at the forefront.

In 5 years, the NFT and CryptoArt space will be embedded into the mainstream world of collecting and ownership . If someone doesn’t see it now, in 5 years there will be an NFT for everyone.

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

Our space would be a Mansaf, which is a Middle Eastern dish with rice, lamb and yoghurt that is traditionally eaten by hand by a group of people standing around the dish together. This idea of connectivity and unity is how we see our space and the larger NFT community. We’re using technology to overcome barriers of time and space to converse and connect through art, one of the most beautiful forms of expression. This dish, similar to the NFTs that we will be curating in our space, is what will connect people of different backgrounds or interests together with the common belief in the power and trust in NFTs, technology and art.

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

We alway want to give back to the community. With any activation we will have a component to offset our carbon footprint or give back to a charity organization supporting a worthy cause.

[alllowercase]

Space name / team name:

Banquet Labs

Name of primary contact:

Jacob Lowy

Names of additional Space admins:

Matt Bond, Jeremy Grinberg, Astrid Pilla

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin:

@nftythrifty

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Banquet is a full-service NFT studio designed to launch creatively ambitious cultural figures into the heart of the metaverse. Banquet produced NASA’s first wearable collection, APOLLO 11-52, on the anniversary of the historic lunar landing. We are about to release a flurry of projects over the next 60 days with partners like DaBaby, Aluna, Pristine Jewelry, FeltZine, Robert Zuckerman, MetaKey, Decentraland, Jordan Belfort, and more.

Website & Social Media Links:

Twitter: @banquetlabs

Website: https://banquetlabs.carrd.co/

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

Our space will center on community curation of NFT art and wearables. We propose a bottom-up approach, introducing curation residencies to thought leaders across diverse backgrounds, mediums, and communities.

By selecting and rotating a team of Lead Curators, we can reach farther and deeper than our own knowledge and bounds, ensuring a more ethical and sustainable spotlight and platform for those who have been traditionally shut out.

Our Superrare Space will also be accessible through a virtual storefront in Decentraland next to event spaces and activations, bringing a new dimension to NFT retail and providing a space for people to congregate and form connections.

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Banquet comes from the team that built the social network and platform Treble. Treble is comparable to LinkedIn for creatives in the music industry, mainly independent artists. As head of editorial and curation, it was my job to scout, uplift, and spotlight independent creatives so that others can find and connect with them. I did this mainly through our feature called Treble Charts, which are shortlists of people in our community organized by need, such as “NYC graphic designers for album art,” or “Mixing engineers in LA for Pop music”. Making sure our community connected with each other was the ultimate goal, and that is solved through curation.

Additionally, we curated several of featured performers for Decentraland’s upcoming Metaverse Festival.

Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

To promote our APOLLO 11 wearable collection, we partnered with DappCraft to produce an immersive experience commemorating the historic moment. We coordinated an accurate re-enactment of the lunar landing that ended in the display of our collection to which avatars could interact with.

Prior to Covid, we produced 50 IRL showcases every year throughout New York, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles. They were deemed “the epicenter of New York’s underground music scene,” By The New Yorker as well as “the heart of NY’s artist community,” by Milk.

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

Our first lead curators would be Joe Perez and Jenna Marsh, former creative directors at Kanye West’s creative agency, DONDA. In addition to creating iconic album and merch art for Kanye himself, they have created visual art for President Joe Biden, Billie Eilish, Louis Vuitton, Beyonce, Versace, Travis Scott, A Bathing Ape, Google, and more. We are close with Joe and Jenna, often consulting them for our own art direction.

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

This is a list of artists that we love and have close relationships with:

Aluna Francis
Nick Graham
Tillavision
Last Slice
Latasha
Grif
Feltzine
Sinclair
Dapp Craft
Raptographer
RareShoe

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

We plan to start with an inaugural curation team of about 2 or 3 people, representing different communities and expertise. As we move along and learn from the experience, we can look to expand that number and grow accordingly. As there is no rulebook or proven way to do this, we’ll give our lead curators a good amount of autonomy on how they want to operate their section of our space, setting loose requirements of having between 5-25 pieces of art in their collection. They may choose to update their collection every month with all-new art, or only replace ones that have sold. Part of the purpose of our space is to develop a platform for curators to make a name for themselves and develop their own brand.

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

We plan on running our Space with a 10% curator fee, giving artists 90% of profits. Banquet and our guest curators will enter into individual agreements regarding a value exchange and how to split that 10% in a way that makes the most sense for everybody.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

NFTs, while inherently great on their own, also signal a broader long-awaited shift of power back into the hands of creators. In simplified terms, NFTs create a means of living for the 99% of creators who traditionally would have been forced to push their art to the side as a hobby. With our background in the music industry, this unequal balance of power is ever apparent and critical. Even today we are seeing a rejection of traditional powers that are the major labels and an enthusiasm for independent artists and communities.

This technology will ignite an explosion and abundance of artists and creators who can actually live off their passions. This is a world we want to live in. Successful independent creators equals enfranchisement and autonomy.

We see a virtually complete adoption of the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years. It will much sooner become poor business praxis for industry giants to ignore or push back. They will be forced to adapt or succumb. In five years time, the NFT and CryptoArt world will have already bled into other business sectors, as will be necessary when creating robust DAOs and communities. Tokenized real estate is a prime example of this. We’re personally working towards a future involving decentralized artist communities that own and operate the land they live on and projects they create.

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

We’re a Banquet; a diverse array of foods and drinks. A coming together of parties to converse and celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

DM if you need us to explain NFTs to your mom.

[ArtSect]

Space name / team name:

ArtSect Gallery

Name of primary contact: Mikirishi

Names of additional Space admins: Dominque Cro, Joshanne Dar, Blair Ze, Nimco Hussien

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin: ArtSect Gallery

Short bio of you and/or your team: Hello, Artsect NFT Gallery here🧞‍♀️
The DAO led Phygital gallery IRL in London, UK and the metaverse🔮

We are looking for artists, thinkers, innovators and heart driven magicians to help us build the most innovative social arts3 catalyst​:green_heart:

Find out more about us and our exhibition plans join our Discord here:

Mikirishi - Artsect NFT Gallery – Medium

Website & Social Media Links:
www.artsect.xyz
@artsect

Mikirishi - Artsect NFT Gallery – Medium

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

We were the first NFT gallery in the UK, we are also DAO owned and will develop as a community following the same path as SuperRare:)
We have an experiential arts space, where we blend AR, VR and physical contemporary art into synonymous exhibitions.

The blockchain app OVR is one of our favourite creative tools for NFT experiential NFT exhibitions:)

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Our team is a diverse DAO made up from some of the most innovative minds in the London creative industries:)

Our curators have a strong history in contemporary art exhibitions through London galleries The Tate, Whitechapel Gallery, Truman Brewery, London Design Festival, Glass Biennale, London, New York and Paris fashion weeks.

Our media and marketing teams have overseen the development of social media departments in some of the biggest agencies in London and Europe. Adidas, KFC, XBOX and a million e-commerce brands.

We also have a huge squad of designers from AR, digital fashion, film to real life sculpture.
Describe you/your team’s experience organising exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

We have educated, trained and cultivated a community of over 200 new artists to the NFT & web3 space. We have a list of talks scheduled to continue this pathway into next year and beyond!

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

Yes!

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.
Meta Art Technology:

Phygital as the new online - Online retail allowed businesses access to billions of new customers that were previously unreachable. Metaverse/Blockchain technology has allowed us to blend the scale of online down to an interactive physical level.

MetaVerse Virtual Worlds - Accessible, interoperable, peer-to-peer. A true open world Metaverse is distinct from gaming or closed hosted VR experiences in that there is no centralised force controlling content, users are free to upload any digital assets and the NFT assets have interoperability between the virtual worlds allowing for easy, transparent and public access.

AR/VR Takeover - Blending the fully virtual and the fully physical, AR augmented are being increasingly used to bring to life exhibitions. Used to accentuate the works with interaction or educate audiences with extra data. AR Platforms such as SuperWorld and OVR allow the purchasing of permanent plots for public exhibition and promotions.

NFTs with Functionality/Utility - As the NFT is also a token based on a cryptocurrency chain it also has special features pre built in. ‘Staking’ tokens provides a function much like savings accounts in the traditional banking system, by providing ‘liquidity’ for other users in a peer-to-peer fashion.

Experiential is the live unfolding of an interactive curation for the audience. We want to encourage interaction, emotional experience and the subconscious imagination with our ArtTechnology and exhibitions. Private VR booths, experience nights, interactive rituals, AR city takeovers… It is important for us to instigate active participation and audience dialogue at all opportunities. Think through the box

NFT Drop Considerations

NFT Drop Strategy

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

As the community DAO votes to take the direction of the activist arts organisation.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

DAOs and NFTs represent the birth of a new paradigm for humans and our planet. We see this first stage of cultural splinter DAOs and the categories of NFT decentralised arts as the proceeding fires of our new digital renaissance.

We believe metaverse, avatar and digital identities will be empowered by NFTs and AR experiential arts. We, like the SuperRare community want to hep educate, train and onboard the next waves of decentralised culture makers and help inspire new DAO concepts the world over.

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

We would be a Halloween sweet jar, as most of our DAO gallery creatives dress all in black but are full of colourful ideas:)

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

We have already held 4 NFT exhibitions this year and 8 in gallery talks to expand the decentralised arts network. We love to help!! Come and say hello:)

We are also supplying the AR NFT exhibitions for Art Basel Miami this year and Hong Kong next year.

[Nome]

1.Space name / team name.
Nōme

2. Name of primary contact:
   Valeria / Art Director & Founder

3. Names of additional Space admins:
   Our team was created by several design companies. We gathered together to establish a new art community, where instead of competition, there is a collaboration.

From each team, we will have one admin for the Space.
Petrik - Animation and Production
Futureisnow - Fashion and Visual Art
Supaform - Collectible Design
Eduard - Architectural Design

4. SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin:
   @Nome

5. Short bio of you and/or your team:
Nōme - a design studio in Los Angeles
“Nome” = NO ME = NO NAME

The studio name translates as a non-existent personality. We are here to serve artists and elevate their names and identities.

For the past four years, the studio has been working on Creative Direction and Branding Identity for design companies. We help brands establish an artistic voice: assist our clients in creating the philosophy and image of their brand, concept development for advertising campaigns, oversight and coordination of photoshoots, set design for exhibitions, and ongoing brand representation.

At the same time, we have always been looking for the design industry to be less consumption and more environmentally sustainable. That is why in 2020, the studio turned towards the direction of Digital Art and NFT.

_______________

TEAM:
As we mentioned above, now the team is created from four design companies from different spheres. That system helps us to have a diverse approach to creative direction and art curation.

6. Website & Social Media Links:
   Web Nōme
   Instagram / Twitter

7. Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?
   The Collectible Design world is over-consuming and less conceptual right now. Millions of new pieces of furniture and accessories are produced every year, and designers are giving their creativity to a non-sustainable system. Our mission is to change that by giving artists an opportunity to sell digital works as well as physicals.

Also, we are ready to establish a new NFT system for designers and connect the physical world with digital. We will offer our collectors physical pieces of cloth, furniture, or jewelry together with digital.

We see the future of Art and Collectible Design as a possibility of re-establishing a connection between people and the natural environment and eliminating adverse impact through sustainable, skillful, sensitive approaches. We use innovative processes of experimentation and the search for new techniques and materials to improve the industry from within, allowing creativity to be more sufficient and meaningful.

We believe that artistic projects should help open our minds to social issues and inspire humanity to question how the way we live our lives and the products we consume affect the future of the planet.

8. Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:
   Our team is experienced in promotion as you can see the IG following:
   Petrik - 54.1k followers
   Futureisnow - 3,113 followers
   Supaform - 23.7k followers
   Eduard - 7,114 followers
   Nōme - 812 followers

World famous design magazines:
Supaform - 16 Publications
Eduard - 25 Publications
Nōme - 4 Publications

9. Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.
   As designers, we always participate in shows and exhibitions to promote and sell our work. It would be a great experience to implement the knowledge of organizing exhibitions into a digital NFT space.

Exhibitions:

• Object Permanence - Charity Auction - Los Angeles, US - 2020
• Rhett Baruch Art+Design, Out of The Blue - Los Angeles, US - 2020
• Salone Del Mobile - April, Milan, IT - 2018
• Furniture Fair - Stockholm, SW - 2018
• Salone Del Mobile -Moscow, RU - 2017
• «Fancy-Routine Collection» at Sight Unseen Offsite - New York, USA - 2020
• Collectible - Brussels, BE - 2020
• «New Normative» collection at ALCOVA - Milan, IT - 2019
• Sight Unseen Offsite - New York, USA - 2018
• «Disused Collection» - Ventura Future - Milan, IT - 2018

Galleries Representation:
A+D Museum, Los Angeles US, 2020
Mint Gallery, London UK, 2018
Rinascente, Milan IT, 2018
Mater Earth Gallery, Copenhagen DK, 2018

10. Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?
    Nōme Space has a mission to invite new talented artists from different design industries. We want to bring a new audience into the NFT space. We have great friendship relationships with Architects and Designers all over the world. Our friends:

Architecture / Moscow / NY - CROSBY STUDIOS
Furniture / Los Angeles - ANOTHER HUMAN

Ceramic / Stockholm - Anton Alvarez
Jewelry / Zurich*-* Kristina Ferenchuk

Furniture & Sculpture / NY - Fernando Mastrangelo
Furniture / Montreal - Loïc Bard

11. Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?
    No, all artists are new to CryptoArt space.

12. Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.
    Every new artist launch starts from the beginning of the month, 15-20 works per artist being minted during the month. We appreciate quality over quantity; all the works will be unique and mindfully curated. Each collection has an overall concept and theme; art should be made in a particular manner technique of the artist.

In a collectible design world, the price for a piece starts at about $5000 - $10000, and we will try to keep this minimum for NFT as well. The overall concept is to have 70% of digital works (including 3D Objects) + 30% of both digital and physical when the first collector can get a physical piece sent by mail.

Promotion will be through design magazines mostly. This Space will bring attention because it is something totally new for the architecture and design world.

13. How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?
    85% Artist
    10% Nōme Space
    5% SuperRare

We believe in the concept of prosperous artists because we are artists ourselves. NFT has been created for artists to sell their art directly to the collectors, and Nōme supports that. Nōme Space will be a starting point for many designers, who are not ready to step into NFT by themselves.

14. To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?
    We believe that NFT is not only the future for the art industry; it will also provide more efficient ways of conducting business in different spheres. With a decentralized system, records transparency, and smart contracts, we can imagine buying properties and goods as quickly as we buy art nowadays. Moreover, in 5 years, every person will have a digital representation of the physical existence, like home with furniture, experience entertainment, friends, community, etc.

NFT will help professionals in technology, artificial network, ai and other complex systems, neuroscience, and biotechnology engineering to disclose potential problems and designate them in the future.

While in the future from the past, change the present from the future, when the future will replace the present as a leading structural and temporal aspect. Today we live not only in new or accelerated time - time itself, its direction changed. There is no more linear time - for the past not to be present, for the present - future*.*

15. If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?
    Nōme Space would be “Cubes” by Studio Lernert & Sander
    98 different foods identical cubes. Fresh, stylish, modern, gleaming, and colorful appetizer for people on a spaceship.

16. Anything else you’d like the community to consider?
    Thank you for an opportunity to be a part of SuperRare Space and create future together!

[Minty_Garden]

1.Space name / team name:
Minty Garden

2. Name of primary contact:
Blake Jamieson

3. Names of additional Space admins:
Drew Austin, Mike O’Day

4. SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin:
@blake
@drewsventures
@itsmikeoday

5. Short bio of you and/or your team:
Contemporary artist Blake Jamieson has been widely successful in the professional athlete art realm painting over 500 athletes across all major sports leagues. Over a year ago, Blake has found success in the NFT space as an artist with notable features on CNBC, One37pm, MLB.com, Fox Sports, and Forbes, amongst others.

Drew Austin is a multi-time successful entrepreneur who has now carved a major footprint in the NFT space as an Web 3 investor, operator, and collector. Relevant, Drew is an early investor in Super Rare.

Mike O’Day manages Blake as an artist and is deeply involved in broader NFT creative, and technology worlds. As a builder, Mike has been part of numerous successful creative projects and companies throughout his career.

6. Website & Social Media Links:
Blake:
Twitter
Instagram

Drew:
Twitter
Instagram

Mike:
Twitter
Instagram

7. Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

Plant a bunch of seeds and see what grows. Shape accordingly and foster a vibrant, creative ecosystem.

Community of forward thinking artists ready to collaborate and work hard.

Art that inspires, any medium or focus is fair game.

The gallery is located on a busy street corner in Brooklyn, and the ground level space stands out already and will only stand out more as we continue to build.

8. Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

From Blake: As I’ve built my own art career platform, I’ve always worked to shine light on other artists doing amazing work. I’ve done this through artist interviews, collaborations, and much

I’ve sold over a million dollars of my own artwork direct to my client base, have helped dozens of artists sell their first artwork, and many more seasoned artists have considered me a trusted mentor or advisor.

9. Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

From Blake: Hosted various events over the last seven years ranging from private studio visits for curators, collaborative working environments for artists, and gallery showing experiences for collectors. Always thinking of unique ways to promote art including live painting at the Super Bowl.

10. Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

Yes, relationships vary from mentor to advisor to friend to collaborator.

11. Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

Yes, deep relationships throughout CyrptoArt world with number of high level creators.

Here are some of our favorites:

Oveck
https://twitter.com/oveck
https://instagram.com/oveck

Mike Szpot
https://twitter.com/illkoncept
https://instagram.com/illkoncept

Ollie Chanin
https://instagram.com/olliechaninlink

Gabriella
https://instagram.com/gabrielagabrielaa

Bryan Brinkman
https://instagram.com/brinkmanatee
https://twitter.com/bryanbrinkman

Dave Krugman
https://twitter.com/dave_krugman
https://instagram.com/dave.krugman

Erick Hercules
https://instagram.com/erickherculeslink

Coin Artist
https://twitter.com/coin_artist
https://instagram.com/coin_artist

Karson Daily
https://instagram.com/karsendaily
https://twitter.com/karsendaily

12. Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

Will be an ongoing collective to support each other while also having specific artist features every couple weeks (more often where it makes sense).

13. How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

5% to House
5% to SuperRare
90% to Artist

14. To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

World changing. It’s as significant as the internet itself. Most excited for all to come that we can’t even imagine yet, but could not be more confident that this technology will advance how society works in extremely positive ways. And doing our part to make that happen.

15. If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

A garden salad with fresh watermelon and jalapenos, a bit unexpected but makes so much sense when you experience it.

16. Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

My dream is to make your dreams not dreams

Stay Awesome.

[GTS]

So excited for this. Not only to be amongst such a talented core team and advisory board, but to be a part of the 1st Space Race that has such strong proposals.

Good luck to everyone in Space Race #1, the SuperRare governance team has a tough task laid out ahead them!

[micolonna6519]

Competency, access, taste, preparation, eye for talent, are just some of the many qualities of this team. I trust the MOCDA team to create one of the most exciting Spaces on SuperRare and the Metaverse at large. I’d love for this space to come to life. Can’t wait to visit. @mcolonna65

[Vellumla]

Space name / team name: Vellum LA

Name of primary contact: Sinziana Velicescu

Names of additional Space admins: Jesse Damiani, Anastasia Velicescu

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin:

Casualtimetravel | Jessedamiani | Stassie

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Sinziana Velicescu is Vellum LA’s Director and Curator. Sinziana has over eight years experience curating, conceptualizing and producing art for StandardVision’s large scale LED installations around the world. In 2014, she launched a curated art program on the Marriott screen in DTLA, LA’s first digital billboard dedicated to showcasing public artwork. The program elevated the work of emerging digital artists early on, many of whom would later become successful in the crypto art space. Beyond her curatorial background, Sinziana has extensive knowledge around displaying digital artwork in the physical world, with an emphasis on immersive spaces and unusual formats. Sinziana is also an award winning fine art photographer whose work has been shown internationally in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Hamburg, Melbourne, Tokyo, and Rome. Her work has also been published in WIRED, Los Angeles Times, Juxtapoz and more.

Artwork by Chris Golden | Marriott Art Programming 2017 | Curated by Sinziana Velicescu

Jesse Damiani is a Curator at Vellum LA, where he co-curated Sea Change with Sinziana Velicescu. He is Director of Simulation Literacies at Nxt Museum, a new media fine art museum in Amsterdam, where he co-curated Shifting Proximities. Other recent exhibitions he curated include Synthetic Wilderness at Honor Fraser Gallery and PROOF OF ART at Francisco Carolinum Linz, the first museum retrospective on the history of NFTs. He also curates XR For Change, the XR summit at Games for Change. He is a Research Affiliate at Institute for the Future, an Affiliate of the metaLAB at Harvard, and Founder of Best American Experimental Writing. He writes about art, media, and emerging technology on Forbes, with other writing in Billboard, IndieWire, Quartz, The Verge, WIRED and others. He is currently writing a book about postreality.

Immersive installation by Yuxi Cao (James) | Curated by Jesse Damiani for Nxt Museum

Anastasia Velicescu is Vellum LA’s marketing coordinator and social media manager. As an artist herself, she is thrilled to be working with a gallery diversifying the NFT space and elevating the incredible artists who are building the metaverse and spearheading the digital art revolution.

Website & Social Media Links:

Website | Twitter | Instagram

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

By taking a concept-driven approach to curation, Vellum LA’s goal is to meaningfully situate the digital and crypto art communities within the context of art history, while also educating the public on the potential of NFTs to impact the future of art. As a physical space in the heart of Hollywood, Vellum LA aims to become the destination for experiencing NFTs and digital art in Los Angeles on state-of-the-art technology displays while also facilitating immersive NFT-backed experiences around the city and eventually around the world.

Vellum LA will exhibit the work of both emerging and established artists with a focus on diversity and an emphasis on community. We plan to democratize the gallery space through ever-evolving exhibitions that invite collaborations across various mediums while also bringing in guest curators from partner institutions and artists to curate fellow artists.

Rendering of Vellum LA’s physical space, slated to open in November 2021 on Melrose Ave

Vellum LA will work towards educating artists, collectors, and newcomers to the space on how to collect, display, and sell work in a way that maximizes longevity and impact with an emphasis on technical considerations and archival of digital assets. Through our collective curatorial efforts, extensive knowledge of showcasing and displaying digital art, we hope to become a vehicle for success to artists creating timeless and important work that deserves to be seen.

Vellum LA’s emphasis on physical exhibition is core to the approach—while not every drop will necessarily be paired with a physical exhibition, our intention is to use our access to museum-grade Luma Canvas displays and larger-scale LEDs around the world to shift the public perception that digital art and NFTs are novelties.

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Through her work at StandardVision, Sinziana has collaborated with groundbreaking artists such as Jenny Holzer, Bill Viola, Refik Anadol, and Kahlil Joseph on site-specific installations in addition to championing the work of emerging digital artists across various movements, from generative and code-based art to interactive. With her background as an award-winning photographer and filmmaker, and avid lover of music and the performing arts, Sinziana has a unique perspective across disciplines. She applies this hyphenate sensibility to her curatorial approach, and hopes to use Vellum LA as a venue to honor the achievements of artists working in a wide variety of different mediums—and in the process foster new collaborations. Sinziana has partnered with prominent institutions such as The Getty, MOCA, LACMA, and the Hammer Museum, focusing on community-building and elevating voices of emerging artists from all backgrounds through her curation. You can find examples of Sinziana’s curation for StandardVision here.

Artwork by Jonathan McCabe | US Bank Tower, Los Angeles | Curated by Sinziana Velicescu

As a curator, producer, and journalist, Jesse has extensive experience across the entire pipeline of putting on exhibitions—from initial narrative to installation to engaging with media. Among his credits include a number of historic exhibitions: the first-ever museum retrospective on the history of NFTs (PROOF OF ART at Francisco Carolinum Linz), the first exhibition in the groundbreaking Nxt Museum (Shifting Proximities), the only exhibition to ever feature artworks in the Holodome, and the largest-ever augmented reality public art exhibition (Battlegrounds, geolocated in 30 locations around New Orleans).

The first-ever museum retrospective on the history of NFTs | Curated by Jesse Damiani

Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

Since Vellum LA’s soft launch in July 2021, Vellum LA has had two successful exhibitions and online auctions showcasing innovative artists working with digital mediums.

In partnership with SuperRare, we organized our first exhibition Sea Change at the LA Art Show, featuring work by 12 new media and digital artists exploring the new language, materiality, and logic of the metaverse. Leading up to the show, we promoted the artists and artworks in the show across all our social media channels, hosted a twitter space with SuperRare to give the artists an opportunity to speak about their works at the show, and displayed the artworks across several billboards around Los Angeles.

Vellum LA’s Sea Change Promotional Campaign across multiple digital billboards

Over the course of the show, thousands of people visited our exhibition and had the opportunity to experience art in an entirely new way thanks to our Luma Canvas museum-grade LED displays. Alongside the physical exhibition, NFTs of the artworks on display were simultaneously released on SuperRare where 8 of the 12 artworks sold out before the end of the art fair.

Of the 12 artists who participated in our exhibition, we brought 5 of them onto SuperRare with the following 4 having successful runs in our online auction: Holly Herndon, IX Shells, Sabrina Ratté, and Anne Vieux.

Vellum LA’s Sea Change Exhibition at LA Art Show, displayed on Luma Canvas

Our second exhibition was an Immersive pop-up installation by Maggie West, Eternal Garden, which featured a vibrant landscape of garden flora, uniquely captured, composited, and animated by West to showcase a surreal ecosystem that bloomed and evolved in real time. We partnered with StandardVision to transform their virtual production studio into an elaborate digital garden where hundreds of people were completely immersed in West’s stunning ecosystem. The event preceded Maggie West’s genesis NFT drop on Nifty Gateway, which sold out entirely in 24 hours, with 5 of the 6 NFTs selling out in under 1 minute.

Vellum LA Presents: Maggie West’s Eternal Garden Immersive Exhibition

Vellum LA Press:

• Surface Mag

• LA Magazine

• LA Weekly

• Hollywood Reporter

• Art and Object

• SuperRare Editorial

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

Vellum LA is focused on thoughtful exhibitions that narratively and thematically align with the exhibition space and format; we believe that exhibition design is a vital aspect of both physical and virtual presentations. With Sinziana and Jesse’s combined curatorial history, Vellum has worked with many of the world’s most groundbreaking and influential new media and digital artists. We’re thrilled by the prospect of extending that into our Space, but don’t want to begin engaging artists in conversations until we’re certain that it will honor their time and energy.

That said, there are a number of artists we’d be thrilled to bring into our SuperRare Space. Both Sinziana and Jesse are connected to a number of digital and new media artists who are curious to explore NFTs in their practices. Furthermore, through Sinziana’s connection to photographers, filmmakers, and dancers, and Jesse’s roots in text-based art and VR/AR art, we think there is a new wave of artists and collaborations waiting to be tapped and facilitated.

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

(Please see first paragraph in previous answer)

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

Auctions on SuperRare will be supported by monthly rotating in-person group exhibitions (featuring 6-10 artists) throughout the year, with the added possibility of hosting immersive pop-ups around the world. We are keen to host solo shows for digital artists in our physical location, as well exhibitions guest curated by partner institutions, artists, curators, and collectors. We will consistently promote works on social media, host artist talks in our physical and virtual spaces, display artwork on digital billboards across Los Angeles, and engage with media to drive awareness around each exhibition.

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

Online artist releases paired with a physical exhibition:

• 70% Artist

• 5% SuperRare DAO

• 25% Vellum LA

Funds will go towards covering operation and marketing costs for the gallery.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

Today, NFTs give artists—especially digital and new media artists—a means of building a community around their work and establishing a collector base. It’s a means of returning power to artists and creators, which excites us. But more importantly, we believe these artists, thinkers, and creators are some of the most important participants in our increasingly hybrid physical-digital reality.

NFTs have initiated the process of translating cultural and creative capital into actual power and value. Web3 is a lofty ideal, but it’s a world we’d like to see, and as fate has had it, NFTs are the introductory building blocks. We’re not so blindly optimistic as to assume that these dreams of a decentralized web will come true, but we want to be part of the community trying to manifest them in reality.

By innovating NFTs, smart contracts, and DAOs, cryptoartists will continue to drive new understandings around social communities, shared trust, accountability, and governance. At this perilous moment in history, we believe these experiments are urgent, even if many won’t accomplish their goals. Given the attention around NFTs, it’s clear that so many more people are going to make their way into the ecosystem, which is exciting, but also means that the role of artists is especially important in guiding, educating, and illuminating possible futures for them.

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

Dry Martini. We take ours with vodka, dry, up, with olives, slightly dirty.

The dry martini is iconic. It’s simple and well-regarded, but sometimes an acquired taste. It’s versatile—equally comfortable in a cozy haunt or black-tie gala.

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

Unlike the “top-down” gallery model that proliferates in contemporary art, we want to grow Vellum with this community. One of the main reasons we hope to have a Space on SuperRare is so that we can learn and explore with a global community of folks, and be part of an industry push to emphasize care and connoisseurship. Through our exhibitions, we hope to draw clearer lines between the groundbreaking artists of today and those of past movements—simultaneously subverting some of the outdated models and expectations that have been inherited from art history.

We have big plans in store, and we hope to have the chance to share them with this community through a SuperRare Space.

[Vellumla]

Great submission ! Hope to collaborate with you guys in the future

[imnotChase]

Space name / team name

imnotArt

Name of primary contact

Matt Schapiro

Names of additional Space admins:

Chase McCaskill

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin

imnotMatt, imnotChase

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Matt Schapiro: Matt lives in Chicago and is the Founder of imnotArt. Matt started investing in digital assets in 2013 through the video game Counterstrike. In 2015 Matt started his journey into cryptocurrency through Bitcoin before learning about Ethereum and becoming obsessed with the potential of smart contracts. Matt thinks this technology is about to disrupt the entire world and is excited to be a part of it.

Chase McCaskill: Chase lives in Chicago and is one of the founders of imnotArt. Chase has a product marketing background and has spent time working in the sports & entertainment space until Matt pulled him into blockchain & NFTs. Now that he’s gone down the rabbit hole, there is no turning back! Chase is excited about the future of imnotArt and the impact blockchain technology will have on the world.

Website & Social Media Links:

Website: imnotArt.com

Twitter: im_not_art

Instagram: imnot.art

Medium: imnotArt

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

imnotArt was one of the very first physical/digital crypto art galleries in the world. We were the second physical NFT gallery in the United States, and the first in Chicago. Aside from our physical gallery giving us a very unique value proposition, imnotArt has an even more unique origin story. We are Metaverse-native. Unlike traditional galleries and auction houses now entering the Metaverse, imnotArt BEGAN in the Metaverse. We truly are digitally-native, and we embody the ethos of the overall NFT and crypto art community. imnotArt – with the support of the community - has already established itself as a major player in crypto art, which has helped us stand out among the crowd. However, we won’t stop there, and it’s the future of imnotArt that really gets us excited. We aim to do the following: (1) Curate Seminal Exhibitions, (2) Create Hubs for Artistic Expression, (3) Create New Physical/Digital Experiences, (4) Onboard Traditional Artists and Art Collectors, (5) Be Educators, (6) Be Unequivocally on the Side of Artists, (7) Drive Value as a Gallery, (8) Give Opportunities to the Underrepresented, (9) Onboard People into the Metaverse, (10) Promote 1-of-1 Art, (11) Throw Amazing Events & Parties, (12) Expand Across the World. It isn’t just how we started that sets us apart, it’s where we are going, and we want to SuperRare to join us on that journey.

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Since the inception of imnotArt, we have curated 16 virtual exhibitions in our Metaverse property (Community Galleries #1 - #16), we curated a genesis exhibition for our physical gallery - imnotArt Chicago (The New Digital: Born in Chicago), and collaborated with Jeff Davis – CCO of Art Blocks – on an exhibition created specifically for our gallery (“Neighborhood”). With our Community Gallery, we have received submissions from over 650 artists, and exhibited over 200 different artists representing over 60 countries. We have a team member who is pursuing a PhD in Curatorial Studies at Northwestern and another team member who previously worked for Sotheby’s. Our team has a strong blend of expertise ranging from crypto to blockchain, and to the highest tiers of traditional art, which gives us a unique perspective when curating exhibitions.

Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

As described in the previous question, our team has organized two, revenue generating exhibitions that were both run on an auction model with our own smart contract. Our exhibitions included high-profile artists such as Jeff Davis, Sinclair, Chuck Anderson, Sophie Sturdevant, Willea Zwey, Sean Williams, Joey the Photographer, and ProbCause. Five of the seven artists that we exhibited in our first exhibition set their highest sale record during our show – The New Digital: Born in Chicago. Through our virtual location, Community Gallery, and our physical location, imnotArt Chicago, we have established strong connections with patrons of the space who have believed in the artists we exhibited, and the vision of imnotArt Chicago.

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

Yes. We have a list of artists that we are already working alongside toward a physical/digital exhibition at imnotArt Chicago, and in our Metaverse gallery. We are planning two exhibitions for November, and likely two more in December. Two of the artists come from the traditional art world, which demonstrates a commitment to our aforementioned vision of bringing traditional artists into the crypto art space.

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

Yes. We have two artists currently making waves in the CryptoArt space who are committed to doing a project and exhibition with us. We have a handful of others who have shown strong interest, but are still in the early stages of planning. We are in a fortunate position that our biggest barrier for doing shows is time, rather than interest. The more we can scale up, the more shows we can do.

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

We would operate this space to fit our physical gallery. Each show would consist of 11 total artworks, inclusive of the following sizes: 4 square, 2 horizontal, and 5 vertical. As mentioned, we are planning two exhibitions per month, and would likely run these through our SuperRare Space, if selected. We have a strong track record for promoting artists, as evidenced by our team’s background in digital marketing & SEO, as well as the success of our first two exhibitions at imnotArt Chicago. Each show was inclusive of a full suite of promotional assets, including social creative for each artist, video descriptions of each piece provided by the artists, and of course the opening night for the exhibition where we host an IRL event.

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

imnotArt will take a 27.5% commission, with the other 67.5% going to the artist and 5% going to SuperRare.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

NFTs have changed the way that people view asset ownership. Art is the perfect use case for early adoption of NFTs because it solves so many problems in the art industry, such as artist secondary sales, provenance, and immediate transactions/transfer of assets - just to name a few! At imnotArt, we believe the CryptoArt space will consist of an intricately woven physical and digital experience. This is one of the core reasons why we decided to open our physical gallery. We want to create memorable physical and digital exhibitions that allow for people to enjoy the artwork through the physical medium here in Chicago - or via the virtually medium from somewhere else across the world!

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

If our Space were a cocktail, we would be a martini – “shaken, not stirred.” Why? Because we exist to shake up the existing mechanics of how the art industry operates. We need more institutions that are truly digitally native. We need institutions that provide more to artists and collectors than just a roof under which to sell their work. Web 3 has given control back to creators. A digitally native institution understands the power and beauty of Web 3, and the possibilities it provides our industry. Digitally native institutions will use the tools provided by Web 3 to work FOR the artists and collectors, not against them. As a Metaverse-native gallery & institution, it’s our mission to use the power of Web 3 to support our artists and collectors, not take advantage of them. At imnotArt, artists & collectors are not the means to an end, they are partners on the journey.

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

Our vision is to change the world of crypto art. We want to create a globally-recognized art institution that is truly digitally native. We are 100% bootstrapped, and everything we have done up until this point was done by the hard work of our team. We believe in ourselves, and so does our community. The community is our most powerful asset, and we will continue to work hard for them each and every day to accomplish the goals we have set out before ourselves.

[JenJoyRoybal]

Space name / team name: SearchLight

Name of primary contact: Rebecca Rose, JenJoy Roybal, Kas Vegas

Names of additional Space admins: Soo-Young Lee, Pilar Cote, Paiman, Joyce Korotkin

SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin: sculpturings, vizmesh, jenjoyroybal, kasvegas, pilarcote, studiopaiman, JoKorot, Dr.Lemny Perez, Kilsy Curiel, JBR Visuals

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Vote for SearchLight in the Space Race. We don’t simply cherry-pick the best, we cultivate artists for the long view, helping to support the vitality of the $RARE token well into the future. We have a diverse team of experienced curators responsible for millions in sales this year (2021). Help us build sustained culture and value while sharing some of the most compelling narratives and experiences in the NFT space. Thank you for your consideration. Our team is available to answer any questions.

SearchLight is the community-led curatorial body that creates and manages a pre-qualified NFT Artist Pool for the global NFT community. The team provides signature shows, performances and exhibitions that help institutions, businesses and collectors achieve their goals with innovative blockchain technology.

Our curators have spoken on numerous panels including Sotheby’s Institute, Vital Spaces, Women in NFTs, Indigenous Groups Bridging into Crypto Art, Ars Electronica, Zero1 Festival, Modernism Museum of Mt. Dora, and Craft in America, among others, and are confirmed to speak on forthcoming panels at NFT.NYC and ASMP NY. Admins have worked with prominent artists. A leading member on the team co-founded NFTs.Tips, a non-profit with 36,000 members of the NFT community, including a vast array of artists, collectors and arts professionals.

Admins have also been Artists in Residence at Ox-Bow/SAIC and have won grants co-sponsored by The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation, The Joan Mitchell Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropic.

Website & Social Media Links:

Website: https://www.searchlight.art

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/searchnfts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/searchlightnfts

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop/elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

Searchlight is committed to advancing the practice of NFT creators. We not only seek out artists far and wide, but once they are part of our vetted Artists Pool we foster their development by offering special programming and opportunities that further their growth; as such, our artists are bringing compelling and unique perspectives to the NFT space as a whole.

We balance elevating high-caliber, underrepresented artists alongside a cadre of well-established names with the intent to support them throughout their NFT artistic journey. Our vision is to incubate emerging and mid-level NFT artists to catapult them into sovereign careers.

Our experienced team of curators collaborates to develop thought-provoking concepts for exhibitions and events, and they spend countless hours reviewing and discovering artists across platforms and communities, dedicated to finding the best possible talent for each exhibition. It’s our passion. A labor of love.

The goal is to support the NFT community by raising the visibility of NFT artists, and introduce them to a broader audience while addressing important ideas and themes in the crypto-art space.

Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Members of the team have curated countless exhibitions both together and individually.Recent examples include being the primary curation team for NFT.NYC, alongside Christie’s Auction house; two multi-venue exhibitions presented during The Miami Bitcoin Conference in June 2021; an exhibition at The Blockchain Center in New York celebrating LGBTQ Month; Renaissance Protocol, A two-day event in Manhattan, curated by the community highlighting emerging themes in the NFT space, including photography, AI/GAN, generative, glitch and many more; Stratosphere, a 500+ artist exhibition in Beijing that utilized 500 screens and a metaverse; The Meta-Mangerie, One of the largest ever NFT installations in NYC featuring 200+ artists over 5 days; Influences in New York, a show that experimented with new ways of digital presentation; Persian NFT Empire at JO7 Gallery; and exhibitions at Highline 9, Soho House, Hong Kong; Pranksy’s Place; 100 x Art for Decentraland Art Week, CryptoVoxels, Spatial.io, MakersPlace, and events and programming at The Triad Theatre in New York.

SearchLight is experienced with full-stack marketing and communications for exhibitions and events. We are pioneering strategies for exhibitions that leverage familiar tools like social media campaigns, Twitter spaces, Clubhouse rooms, interactive exhibition catalogues, and POAPS with immersive experiences in the metaverse through educational docent tours in multiple languages.

Our programming aims range from curating thematic, enticing exhibitions that cascade across the prestigious SuperRare platform, the metaverse, IRL galleries and events, to museum exhibitions on tour, auction houses, and into the history books for future generations to learn from and engage with.

Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.

All team members have experience with NFT art sales and running auctions. Members of our team have had success helping to sell major NFT projects such as NFT Matters Podcast, NFT Heroes, Zero Contact with Anthony Hopkins, Ethereals, 0N1Force, Frogland, Muttniks x SpaceX, Zoe Strekkel NFT Fashion, Black NFT Art, Huxley, Oscars Swag Bag 2021 x Profanity. Members are influential in the space, leading Clubhouse rooms, Twitter Spaces, and overseeing Discords for various communities and projects.

SearchLight developed a white-glove service for collectors that started with a VIP dinner during the Miami Bitcoin conference. Each collector received a digital swag bag of 40 NFTs as an introduction to the SearchLight Artists Pool. As part of the exhibition, we organized and ran a VIP Collector’s Preview in Clubhouse rooms where artists discussed their work directly to prospective buyers. This led to sales and exposure where some of our artists saw their very first NFT sales. We continue to cultivate our Collector’s Circle.

Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?

Searchlight has a vetted artists pool of over 400 artists and we have a close relationship with all of them.

Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?

Yes, and yes!

Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.

SearchLight will conduct monthly exhibitions and continue to develop thoughtful, relevant conceptual framing for our shows. We will continue to conduct quarterly Calls for Artists and calls for submission on an as-needed basis. Auction strategies will be state-of-the-art and are confidential. Further exploration of the programming will help determine the number of artists per show.

How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?

TBD: SearchLight has such a wide selection of artists, so each show would probably require appropriate consideration. It is not a one-size-fits-all scenario at this time.

To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

We’re believers. The medium/technology is here to stay and we want to chart the new frontier. Our goal is to contribute to the NFT space as a whole by seeking collectors and galleries outside of crypto, consult and teach them about crypto art, how to safely open wallets and securely maintain them to bring mainstream awareness of NFTs to every Joe on the street to the extent where collecting NFTs and minting works becomes as commonplace and accepted as walking into a traditional art gallery and buying a painting off a wall.

If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?

Whatever you’d request as your last meal; because our space will delight your utter fantasy and free your mind!

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

SearchLight is by the people for the people #NFTs4thePeople!!

We are one of the few groups focusing on emerging and mid-career artists because we believe it is important to develop ALL rungs of the NFT art ecosystem to strengthen its longevity.

*Top image: artist Reinhard Schmid

[Lee_SR]

@TheCryptGallery

King of Midtown (Athanasios Polihronopoylos)

We’ll inform everyone once voting opens.