Space Race #1 [Completed - Nov '21]


1. Space name / team name:

CAP Space

2. Name of primary contact:

Paul Geraghty

3. Names of additional Space admins:

Benjamin FĂźglister

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

@CAPPrize, @Picturk

5. Short bio of you and/or your team:

Benjamin Füglister is an artist and cultural entrepreneur. In his artistic practice he questions social conventions and explores their visual transformations. His particular interest is photography as a medium for visualizing the shifts in the human image. Füglister is the founder of the annual CAP Prize, the prize for contemporary African photography. He is a Prix Pictet nominator and sits on the Photo Basel artistic advisory board. He is the founder of the IAF Basel – Festival for Contemporary Art and regularly engages as a reviewer at international photography festivals.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminfueglister/

Paul Geraghty is a director of the CAP Prize. Paul is Chair of the board, Gallery of Photography, Ireland - Ireland’s National cultural institution that supports photography and its makers. The Gallery runs a full programme of exhibitions and welcomes more than 200,000 visitors annually - current exhibition is the Prix Pictet, the Gallery’s previous exhibition was Martin Parr. Paul has produced many international photography awards: most notably the California Academy’s Big Picture Photography Award, The British Trust for Ornithology Bird Photographer of the Year, and the Syngenta Photography Award. Paul is a technologist, entrepreneur, and collector. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-geraghty/

6. Website & Social Media Links:

www.capassociation.org,
www.capprize.com,
www.editionpopcap.com

IG: @capprize
Twitter: @cap_prize
Facebook: @capprize
Pinterest: @cap_association
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cap-association
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/capassociation

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?

We promote artists, who through the medium of photography, engage with the African continent and the African Diaspora.

We started this project in 2012 because we found that diverse photographic voices around Africa were under-represented and overlooked by the main-stream art world. We founded the CAP Prize to give voice to those artists.

The CAP Prize is now in its 10th Year: we’re interested in long-term, sustainable relationships that help drive the artists career. We connect CAP Prize winners to a network of peers that can help them develop as artists. Our approach has helped artists reach commercial success: the award has helped the careers of over 50 artists including: Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo, 2019, Jodi Bieber, 2019 (World Press), Cristina de Middel, Joana Choumali (Prix Pictet 2019). The prize raises the winners international exposure and glues them into a network that they can rely on to support their professional development.


Jodi Bieber, Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo, Joana Choumali, and Cristina de Middel

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

The CAP Team provides a platform where artists can freely submit work where the work gets seen and reviewed by respected arts academics and professionals. Each November we put an open call to artists to submit work that deals with Africa or the African Diaspora. Submissions are reviewed by a panel of 25 international experts and curators - such as Fiona Shields (Head of Photography, The Guardian), Sandra M. Stevenson (editor, New York Times), Azu Nwagbogu (Curator, LagosPhoto festival) or Lesley A. Martin (editor in chief, aperture magazine), Shahidul Alam (festival director, Chobi Mela, Bangladesh), Steven Evans, (director, Houston Fotofest), John Fleetwood, (Co-Head, KABK Photography Departement).

From the submissions we short-list 25 artists, from which we select 5 who we exhibit internationally at venues and photographic festivals around the world including i.e. IAF Basel Festival for Contemporary Art, LagosPhoto Festival, PhotoIreland Festival or the OBSCURA Festival for Photography in Malaysia.


CAP Prize 2020 exhibition at IAF Basel during Art Basel, September 2021

Our panelists include:

  1. Curators from major cultural institutions
    Tanya Kiang, Gallery of Photography Ireland; Samuel Sidibe National Museum of Mali; and Joselina Cruz, the Museum of Contemporary Art Manila.
  2. Photographic editors and journalists at major titles
    Andreas MĂźller-Pohle, European Photography Magazine; and Jennifer Shaw, The Guardian; and Lesley A. Martin; Aperture.
  3. Festival directors
    Lassana Igo Diarra, Bamako Encounters; Azu Nwagbogu, LagosPhoto Festival; Aida Muluneh, Addis FotoFest; and Steven Evans, Houston FotoFest.
  4. Academics
    Florian Ebner, Centre Pompidou; Makola Lekgetho, University of Pretoria; and Liz Ikiriko, Ryerson University.

More than 55 exhibitions have reached more than two million people. We have staged exhibitions in: Lagos, Cape Town, Addis Abeba, Basel, Dublin, Vienna, Penang, Auckland, Buenos Aires, and more: CAP Prize – International Prize for Contemporary African Photography

The work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, the Guardian, BBC, and in numerous arts and photography magazines. CAP Prize – International Prize for Contemporary African Photography

The prize mechanic provides:

  1. The narrative within which we engage and communicate with our audience
  2. Assures that artists selected work is artistically outstanding,
  3. Brings artists to the attention of curators, editors that the artist would find it difficult to connect to.
  4. Is fair to the artists that submit their work


CAP Prize 2014 exhibition at Cape Town Month of Photography, October 2014

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

In 2015 we produced the first Edition POPCAP which we produce in conjunction with the artists and we sell on their behalf.

Benjamin Füglister, through his position on the curatorial board of photo basel international art fair, is closely acquainted with the traditional art market, and was instrumental in the decision to include NFT’s for the first time at Photo Basel. Ben has produced an annual arts festival for 10 years, worked in major photography festivals such as the Berlin Photography Festival, and produced a major virtual photography exhibition showcasing the very latest in African photography in 2021. Ben has deep publishing experience and has spent 18 years working with European Photography Magazine. Füglister is very experienced in just about every aspect of art creation, art production, presentation, marketing and sales.

Paul Geraghty through his work with Gallery of Photography has developed relationships with collectors and artists internationally; during his tenure the Gallery has staged more than 50 exhibitions by early, mid-career, and established artists. Paul’s latest project is a NFT collaboration with MOCA, Foundation.app, and Foundation for art and blockchain that’s helping 6 photographers partner with 6 composers to create new work which will be exhibited at exhibitions at physical locations in Ireland and in the metaverse. The work will be minted and sold as part of the programme .


Virtual Exhibition: Award Winning African Photography in collaboration with Photo Basel, April 2021

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

Each year we shortlist 25 photographers from which we select 5 finalists: both groups will be eligible to be included in our Super Rare Space. We would also open the Space to previous finalists and shortlisted artists. We would also include 5 previous winners’ work on the Space. Each year we would hope to add between 5 and 10 artists whose work will be promoted throughout our programme of events and exhibitions.

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?

Ismail Zaidy, who is already successfully selling NFT artworks, has expressed interest in participating. https://foundation.app/@l4artiste

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.

2022, we have confirmed exhibitions at major cultural institutions and festivals in: Dublin, Zurich, Kampala, Marrakech, and Beacon NY. Each exhibition provides an opportunity to promote the artists and talk about their work available for sale at the CAP Super Rare Space. We will continue our programme of networking at major photography events Rencontres d’Arles, Photo London, Paris Photo, Art Basel, and Rencontres de la photographie Bamako where we promote our artists and drive sales at SuperRare. During the exhibitions and artists talks we will foster a discourse around collecting NFTs.

In collaboration with Photo Basel we will mint and drop a collection of single editions which would be auctioned during Art Basel. We would also like to investigate the possibility of creating a multiple edition NFT drop related to each exhibition.

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

Our physical print edition, Édition POPCAP was created in response to overwhelming interest from CAP Prize exhibition-goers. 70% of proceeds go to the artists, and the other 30% are used to fund the Prize and promote the artists. We will adopt this commission structure for artists who release on our space.

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?

Being able to mint and market NFT’s on behalf of our artists would be a huge deal. A common crypto use-case is that crypto helps the unbanked bank. Artists we’ve promoted through the prize often do not have bank accounts. Being able to transact - to sell their work and receive payment - would be transformative.

We feel that in the short to medium term that there will be a market adjustment in the NFT space. We are really interested in the emergence of a sustainable market that supports creators, where collectors can collect in confidence. We see ‘tight’ curation as being key to the development of a sustainable market that rewards artists whose work is artiscally outstanding, and rewards collectors who invest in them.

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

Takosu - an octopus salad that’s refreshing, unexpected, familiar yet different

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

The CAP Prize helps African artists, and artists whose work deals with Africa - whose work is artistically outstanding - reach an audience. The CAP Prize connects them to a community that supports them in their artistic development. We are very focused on developing the artists we support and helping them achieve their commercial and artistic goals. We very much see NFT’s as instrumental in helping the artist we support reach their commercial goals.


▲Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Jodi Bieber, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Joana Choumali, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Cristina DeMiddel, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Aàdesokan, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Dillon Marsh, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Fabrice Monteiro, CAP Prize Winner


▲Girma Berta, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Ismail Zaidy, CAP Prize Winner


▲ Joseph Obanubi, CAP Prize Winner


▲Nabil Boutros, CAP Prize Winner


▲Namsa Leuba, CAP Prize Winner


▲Yoriyas, CAP Prize Winner

</CAP Prize>

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  1. Space name / team name:

Space Name: Bionic Gestalt

Team Name: bG Gallery

  1. Name of primary contact:

Isabel Malina ([email protected]) and Om Bleicher ([email protected])

  1. Names of additional Space admins:

Om Bleicher, Estefania Ochoa, Isabel Malina

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

Airom, thuglif3, Izzy

  1. Short bio of you and/or your team:

For the past 11 years, our vision in the art world has been to bridge genres and bring artists previously overlooked into the mainstream art world. We look for art with authenticity and psychological truth despite genre, class, populace, academic, or other social constructs. We believe in authentic and meaningful work - art that does not hide, and succeeds in spite of, or because of, its flaws. bG Gallery deliberately looks for artists who have crossed traditionally contentious art ideologies. Our aim is to bring this type of artwork back to the forefront of the contemporary art scene. You can visit us in the historic Bergamot Station, located in Santa Monica, California, where we have a respected physical space in which NFT artists have shown alongside physical artworks.

bG Gallery was founded by Om Bleicher, and David Gorman. Since inception Bleicher and Gorman have worked with a broad range of curators and artists, allowing them to freely express their unique styles and perspectives. Today bG Gallery works with many artists and curators that continue to leave their mark on the art world. For this curatorial project we will be working with Om Bleicher, Estefania Ochoa, Isabel Malina, Kourtney Hunter, and many artists TBA.

  1. Website & Social Media Links:

Website: https://santamonica.bgartdealings.com/

NFT Website: https://www.nftartstories.com/

Instagram: Login • Instagram

Facebook: Redirecting...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bg_gallery

NFT Twitter: https://twitter.com/nftartstories

  1. 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?

Since bG Gallery’s inception, we have found new ways to invite artists and curators from different backgrounds to work together on a cohesive project. Gestalt Projects is a sub project of bG Gallery dedicated to crossing art world divides by tying together diverse groups of artists into cohesive exhibitions and installations. These projects have a somewhat decentralized curatorial format, in which all artwork is accepted if it fits within the curatorial theme. These conditions allow for a cohesive grouping of artworks rather than relying on the subjectivity of an individual curator.

We have continued our vision of acting as a bridge and amalgamation point in the art world through creating a space to exhibit high-quality collaborations from diverse artists in the metaverse, as well as in real life through our physical location at Bergamot Station. Gestalt Projects will work on narrative sets where each artist is responsible for different body parts of an avatar.

Our Collection will consist of 111 unique bionic avatars. Our aim is to further the creator economy conversation, and continue growing our collective with cross-genre, psycho-spiritual artists. Our unique collection will also have unlockable content, and some hold utility to its collector. This utility can come in the form of redeeming physical art, attending an event at bG Gallery, a virtual tour of your favorite artist’s studio, or something even cooler!

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

Om Bleicher: 16 years as curator, artist manager, and artist in the LA Area. 11 years as a gallery owner. Focus on unusual, cross genre, and overlooked extraordinary art.

EstefanĂ­a Ochoa: Art consultant, curator, magazine owner, writer, NFT influencer, DAO founder. Specializes in BIPOC artists and overlooked demographics in the art and NFT spaces.

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

bG Gallery has had an active exhibition program, typically with the Gestalt Projects operating in conjunction with projects created by artists in our main space. We do at least two exhibitions a month and now host online exhibitions and programs as well. These have included themed exhibitions and virtual travel around the world connecting with artists and art professionals in other nations over the course of the pandemic.

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

Yes, there are many new artists we’d like to bring into the Space. We have been working with many traditional artists and educating them about NFTs. We are particularly interested in brining Ryan Schude, Linda Vallejo, Melissa Meier, Mike Stilkey, Michelle Kingdom and Burton Gray into the Space amount others in the first six months. These are all artists we represent, who are already working on non-physical projects and have popular appeal potential. Below is some information for these artists.

Ryan Schude:
This Epic Party Shot Took 60 Frames and Lots of Champagne | WIRED, A 21st-Century Reimagining of Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine, Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Linda Vallejo:
Museum of Latin American Art MOLAA Solo Project 2022 | Linda Vallejo, Knockdown Center, New York 2021 | Linda Vallejo

Melissa Meier:
Melissa Meier "Laced - Skins - Masks" Exhibit at bG Gallery - NoHo Arts District - Theatre, Food, Bars, Shopping and a buzzing community., In Oceanside Museum of Art's 'Dress Rehearsal,' artists use garment in unexpected ways

Mike Stilkey:
Painted Books: The Stacked Book Sculptures of Mike Stilkey, Mike Stilkey's Library | The New Yorker

Michelle Kingdom:
http://hifructose.com/2015/08/19/fantastically-strange-embroidery-works-by-michelle-kingdom/, Miniature Embroideries Reveal The Inner Imagination Of Artist Michelle Kingdom | HuffPost Entertainment

Burton Gray:

  1. 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 many artists we represent were a part of the first phase of on-boarding to NFTs and are now selling their own work independently. Below are some examples:
Haleh Javanshir: https://opensea.io/Halehj?tab=created
Calethia DeConto: https://opensea.io/calethiadecontostudio
John Kilduff: https://opensea.io/letspainttv?tab=created
Martin Krammer: https://opensea.io/martinkrammer_art?tab=created
Jack Reilly: https://opensea.io/JackReilly?tab=created
Paula Craioveanu: https://opensea.io/cpaula?tab=created

  1. 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 on looking into opportunities to borrow a crypto voxels space or a decentraland plot. We also plan on hosting in-person events at our physical gallery space, as well as using social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Clubhouse, etc.), newsletters, and influencer marketing in order to help promote our art and artists.

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

80 artist/s 20 curatorial

  1. 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 NFTs are important as a medium/technology for a wide variety of reasons. NFTs not only provide a new form of creativity and self-expression, but they also help diversify the art world through making the creative process accessible to more people. There are often many barriers of entry within the mainstream art world. These barriers often lead to a lack of diversity, and can hinder creativity and innovation. NFTs have the power to avoid these barriers, therefore encouraging collaboration and innovation. In five years, we see the NFT and CryptoArt space as being much more powerful and co-existing with physical art spaces within the mainstream art world.

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

If our Space were a dish it would be a potluck dinner because it has wide appeal while also consisting of a wide variety of foods and has the ability to shift and change depending on who is involved.

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

We are very passionate about enabling artists’ creativity in this field.

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  1. Space name / team name:

BuyingBlack

2. Name of primary contact:

EJ Garrett

3. Names of additional Space admins:

Catherine Gomersall

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

EJ Garrett

5. Short bio of you and/or your team:

EJ Garrett - Founder

EJ is a producer of indigenous content specialising in factual story telling. EJ has produced, directed and written documentaries for broadcast and owns and operates his own production company. EJ is the founder of BuyingBlack and is a Darumbal man from the coastal lands of Central Queensland and his mother is from the Wulli Wulli people of the Burnett region. EJ Garrett is a multi-skilled individual with experience covering community engagement, media and communication. EJ works with First Nations Artists using story-telling to promote their work.

Catherine Gomersall - Curator

Catherine Gomersall is an artist, curator and researcher, working in digital and currently deep diving into blockchain and NFTs. She has a varied professional background in arts academia, startups and the community sector. Catherine has been exhibiting and working in the creative arts field since 2000, completing projects in Australia and overseas. Her qualifications include a PhD (Communications - critical aesthetic theory), an International TESOL license, as well as training in trauma-informed approaches to care and community practice. Catherine has participated in several professional development programs, including a collaborative residency at Node in Berlin. Her work in the arts includes curating, research, teaching, consulting and publishing. Catherine is the lead consultant at Delame and Co, a mentor at Rare Birds and an instructor at Pinot and Picasso.

6. Website & Social Media Links:

https://www.instagram.com/buyingblack.com.au/

https://twitter.com/BuyingblackA

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?

BuyingBlack is a portal that creates the place for First Nations Artists to enter the blockchain marketplace. BuyingBlack is an online platform that is supported by a media strategy that comprises of a website, a social media footprint, email marketing, printed content, an on-line video series, a podcast series and a directory. At the core of the BuyingBlack portal is the sharing of the stories of First Nations artists and their work. The BuyingBlack portal also provides opportunities for Government agencies and other stakeholders to engage with First Nations Artists and their work. The strength of the BuyingBlack portal is having the one location where buyers access first nations digital artwork.
[BuyingBlack Launch] “BuyingBlackLaunchVimeo from EJ Garrett on Vimeo” width=“640” height=“360” frameborder=“0” allowfullscreen>)

The value proposition is to create a strong connected community that provides a powerful base for First nations Artists to enter the Web3 world. The art is diverse but is culturally authentic with Artwork curated from selected artworks being promoted on the BuyingBlack portal. The reason that BuyingBlack will stand out in the crowd is because we will be leaders in curating Australian First Nations digital artworks.

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

The BuyingBlack portal has been in operation for two years and we have been promoting a First Nations business every day. Our process is to research a business then share their promotional content to our community. On sharing a business on our social media accounts, we then invite businesses to join our BuyingBlack community be registering on our directory Directory — BuyingBlack. We also assist artists to build and manage their own websites with the support of government grants.

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

Catherine brings to the team at BuyingBlack her extensive experience as an artist, curator and art consultant. She has run conferences both online and in meatspace, and has hosted several group exhibitions. Catherine has worked for small galleries, artist-run-initiatives and large art festivals, where she has presented and sold artworks to both private collectors and public institutions. Her own artwork is in several collections, and she has facilitated the collection of numerous other artists she has worked with over her 20 year career in the arts. Catherine also has a strong track record working in the digital space, and has delivered several online projects.

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

There are four artists who are members of the BuyingBlack community that we will work with to create and develop artworks for the digital market to begin with.

Kylie Hill - https://www.kjhartworks.com.au

Anthony Kemp - https://www.wajjii-wahludesigns.com.au

Maurice Woodley - https://www.picquiarts.com.au

Bernard Kelly - Edwards - https://www.instagram.com/bke79/?hl=en

The relationship is that we are supporting these artists with their endeavours to be full-time artists by assisting with marketing and digital art development.

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

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.

BuyingBlack are committed to building digital capacity in our community of artists and this includes NFTs. The artists we are starting with have been through a mentoring program with BuyingBlack, focused on building their online presence. Our mentoring process is collaborative and artists are brought together in workshop days to complete tasks together, share stories and support each other. The NFTs will be launched as collections of stories that can be shared with the BuyingBlack community, and from this we expect that other artists in our community will start producing NFTs for our Space as well. Selected artists will be mentored from ideation, through to creation and launching at our Space. We have a rich community of businesses, and our art is central to our identities and brands. Using NFTs is a way to get our stories out to an international audience, whilst ensuring we are also protecting our community members’ IP. Our artists are supported to realise their project through mentoring with myself and Catherine. Then, we expect that our first group of artists will be in the position to curate and mentor the next group of artists. BuyingBlack projects are promoted on our social networks, at community cultural events, on community radio and national broadcast channels for example the ABC and NITV.

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

BuyingBlack will take a 10% commission to cover the cost of promoting our artists.

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?

Indigenous artists and their artwork are frequent victims of fraud and exploitation. The importance of NFT for me as this technology protects artists’ cultural intellectual property and copyright. In five years, I believe that the NFT and cryptoart space will be the impetus for the curation and consumption of important artwork that isn’t railed by archaic art institutions.

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

BuyingBlack is a rare, authentic and traditional dish with a modern flare.

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

We are very excited by the idea that we might have a Space for our community to present and sell NFTs. Indigenous content is highly regulated on mainstream Australian media channels, and we see the NFT space as an opportunity to present content in fresh ways that we don’t have the platform for anywhere else. The BuyingBlack community is a highly active and innovative community, and we want to reduce the barriers to entry for our members getting into blockchain, by making it a safe and fun way to get started with support.

  1. Space name / team name: theVERSEverse

  2. Name of primary contact: Kalen Iwamoto

  3. Names of additional Space admins: Ana Maria Caballero, Sasha Stiles

  4. SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin: kaleniwamoto, sashastiles, AnaMariaCaballero

  5. Short bio of you and/or your team:

Ana Maria Caballero
Ana Maria Caballero is a first-generation Colombian-American poet and writer. Her work has won multiple awards, including the Beverly International Prize for Literature and Colombia’s José Manuel Arango National Poetry Prize. Ana Maria Caballero’s first nonfiction manuscript “A Petit Mal” was awarded the International Beverly Prize. Her collection “Entre domingo y domingo” won Colombia’s José Manuel Arango National Poetry Prize. She’s published two poetry chapbooks in English and was runner-up for the Academy of American Poets Prize. Her NFTs are part of Fort Gallery, MONOGRAMA Gallery, Async, Foundation and were featured on KnownOrigin.

Sasha Stiles
Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet and artist working at the intersection of text and technology. Her hybrid writings – which have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net – seek to decipher the hidden language of the dawning Novacene, using experiments with generative text, nonhuman intelligence and machine code to probe what it means to be human in a nearly post-human era.

Kalen Iwamoto
Kalen Iwamoto is a conceptual crypto writer and artist based in France. Her work takes blockchain technology and crypto culture as its point of departure, and focuses on play and exploration to push the boundaries of the NFT medium.
In March 2021, Kalen created the Crypto Writer discord, now a thriving community with 200+ members and counting. Working with a team of some of the most innovative crypto writers in the NFT space, she continues to promote NFT poetry and prose through workshops, writing sessions, weekly readings, interviews and panel talks on a variety of topics of interest to the community.

Gisel Florez
Gisel Florez explores the ways in which we are interconnected in this space of existence using manual camera techniques & conceptual practice. Drawing upon traditional still & cinematic methods using a digital 4×5, she incorporates art with immutable technology on various platforms & blockchains. Founder of @OFFONGallery & Co-founder of WOCA (Women of Crypto Art)

James Yu
James Yu is a writer, artist, and technologist. His work explores how technology mediates our everyday experiences. His stories are featured in Uncanny Magazine, Fireside Magazine, VICE Magazine, and his AI generative art on hic et nunc and Foundation. He is also the creator of Sudowrite, the creative AI tool for writers.

  1. Website & Social Media Links:

Website: https://theverseverse.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theverseverse

  1. 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?

Poem = Work of Art.

Founded by three women poets, theVERSEverse is the first NFT literary gallery – a place where text is art, poetry is technology, and language has no limits. We are a curated platform where collectors discover poets, and poets discover the infinite potential of the Metaverse. A place where writers, artists and technologists come together to make magic, and readers encounter words in new ways. Importantly, we are also a hub for GenText – positioning generative text as a revolutionary literary art form.

We believe the poetic encounter is one of the most profound forms of communion between two minds — author and reader. We also believe new technologies such as blockchain, generative text and artificial imaginations can unlock unprecedented experiences in knowledge-sharing and linguistic experimentation, and deepen our human understanding. theVERSEverse is where it all comes together, in poems rendered as works of art.

There is NO current dedicated poetry platform within the world of NFTs. As a trio of established writers and crypto visionaries with strong editorial credentials and impressive NFT sales to date, we aim to lead the way forward by bringing together the most exciting crypto authors and text-based artists (whom we have already built a community around) with widely-read, critically acclaimed traditional poets who will bring enthusiastic new audiences and collectors into the space.

  • We represent the world’s leading crypto poets, and seek out emerging talent.
  • We connect writers, artists and creative technologists.
  • We amplify existing work by visionary writers.
  • We translate the printed page into cryptopoetry.
  • We commission new projects and collaborations.
  • We partner with leading curators and institutions to elevate blockchain poetry
  • We encourage conversations around the evolution of traditional publishing models.
  • We challenge pervasive stereotypes about the financial value of poetry and help poets sell their best work.
  1. Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:

Our proposal is rooted in the momentum of the thriving CryptoWriters community, helmed by Kalen. The discord is home to over 200 crypto writers, and new members, including established poets, writers, editors, and text-based artists continue to join daily.

Kalen Iwamoto led and created the concept for 12, a curated crypto-literary project and seedphrase riddle game. She selected and featured the works of 12 crypto writers and artists, whose NFTs were locked away in a wallet. Following a week-long promotion phase, a poem NFT that included the 12 words of the seedphrase was released, along with unlockable content containing clues to find the seed words in the poem. The pieces were selected based on their conceptual, artistic and literary merits. Some of the writers in the group have gone on to break new ground in NFT writing and publishing, collaborate with top crypto artists and influencers, and make multi-eth sales.

Ana Maria Caballero curates a weekly Twitter Space called ARTeria that features members from the Hispanic community at different stages of their artistic careers, thereby uplifting all the individuals whose work is presented.

Sasha, Ana Maria and Kalen are also co-producers of the Crypto Writer Talks, a weekly podcast that gives crypto writers a platform to share their work with a wider audience through interviews, panel discussions, readings and performances.

As a photographer and a cofounder of Women of Crypto Art, Gisel Florez is a major force in the crypto community, named #37 on Fortune’s NFTy 50 list. She is deeply invested in empowering women and building community through WOCA and OFFON Gallery.

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

As core members of the groundbreaking Etherpoems collective, which inaugurated on-chain poetry, we played an important role in driving 36 ETH in collection sales. Kalen’s sold-out collection of MetaVerse in particular has received widespread recognition as an iconic contribution to new media literature.

Individually, Kalen, Ana Maria and Sasha have sold poetry NFTs across a variety of platforms to major collectors and visionary art appreciators including The Funny Guys, Mario Klingemann, Travis LeRoy, Silver Surfer, Jordan Lyall, and others.

Sasha has collaborated with key new media curators (including IX.Shells/Itzel Yard, Sofia Garcia, Jess Conatser, Joanie Lemercier) and organizations (CADAF, DAM Paris, Infinite Objects, Times Square Arts) on commissioned works, special editions, virtual events and experiential installations. Her work has been exhibited in analog and digital realms including a solo show titled “Ars Poetica Cybernetica” at the ArtYard museum; on screens across France for Digital Art Month Paris; on the runway at New York Fashion Week; and on VR billboards in Times Square, NYC, for Virtual New Year’s Eve 2021, organized by One Times Square.

For 12, Kalen’s curated crypto-literary NFT project, a dedicated gallery was created in Decentraland to showcase the work of the twelve crypto writers and artists. Built by Paleh0rs3, one of the contributors to 12, the gallery was designed to highlight the key themes of mystery and revelation, playfulness and sophistication.

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

theVERSEverse will be a diverse community, featuring works in different languages and collaborating with global artists at different stages of their artistic journeys. By its very nature, theVERSEverse seeks to present poems as works of art, opening up the definition of the latter to include new ways of engaging with written text.

Denise Duhamel
Recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Distinguished University Professor in the MFA program at Florida International University in Miami.

Julie Marie Wade
Julie has received the Chicago Literary Award in Poetry, the Gulf Coast Nonfiction Prize, the Oscar Wilde Poetry Prize, the Literal Latte Nonfiction Award, two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prizes, an Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, the American Literary Review Nonfiction Prize, the Arts & Letters Nonfiction Prize, the Thomas J. Hruska Nonfiction Prize, a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund for feminist literature, the Spoon River Poetry Prize, the Glenna Luschei Prize (with Denise Duhamel) from Prairie Schooner, and 32 Pushcart Prize nominations.

Franny Choi
https://www.frannychoi.com
Globally celebrated poet with an interest in all things cyborg.

Tracy Fuad
http://tracyfuad.com
Award-winning poet with a new book out on technological themes.

Campbell McGrath,
https://www.poetryfoundation
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, the Academy of American Poets Prize, the Cohen Award from Ploughshares literary journal, and a Pushcart Prize.

Richard Blanco
https://richard-blanco.com/bio/
President Barack Obama selected Blanco in 2012 to serve as the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, following in the footsteps of such luminary poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. The youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role, Blanco read “One Today,” an original poem he wrote for the occasion, at Obama’s inauguration ceremony on January 21, 2013.

  1. 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?

The following crypto artists have already entrusted their artworks to theVERSEverse:

  • aurèce vettier
  • Sarah Ridgley
  • Merchant Coppola
  • Pierre Gervois

The following crypto artists have asked to be on our artist list for future collections:

  • Ivona Tau
  • Linda Dounia
  • Michelle Thompson
  • Mr.Richi
  • Helena Sarin
  • Shantell Martin
  • Rose Jackson
  • Marlon Pictur
  • Layla Pereira
  • May Toyo
  1. 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.

Our curated main collection will be updated monthly with new 1/1 editions from a handful of poets. Each piece will be utterly unique, with scarcity driving demand. Where possible, we will tie this in with the poet’s publicity efforts in traditional media – e.g., coordinated to align with book launches, publishing conferences, appearances at major writing events and so on.

Our GenTexts drops – generative text works created using AI tools – will be released on either a monthly or quarterly cadence, in limited editions and priced more gently to engage with a broader audience.

Both 1/1s and GenText will be promoted via our weekly CryptoWriter Twitter Spaces and podcast as well as via other social and IRL channels and through our advisor/guest curator networks.

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

Our mission as a gallery is to empower poets creatively and financially. We price with this in mind, with a split between the gallery (32% to cover our logistical and promotional costs), the poet (65%) and the gallery’s advisor (3%). When a work is created by both poet + artist, we will split the total sale price to reflect this (32.5% to the poet and 32.5% to the artist).

  1. 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 NFTs represent a fundamental, paradigmatic shift in self-expression – a technology that empowers radical imagination and unlocks new realms of creativity and collective knowledge. As poets, we see the revolutionary potential of NFTs on a continuum from the origins of oral storytelling to the development of written language to the invention of the Gutenberg printing press – all steps that revolutionized our capacity to understand the world around us, and our ability to know ourselves. Now, via text-based tokens, words leap off the printed page (cutting-edge tech in Gutenberg’s time) and into the ether, our new medium for thinking, linking, sharing, existing. At the same time, NFTs weave us together into highly networked communities and equitable collectives with potential to disrupt established power structures, toppling entrenched systems of thought and making game-changing innovation feasible. It is impossible not to envision that blockchain technology will profoundly reshape what it means to be human, just as the arrival of printed books in the 15th century played a key role in the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Age of Enlightenment, defining the modern human experience as we have known it.

The importance of storing poetry on the blockchain is the same as the benefit of storing poetry anywhere: poetry itself. But, beyond the basic utility of communal chronicling, poetry and the blockchain also have a shared connection to memory. Some might say that the blockchain stores facts, while poetry stores emotions, impressions. However, in truth, poetry stores culture itself—the Odyssey, Beowulf, the Bhagavad Gita, the Divine Comedy, the Shijing—all poems. Virgil was essentially commissioned by Rome to write the Aeneid so as to define a tried and true Roman. He modeled his hero after Ulysses but bestowed upon Aeneas one new key trait—that of duty to country. For the Romans, poetry told them who they ought to be. You can read a biography of Oscar Wilde and imagine what his years in jail must’ve been like, or you can read “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” and know what he felt. Poetry is knowledge of other, which translates into knowledge of self. NFTs have the power to infuse poetry with value, reenergizing their communal transaction.

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

Our space is a shot of aguardiente, Colombia’s national liquor, whose name, literally, means “fire-water.” Yet, the drink itself is clear, neat, aromatic, and straightforward. At a lower proof than most other liquors, aguardiente can be consumed slow and long into the night, like a well-crafted text. Proof of patience, proof of poetry.

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

There’s never been a more exciting time for poetry. From Rupi Kaur to Amanda Gorman, words feel especially essential and inspiring in our current cultural moment. This is true also in the NFT space and is manifested in a growing market appetite for literary NFTs, as seen in examples of some poetry works selling for as much as $75,000 on platforms like Nifty Gateway. (Instagram Poet Sells NFT Poem for $75,000). As leaders in the crypto writing movement, we have also witnessed a great influx of new talent into the space. All of this leaves us with no doubt that poetry, as an art form, will make big waves in the NFT world, and as acclaimed poets, artists and vanguards of the crypto literature movement, we are well-positioned to bring outstanding collections of poetry-art to SuperRare.

I was visiting the 0xSociety gallery a month ago. Spectacular place. You guys are bringing so many new eyes to NFTs. Great job and I hope you can win this race!

1 Like

If we want things to stay as they are

things will have to change

1.Space name / team name:

The Leopard

“A house of which one knew every room wasn’t worth living in”

#metaverse

2.Name of primary contact: The Leopard

Names of additional Space admins:
Rinascimento.io

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

5.Short bio of you and/or your team:

The Leopard: the place where the metaverse meets the universe.

Museum area, curatorial and digital space for the NFT community

Rinascimento.io (artists and researchers collective) Quote: “Thank you guys! The energy that you put in supporting us is something unreal! You are always interested in understanding our research and supporting us!”

animus (Collector https://twitter.com/animusnft) Quote: Sublime to own it!

Bio Giuseppe Bertolami
Owner of the Bertolami Fine Arts and Numismatics Department Chief.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-bertolami-7a7ab1142/

Bio Vincenzo Fuxa
Iconologist and art historian, he has a long and articulated experience in the field of the art market. In particular, he is the founder of many interesting projects.

Bio Francesca Bragagnolo
Executive producer of music and artistic videos also broadcast on television channels including Skyarte (The Heart of Stone). She is also an art-based event organizer.
https://www.instagram.com/musicassoluta/

Bio Raffaele Cecora
Scholar and art collector, he has a long and articulated experience in the field of the art market, also as a gallery owner. In particular, he signed many interesting projects and he run one of the first Italian galleries to specialize in Italian figurative sculpture of 900.

Bio Andrea Pancotti
He is an archaeologist specialized in the topography of ancient Italy. Member of the Italian Academy of Numismatic Studies, member of several editorial committees, he has to his credit numerous scientific publications in the historical-archaeological field.

Bio Alessandro Francisci
Has a long and pioneering experience in the field of e-commerce applied to art. His skills took shape in his adhesion to projects aimed at the creation of large aggregators of art, antiques and modern art capable of breaking the monopoly of North American platforms. Noteworthy is his collaboration in one of the most lively European portals dedicated to the sale of collectibles. In his entrepreneurial activities of the marketplace he pays particular attention to the sector - of great international scope and of which he has an in-depth knowledge - of European and American multiplied and digital art.

Bio Adriano Colasanti
Graduated in architecture with a thesis on the aesthetics and technique of architectural photography in the pioneering era, he deals with photography from the years of adolescence not only as a collector and scholar, but also as a digital photographer. Some of his works have received awards.

6.Website & Social Media Links:

https://bertolamifineart.com/

http://www.musicassoluta.com/site/it/

https://rinascimento.io/

https://facebook.com/palazzotagliavia.it/

Palazzo Tagliavia - the splendid setting of a historical Sicilian “Palazzo”, a factory suspended between universe and metaverse

https://bertolamifineart.com/palazzo-caetani-lovatelli/

7.Summary/manifesto of your Space.

https://rinascimento.io/manifesto-rinascimento-io-english/

What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch?

In the splendid setting of a historical Sicilian “Palazzo”, a factory suspended between universe and metaverse, between reality and virtuality, all for the NFT community.

We can also count on the great experience of:

  • The Bertolami Fine Arts Group (auction house, art gallery, design studio for exhibition and cultural events).

  • The multidisciplinary research in art and history of art made by the Rinascimento.io group

  • The vast experience of the members of our team members

What type of art will you focus on?

Rinascimento.io gives an innovative reading of Renaissance Art.

BFA different departments will be converted into the metaverse

Antiquese | furniture and art objects | Archaeology | Silver ivory corals icons and russian art objects | Ancient art | Asian and tribal art | Medieval art | Modern and contemporary art | Decorative and design of the 20th century | Vintage cars and motorcycles | Ceramics and antique porcelain | Antique frames | Fashion, Textiles & Luxury | Photography | Jewelry | Ancient and modern Glyptic | Books, autographs and memorabilia | Militaria, medals, honours and knightly orders | Numismatics| Oddities, curiosities & wonders | Watches | Prints and multiples | Underground ultra-contemporary art department.

Last but not least, in order to keep alive the experience already gained on remixes me 1 and 2, the artistic community formed by 15-20 of the most important young artists, decided to share in The Leopard.

our latest success!

How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

We do not believe that there are other spaces within Super Rare that can count on such a framework (the Sicilian Palazzo) and such a group of established artists who will mint automatically.

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

Francesca has a great experience, and a curricula of the highest level.

A group of art historians coordinated by Vincenzo Fuxa and Alessandra Melegatti, specialized in the encounter between digital art and Renaissance art.
The great experience of the BFA in curating and promoting art of different fields.

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

The skills and participation of Bertolami Fine Arts

  • Artistic projects.

  • Executive production of music and artistic videos also broadcast on television channels including Skyarte (The Heart of Stone).

  • Contacts with NFT collectors.

  • Side organization of contemporary art exhibition in prestigious venues (i.e. Triennale di Milano).

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

Of course!

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, we collaborated with some of them on other projects, other are new ongoing collaborations and very few are still evaluating.
Here the links to the artist’s pages or profiles

https://www.duckwhim.com/info
http://renzonucara.com/
https://superrare.com/vittorio_bonapace
https://insighbart.com/
https://linktr.ee/Rinascimento.io
https://twitter.com/EdaxerNft
https://twitter.com/maria_uve__
https://linktr.ee/bebber
https://adrianotenore.com/
https://linktr.ee/ApocalypsePictures
https://www.erich3d.com/
https://twitter.com/may_mfadeeva/status/1454489083384942601?s=21
https://twitter.com/Lapillus_Ariq
https://twitter.com/pascalblanche?s=21
https://twitter.com/minotaur_man/status/1456212353566101507?s=21
https://twitter.com/shin_ohvoxel?s=21
https://twitter.com/madmaraca/status/1457434852945432582?s=21
https://twitter.com/negativevibrat1/status/1455496400310083585?s=21
https://twitter.com/huppings/status/1454662647144722446?s=21
https://twitter.com/jorisputteneers/status/1454923056091176961?s=21
https://twitter.com/may_mfadeeva/status/1454489083384942601?s=21
https://twitter.com/rezaniaofficial/status/1454167930694930434?s=21
https://twitter.com/cesur_ceren/status/1454083995411566592?s=21
https://twitter.com/talecardhen/status/1454394938146230278?s=21

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.

Cadence: every 2 months

Auction Strategy: Press office (check BFA press-review over here: Press review - Bertolami Fine Art international auction house) to increase the participation of buyers.

Number of artworks: Variable, either auctions with several artworks or auctions with few selected artworks.

Other ideas for promoting: massive presence on social media such as Twitter and Discord, Instagram, advertising on the web-based version of leading mass-media channels and Art Magazines.

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

The Leopard Space team and its curation advisory panel will curate all artists who will release in the Our Virtual and physical historical palazzo, and commission rates will follow a tiered approach.

This is linked to the #TheLeopard House passes which were dropped on our Spaces and socials.

Commission Rates are as followed: (Subject to change)

‘The Leopard’ + SR Treasury (SRT) primary commissions:

For artists who are non-pass holders: 8% base + 4% SRT = 12%

For artists who hold House pass: 5% + 5% SRT = 10%

Distribution of House pass

(Available on secondary market: Makersplace, OpenSea and such) :

House pass: 1000 editions

Some examples of artists who do hold #TheLeopard House and/or Family passes are (in alphabetical order A-Z):

ApocalypsePictures,Eda_xer Ildiko ,Jona, Juhasz, Reinhard Schmid, Rinascimento.io, Salvatore Savasta, Skye Nicolas, SYVY, Salvatore Savasta, xibot.eth

For commissions earned with each release, we aim to have a redistribution model. For each drop the commission earned will be split 50% towards #TheLeopardHouse and House passes holders and the remaining 50% be used for promotion, marketing and any other costs incurred during the launch and future IRL events.

This is to further incentivize artists to continue to be a part of #TheLeopardHouse community.

14. To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology?

It is a medium that can help artists to reach a big audience and economic independence.

Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?

Developing more and more. One of the reasons is that the average size of people’s homes is reducing, hence most people will have less and less room for hanging physical artworks, while Crypto Art potentially requires zero physical space to be displayed (e.g. virtual museum). Another reason for CryptoArt constant progress is that art itself constantly evolved and explored new media ever since prehistoric art.

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

Qualche piatto tradizionale, magari “rivisto” che unisce vecchio e nuovo?

Cocktail Freccia Rossa

Ingredients

3 cl vermouth with babĂ 

3 cl of Bitter Campari

Soda aromatizzata all’arancia e al caffè

BabĂ  with vermouth per guarnizione

Miscelare tutti gli ingredienti.
Servire in un bicchiere tumbler alto e guarnire con un babĂ  al vermouth.

Because it is something that embraces Milan, Turin and Napoli. It’s a cocktail in the moving, Torino is Vermout homeland, Milan is Campari homeland, and Napoli is Babà homeland.

Dish: Timballo del Gattopardo

Why?

In the timballo everything is in perfect balance, the timballo is the universe, the timballo is the metaverse.

Recipe
When three lackeys in green, gold and powder entered, each holding a great silver dish containing a towering macaroni pie, only four of the twenty at table avoided showing pleased surprise.

Good manners apart, though, the aspect of those monumental dishes of macaroni was worthy of the quivers of admiration they evoked. The burnished gold of the crusts, the fragrance of the sugar and cinnamon they exuded, were but preludes to the delights released from the interior when the knife broke the crust; first came a spice-laden haze, then chicken livers, hard boiled eggs, sliced ham, chicken and truffles in masses of piping hot, glistening macaroni to which the meat juice gave an exquisite hue of suede.

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

We would like to mend the tear that separates the real and the virtual world

Space name / team name:

Name of primary contact:

Mila Askarova

Names of additional Space admins:

India Price/ Mila Askarova

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

Short bio of you and/or your team:

Mila was born and raised in Azerbaijan before settling in London in 2002. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science where she studied International Relations BSc. Having worked in the Client Development department at Sotheby’s, Mila pursued her further studies at Central Saint Martins and Christie’s Education, gaining a theoretical insight into Collecting Contemporary Art, Independent Curating and Art Business. In 2010, Mila founded Gazelli Art House in London as an additional space to its Baku gallery, which was founded in 2003. After hosting conceptually interlinked off-site exhibitions across London, the gallery’s permanent space on Dover Street was opened. Gazelli Art House grew to support a wide range of international artists and in 2017, the redesigned gallery space in Baku reopened with an ambitious annual program showcasing both local and international artists.
Gazell.io was established in 2015 to mark Gazelli Art House’s commitment to digital art. Gazell.io began after Gazelli Art House’s first exclusively Virtual Reality art exhibition in London. Following this exhibition, Gazell.io was launched exclusively as a residency programme, specifically catered towards giving an online platform for digital artists. Following the residency, artists would frequently be invited to participate in our annual VR exhibitions at Gazelli Art House, starting the ethos of Gazell.io enabling cohesion between the digital art world and a commercial art gallery. In January 2021, Gazell.io established a physical space in London, in the lower ground floor of Gazelli Art House, to exclusively exhibit digital artists who we had grown to know throughout the years. Since April 2021, during each exhibition (approximately six weeks long), Gazell.io launches curated NFT drops by the current exhibiting artist.

Mila Askaorva at Gazelli Art House in 2018:
image

Gazelli Art House, London:

gazelli-dec-001-srgb-lowres-672x420-listing

image

Website & Social Media Links:

https://gazell.io/
https://gazelliarthouse.com/
https://twitter.com/gazell_io?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/gazell.io/?hl=en

Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop / elevator pitch?

Gazell.io was conceived to support some of the most creative and innovative digital artists in the world. Our manifesto and drive is to continue discovering new emerging and established artists and to introduce them both to our online networks and our IRL community as well.
The artists we work with have been pushing scientific and technological boundaries with their art both in the physical space and online. Our curated drops will almost always coincide with our physical exhibitions, showing Gazell.io’s unique dedication to create cohesion between the digital and the physical space, uniting the two mediums in our unique gallery programme.

Gazell.io project space:
Claudia Hart, March 2021:

Jake Elwes, July 2021

Brendan Dawes, June 2021

What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?

Gazell.io does not prioritise one form of digital art over others. Due to the nature of Gazell.io’s ethos of focusing on digital art and artists, we will predominantly be focusing on digital art rather than images of paintings or photographs. Occasionally, we sell physical manifestations of our NFTs with the digital component. This was inspired through our seminal NFT exhibition in London .ext, see here:
.ext | 26 May - 1 July 2021 - Overview | Gazelli Art House

An element we would like to explore in the future is how we can imagine ways to mint and tokenise our virtual reality art that is on display in the gallery.

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

As Gazell.io directly stems from contemporary art gallery Gazelli Art House, based in London and Baku, it is within the very nature of the Gazell.io team to have the digital art curatorial programme our utmost priority.

Our most recent example is an upcoming project with a large scale NFT platform, focusing specifically on generative art, and art x code.

Metaverse exhibition in partnership with OpenSea:


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

Mila Askarova has been curating and organising exhibitions for the past 15 years. Representing artists such as; Aziz+Cucher, Derek Boshier, Khaleb Brooks, Stanley Casselman, Perle Fine, Francesco Jodice, Recycle Group and Kalliopi Lemos amongst others, the gallery has built a consistent and diverse programme with artists working in sculpture, photography, painting, video, performance and virtual reality. She has recently began signing established digital artists such as Jake Elwes and Orkhan Mammadov. Her experience as a young gallerist has enabled her to create an international well established network of collectors, curators, and academics all of which help inform and influence exhibitions.

Gazelli Art House participates in art fairs annually which requires specific curation and strategy depending on each fair.

Art Dubai:

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 a new digital artist in residence each month. We also have a project space artist each six weeks. We would aim to drop NFTs with each of these artists each month.
The Lumen Prize winner (undisclosed at this point) will likely drop an NFT with us to commemorate their show in the Gazell.io Project Space.
Following this, we are excited to bring Matteo Zamagni back on Superrare during his environmentally focused installation in the project space in January 2022.
During our gallery exhibition focusing on slavery and migration, we will bring a digital focus to the show by dropping NFTs from both Adesola Yusuf and Khaleb Brooks who is also curating the show during the exhibition.
Following this, we plan to drop NFTs with Azerbajani artists Agil Abdullayev and Farhad Farzaliyev.

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?

We plan to continue to work with established artists native to the crypto space such as; Brendan Dawes, Alexander Reben, Coldie, Gretchen Andrew, Auriea Harvey, Orkhan Mammadov, Jake Elwes, and more. Gazell.io’s digital artist residency means that we are introducing new established and emerging digital artists to our gallery programme online. We are currently in touch with over 50 digital artists who have previously worked with us through our residency, and this number continues to grow.

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 will use this space as our main platform for selling our artists NFTs. We will have direct links to our Superrare storefront in our exhibition and artist pages on our website so we can direct traffic.

We will continue to have strategic partnerships for both our physical exhibitions and our NFT drops. Upcoming partnerships include; Lumen Prize, DiMODA, and MOCDA. These partnerships help ensure promotion for artists’ artworks from multiple parties. We see Superrare as the most reliable platform with a wonderful community, and would be happy to promote these partnerships and gallery networks on our Superrare space. As a gallery, we understand the importance of cohesion and collaboration between various art entities, and we hope to continue this through the Superrare storefront as it helps the artist get as much exposure and interest as possible.

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

50/50 if the artist is exhibiting at the gallery during the time of the NFT drop.
15% for exclusively online sales/projects.
SR DAO 5%

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 hold a great deal of importance to Gazell.io as it enables a convenient way for collecting digital art with security and provenance. Having worked with digital artists for the past six years, we always found the most interest in our digital artworks from institutions rather than individual collectors.

NFTs have allowed for the growth of business models that help display digital art in the physical space, which is something that has always had importance to us as a gallery. Although many traditional art galleries, even those with experience with digital art, are sceptical of the NFT space, we have complete and utter belief that it is here to stay and make a huge difference to the world as we know it. Having the opportunity over the past year to expand our NFT presence through wonderful partners, such as our sister company Verisart, our eyes have been opened to the depth of change this space can encourage both in the artworld and beyond.

We think we are in for a crazy ride, but here for every step of the way.

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

We would probably be a dish from one of our previous artists in residence, Mattia Casalegno’s Immersive Gastronomy Experience VR installations. You can see more about it here- http://www.mattiacasalegno.net/aerobanquets-rmx-2/#3
We would be one of these bite sized dishes because we love anything to do with a VR headset and these dishes are mighty tasty especially when combined with other senses.

Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

We’ve been committed to Digital art for the past 6 years, and would love to continue to grow and explore this world with the Superrare community. Thanks so much for this opportunity and thinking of making a storefront for galleries/institutions/projects. We are super excited to be considered.

• Space name / team name:

NODES+

• Name of primary contact:

Prapat Jiwarangsan and Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn

[email protected]

[email protected]

• Names of additional Space admins:

  • Prapat Jiwarangsan (Thailand), visual artist, NFT artist, and film director.

  • Graiwoot Chulphongsathon (Thailand), curator and lecturer in film studies.

  • Nampai Anapan (Thailand), Generative artist.

  • Eric Booth (Thailand), Founder and Collector at Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, Chiangmai, Thailand.

  • Paradorn Chaiworasilp (Thailand), Founder of NFT and CryptoART Thailand Facebook Page.

  • Qenji Yoshida (Japan), Co-director at Tra-Travel/Osaka art hub, Japan.

  • DeaGyeom Heo (South Korea), VR artist.

  • Ramshiro (Thailand) AI technical consultant.

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

@prapat

@graiwoot

• Short bio of you and/or your team:

Prapat Jiwarangsan (Thai) is a visual artist, NFT artist, and film director. Jiwarangsan works with photos, film, and digital images as his creative mediums. Jiwarangsan’s work were exhibited in major global events including the Berlin International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Singapore Biennale.

Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn (Thai) is a curator and lecturer in Film Studies at Chulalongkorn University. His online and offline curatorial shows were exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore (Singapore), the Kyoto Art Museum (Japan), the Berwick Film Festival (UK), and the Close-Up Film Center (UK).

Nampai Anapan (Thai) is a generative artist and sound artist. She is a fresh young artist who has collaborated on many NFT projects.

Eric Booth (Thai) is the founder and collector of the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Booth has been collecting the work of contemporary artists for decades. He founded MAIIAM, a state-of-the-art museum in the northern part of Thailand, as well as several museums and art centers in other parts of Thailand. His museums exhibit important contemporary works and play a role in supporting many artists in Southeast Asia. Booth is an advisor to our space.

Paradorn Chaiworasilp (Thai) is the founder of NFT and Crypto Art Thailand Facebook Page. The page is the largest NFT FB page in Southeast Asia, with 170,000 followers. Chaiworasilp is an advisor to our space.

Qenji Yoshida (Japan) is an artist and co-director of the Tra-Travel/Osaka Art Hub in Japan. His art space regularly showcases art on Asian themes and social issues related to people in this region.

DeaGyeom Heo (S. Korea) is a VR artist and PhD researcher. His VR work is exhibited in many places, both in Korea and abroad.

• Website & Social Media Links:

https://twitter.com/PrapatStudio
https://www.maiiam.com/
https://www.prapat-jiwarangsan.com/

Tra-Travel/Osaka Art Hub facebook

NFT and Cryptoart Thailand facebook

MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum facebook

Vrtopos (by VR artist DaeGyeon Heo) facebook

MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/maiiam_art_museum/
Prapat Jiwarangsan Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/prapat.jiwarangsan/
VR artist DaeGyeon Heo Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/memoryworker/

• 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?

NODES+ is a space founded by a group of artists, curators, and collectors from Asia. Our founding members come from various art disciplines, from NFT, to fine arts, film, sound, AI and VR. We work to champion Asian NFT artists to be accepted by the NFT world market. We also bring artists from different continents to work together. We love experimenting and we believe in de-centralization. Since we have expertise in each field, we will choose work from various perspectives and ways of thinking. Our core idea is to "break nationality", which will be a running theme in every exhibition and project. More importantly, we will use AI to curate artwork.

We have a unique process of curations and exhibitions. In every exhibition, we will start by creating a list of artists from different continents. Next, we will use AI to pair the artists together, one from Asia, the other from the non-Asian continent. After that, we ask the artists to collaborate with each other. The fun and unique part is that, after the two artists produce their own works separately, we will use AI to generate the new work based on the two works, resulting in the third work. And in our exhibition, we will only show the work that resulted from the AI-generated process. But when the collector purchases the AI-generated work, the collector will receive the other two works as well. In our exhibition, the audience will only see the AI-generated work. The original prototype will be veiled. Only after the collector buys the AI-generated work, then the two original works will be ‘unveiled’ to the audience.

We strongly believe in this process, that it is creative, challenging, entertaining and unpredictable!

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

We’ve all been in the arts for a long time. We have different experience in each field, but there is one thing we are interested in: the emergence of NFT. We believe that it has already changed the art industry and it is the future of artworld. So we have come together to pitch this proposal.

We have worked together in many international exhibitions, by curating the work together mainly in three countries, namely Thailand, Japan and Korea. Yet, we also have networks with artists and curators in other Asian countries, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Mainland China, all of which are places that have artists and collectors to invest in NFT trading.

We work online, but we also plan to work with offline events. We plan to create an offline event with MAIIAM Museum, a contemporary museum in Thailand, and we have Eric Booth, the MAIIAM founder, as our advisor. The museum is strongly interested in NFT, and we hope that, if selected, we will be the ones who start creating a link between major museums in Asia and Superrare.

We also have TRA-Travel/Osaka Art Hub, as our partner in Japan. There, the hub has participated in curating events for Asian artists to perform in exhibitions many times. The place serves as our gateway to Japanese digital and media artists. Because many NFT arts are inspired by Japanese manga and animations, we believe we will seek out some of the most innovative and up-and-coming Japanese artists to collaborate with. Moreover, we also have strong contact with the VR world in South Korea, where we hope to have a special project that will connect VR with NFT.

We are supported by the NFT and Crypto Art Thailand Facebook Page, which has over 170,000 followers, all of them creators, artists and collectors from various nationalities. We will invite innovative artists from this FB page to participate in the event, as well as the collectors.

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

All of our team members have experience in organising exhibitions, selling art, and running art events online and offline in an Asian context. We host a talk in twitter’s space, clubhouse, and discord for Asian artists and collectors. In the future, we will try to create real events related to NFT, including fairs, sales, auctions, in each country where we have members. We also intend to buy land in Metaverse to display the works in our program.

Each member of the group has a strong record of networking with collectors and organising exhibitions. Here are some of their experiences.

MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum was recently awarded the Best Asian Pacific New Museum of the Year by the Leading Cultural Destination (LCD) Awards. The museum has rotating exhibitions every half year, and several temporary exhibitions each year. The museum has a decentralizing policy by inviting curators from many countries to curate each exhibition. We have a good relationship with the museum as our project is advised by Eric Booth, the founder and avid art collector. Booth is one of the most important collectors in Asia. He has collected the works and continually funded and promoted Asian artists for decades. The museum also has a strong network with many international art centers in Asia.

TRA-Travel/Osaka Art Hub, Japan has experience in organizing art events in Japan. It has a strong network connected to many museums in Japan, such as the Kyoto Art Center and museums in Osaka and Tokyo. It has a good record of gathering artists from various fields and nationalities to work together. The group is very interested in and following the developments of NFT at the moment.

Even though it opened earlier this year, the NFT and Crypto Art Thailand Facebook Page is the largest NFT ART Page in Asia, with more than 170000 followers. It will soon reach 200,000 people before the end of this year. The page founder, Paradorn Chaiworasilp, is an advisor to our space, as well as an avid NFT collector. Many people find success on this page. The page is also a place to exchange experiences and updates in NFT circles for collectors, especially in an Asian context.

Examples of past works
VRtospos Media Wall Redirecting...

Arena VR Exhibition Redirecting...

Group Exhibition at Kyoto Art Center, Japan https://www.kac.or.jp/eng/events/27485/?fbclid=IwAR1YfFINdER08yD0Nb57H84sUfMXSqMUWpbxCdWANJBX1O_z6CvEZRlP4jc

Online Exhibition at Kyoto Art Center, Japan https://www.kac.or.jp/eng/events/29666/?fbclid=IwAR0Ejn7-QDDnPs1ifc3DcBjIfjyarG5-hAqwf7YgwdAxfFnLfMPOMzFBaYA

Exhibition at MAIIAM Musuem Thailand DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia | MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum

Screening the Forest, a screening programme at the Berwick Film and Media Art Festival

Earth as History: Moving Images and Ecologies in Southeast Asia @ Close-Up Film Center
https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2018/earth-as-history-moving-images-and-ecologies-in-southeast-asia/

Exhibition at Singapore Art Biennale https://www.singaporebiennale.org/api/uploads/files/originals/0a775253-a73a-5a53-bd49-59506f13a382.pdf

A review of an exhibition in Rotterdam https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/festivals/blackout-iffr-slide-projectors-art

An artwork exhibited at the Berlinale | Berlinale | Archive - Ploy

• 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 a selection team from Thailand, Korea, and Japan, where each curator selects artists in Asia with outstanding NFTs and good trading volumes. On the other hand, we will have an open call for artists from around the world to participate in the selection program. We see that the Asian market is becoming interesting and has large room to grow since investors in Asia have the potential to invest in this market in the future.

Currently, we have a list of artists from our scouters for the first six months. Our interactions with the artists vary in intensity. Some of them we have made contact with a positive reaction. For others, we secretly observe their movements.

• 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?

Some have already agreed. and some are in the negotiating process. For the Asian artists that we will select in this first round, we think they will all say yes to us because our group has a good profile, a unique concept, a combination of fine art and NFT art, and there is no group like us in the Asian NFT Community.
Here is a sample of the selected artists that we want to work with:

Selected by Tomo Suzuki, film producer , Japan

Aimi Sekiguchi Aimi Sekiguchi -VR official Site-

Sputniko! https://sputniko.com/

Kazuki Takakura https://takakurakazuki.com/

Rhizomatiks https://nft.rhizomatiks.com/

Selected by Jenifer K.Y. Lam, curator, SIngapore

Debbie Ding https://dbbd.sg

Urich lau Login • Instagram

Yeo shih yun The Art of Yeo Shih Yun

daryl goh About — Daryl Goh

eugene soh https://www.dude.sg/

Selected by Qenji Yoshida, artist and curator, japan

Kai Maetani https://www.kaimaetani.com/

Masanori Matsuda http://masanorimatsuda.net/

Yukawa-Nakayasu http://yukawanakayasu.net/

Selected by Woojin Kim, artist, South korea

Yeom Jihye Ji Hye Yeom / 염지혜 - Ji Hye Yeom

Son Kwangju http://www.ksonimage.com

Kim Woojin http://www.woojinkim.net

Selected by Daegyoem Heo, VR artist, South korea.

Yeondoo Jung http://www.koreanartistproject.com/eng_artist.art?method=artistView&auth_reg_no=31&flag=artist

AYOUNG kim http://ayoungkim.com/wp/

Kyungwoo Han https://kyungwoohan.wixsite.com/kyungwoohan/video-1

Wan lee http://www.leewanstudio.com/cv/

Selected by Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn, curator, Thailand

Lemon…pie.studio IG: Login • Instagram

Tu illustratu Login • Instagram

Piyarat Piyapongwiwat Login • Instagram

PrapatStudio Login • Instagram

• 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.

For Superrare, the exhibition must be distinct and unlike any other place. We don’t want the exhibition to look like a traditional NFT market. will collaborate with the artist and AI on a mission to “break nationality”. We use AI in the selecting process as well as the generating process. It is our way of de-centering human bias by bringing the best brains of the machine.

Our detailed curatorial process is like this:

  1. We will invite a number of selected Asian artists, as well as hold an open call for artists from all over the world. We accept a variety of genres (such as graphic, performance, 3D object, photography), on the condition that the sample work submitted must be in jpg and mp4 only.

  2. From the submitted selections, we (humans) will choose 40 artists. 20 of them are from Asia. The rest is from non-Asian regions.

  3. We will pair the artists into 20 pairs using artificial intelligence. Each pair must have artists from different continents, in order to ‘break the nationality’ and reduce the border of the art. The artist who works with the same genre will be paired together. The artists discuss the concept of the work. After that, they will create the work separately. This means that each pair must produce two pieces. In total, we will get 40 pieces of work.

  4. Then, we will let AI generate the work of each pair. The outcome is the new work. In total, we will get 20 new pieces from the generating process. We will show these 20 new generated works in our exhibition. The original 40 works will be veiled from the audience. When a collector purchases the generated work, he/she will receive the other 2 original works for free. In this process, the 2 original works will be unveiled to the audience to see as well.

We will use this process in the preliminary step so the audience/collector/artist can remember the core idea of our group. We will improve the AI and command it differently each time. In the future, we plan to introduce VR as a factor for thinking and exhibiting the work.

The exhibition will be held every 2 months.

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

70% Artist

25% NODES+

5% SuperRare DAO

(The structure is provisional and needs to be discussed case by case with the artists).

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

In every question you’ve asked, our team likes this one the most. We intend to champion unique NFT artworks so that the artist can develop their future work in parallel with the development of the platform used to showcase and sell the work.

What makes people in the physical art market so attracted to NFT art is the fact that its sales are as high as physical art on the global market, causing people to plunge into the NFT world hungry. The phenomenon has become a time of gold mining for people of all professions, since the NFT world allows everyone, every occupation, and every nationality to participate. The NFT community has reduced the hierarchy, mainly found in the physical art world. It also de-centers the power of the art world’s gatekeepers, fine art curators and galleries, as they are not the only ones who control access to the art world anymore.

The idea of de-centering the old power is so promising and opens the artworld to new possibility. The time we live in is similar to the time in which modern art was subverted and shaken by pop art and postmodernism. Soon, all art schools will need to include NFT101 in their curriculum. NFT and metaverse will become a part of the history of art, taught to the next generation of students, or even children. Of course, this phenomenon is not just about selling artwork, but it is more about changing the art world’s infrastructure. We should think of the ways in which the system in the art world has finally found a way to evolve and become sustainable. We strongly believe that in the next 5 years, the crypto world will be a part of a ‘new normal’ ¬¬– a parallel to the physical world we live in. In the next 10 years, all daily transactions will migrate to that world. Because people will finally realize the way to break free from the monopoly of capitalist players from the old world.

The parallel worlds—between the crypto world and the physical world—will be developed and have multiple dimensions and layers, and we humans will be able to choose to exist in each dimension and take action in a specific space and time. To purchase an artwork in the future can be a point-to-point succession to infinity. For example, the work is purchased from one place. After that, it can become something else that has the same value as the new piece in another place or many other places, endlessly. AI will play a more important role in this development, but we need to realize the benefit of both AI thinking and human thinking, specifically in the realm of aesthetics. How will we work with AI in the future? This will be an interesting turning point from now on.

The type of work that can continue in the future must be more unique and be able to connect, in a way, with both the crypto and physical worlds. The work that plays only with volume and is still hoping to dig gold from the same collector will remain. But it has almost nothing to add value. The word unique, in our context, means the ability to be related to a particular system and the work that carries the promise of something new. It will link with a particular structure and create utility. It will learn from the old work, but it will evolve and set a new standard. The unique-ness can come from the collaboration between many sectors, from both humans, AI, and other possibilities. It will break all borders. Ultimately, the word “art” doesn’t need to be defined after NFT because the work in the system is something on its own.

Other than selling work, space – ours and others’ – must serve multiple functions. It must become a storehouse of knowledge and an archive of NFT history. Every space competes to be the new world’s guardian of history. Each platform selects the tasks and concepts that are appropriate for that platform. The artwork itself identifies the platform where it should belong to. Finally, the new system of the world will exclude people and artwork that are not compatible with any system as well.

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

We will let AI generate this food or drink for us. We still don’t know what it is. We just put in a command and let AI learn from our personality.

• Anything else you’d like the community to consider?

We are from Asia and we see that the NFT Asian community is expanding rapidly and has a gigantic room to grow. We hope you open this opportunity for us because we want to test our concept and want to bring you the best artists and artworks. We will continue to do the same – give opportunities to other artists. We will grow together.
We are a small group gathered together by art workers in different fields. We are not an established commercial gallery who have already signed contracts with artists. This means we are ready to dare to do something new and open to new people. NFT art is not just about trading or being in the business world, but it must be coupled with progress in every sense of the word. We will not stop. We will open ways to the future. There is a new world ahead of us.

1 Like

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
  • 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:
  • 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.

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.

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::earth_africa:

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

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

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

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.

1.Space name / team name.
Nōme

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

  2. 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

  1. 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 :purple_heart:
“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.

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

  2. 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.

  1. 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

  1. 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
  • ÂŤFancy-Routine CollectionÂť at Sight Unseen Offsite - New York, USA - 2020
  • Collectible - Brussels, BE - 2020
  • ÂŤNew NormativeÂť collection at ALCOVA - Milan, IT - 2019
  • Sight Unseen Offsite - New York, USA - 2018
  • ÂŤDisused CollectionÂť - 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

  1. 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 - LoĂŻc Bard

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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*.*

  1. 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.

  1. 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!

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.

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!

:pray:

1 Like

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

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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 RattĂŠ, 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:

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.

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

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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.

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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

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