What a gallery full of NFT digital art looks like
Digital art is just like anything else you'd collect
Earlier this week I visited one of my favorite Atlanna venues, ABV Gallery to check out my first digital art exhibition titled Chain Reaction
When thinking about how to execute, the gallery director Nate said it best:
“You can’t just Google how to set up an NFT art gallery. We had to figure this out ourselves”
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Getting Tickets: social distancing was actually an advantage since the gallery limited showings to 20 minutes and up to 8 people. Signed up for free and invited some fellow N(FT)erds. Unsurprisingly, all the spots have now been snagged up.
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Setup: 20 digital art pieces were set up on hi-res screens with headphones to listen in to the sounds associated with each digital work and there were two ways to try and buy artwork
1 of 1 Silent Auction: only one original version of the piece with an ongoing auction where collectors can continually bid.
Unlike normal silent auctions every time a bid is made, 5 minutes get added to the clock allowing for others to still get in time
These pieces tended to be more timeless like this one by Victor Mosquera currently bidding at $25k
Drawing for the Same Piece with Multiple Versions: limited versions are sold of the same piece (typically 10 or 50) and collectors can enter a drawing to be one of the lucky collectors
At the time of writing, there are 361 people who have entered the drawing, but just 50 people from around the world will get to walk away with this cool piece below by Ness Graphics.
To see the full slate of featured art, check out the ABV feature on NiftyGateway.com
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Seeing is believing
Prior to the event, I understood how NFTs lived on the blockchain and could be easily transferred around the world but seeing how an actual collector would display their art helped put it all in perspective
The phrase collector is important because at its core, these are just collector items that have intrinsic value to the owner and fellow collectors
If you’re still confused about all this NFT stuff, think about anything you have collected in your life that you might pay a premium for that others would find absurd.
Maybe it’s a unique watch (guilty), pair of sneakers or instruments from around the world, the spirit of the collecter is what’s really pushing this medium
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Trend or here to stay?
This is just the beginning of managing digital art and I think the creators who have built a community around their work over the years will ultimately win out despite some of the concerns in the space
The biggest risk I see is platform concentration with the two main players holding the keys being Nifty Gateway & Rarible
Follow along on this thread below diving into some of the actual tech that is powering this new wave that might raise some eyebrows for the artists that aren’t supported by a strong following base
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Been talking about NFTs with your coworkers, friends, and family?
thinking this is just a fad for a niche market and like the rest of the art world, most attention and money will congregate around a pool of about 500 artists
...could spur interest to more interactive art exhibits though which would be a plus!
thinking this is just a fad for a niche market and like the rest of the art world, most attention and money will congregate around a pool of about 500 artists
...could spur interest to more interactive art exhibits though which would be a plus!