As the art world continues to adapt and evolve in the digital and NFT realms, new communities are emerging to support these worlds, involving new creators and stakeholders.
Art Dubai launched a new digital art section at its 15th edition, showcasing artworks from the rapidly expanding digital realm.
Mazyar Kamkar, CarpETHereum (2021). Courtesy of Emergeast.
Art Dubai Digital included a dedicated gallery section curated by Chris Fussner, Web3 specialist and Director of Tropical Futures Institute (Cebu, Philippines), that included leading international platforms working with NFTs; contemporary galleries with projects devoted to digital art and NFTs; galleries that have been working with digital art since the 1980s; and NFT e-commerce sites and organisations that are turning existing physical art into NFTs.
The participants, representing a broad geographic base and featuring both traditional galleries and digital platforms included Institut, Postmasters, Bright Moments, HORIZONS by so-far and AORA, Cyber Baat, Emergeast and NFT Asia.
Alongside this commercial section, Art Dubai launched Campus Art Dubai 9.0 Blockchain Edition, a new eight-week NFT strand within the fair’s education programme. Powered by Materia, the course was led by a host of local and global leading experts in the blockchain and NFT art sector, and supported 12 UAE and international artists who have a digital background.
Additionally, an innovative Crypto Media Lab functioned as a gathering space for the companies that support these communities, including cryptocurrency platforms, exchanges, and organisations providing the relevant tools to access the digital realm. The programme was supported by a new talks programme, which gave visitors more context about digital platforms, inviting guest speakers to explain more about the basics of cryptocurrency, digital media and NFT art.
For us at Bayt Al Fann, this was a definte highlight of Art Dubai and we are looking forward to exploring how Islamic art and culture will grow in Web3.
Find more details on the fair here.