📝 The Digital Art Collector #2
This issue of The Digital Art Collector has this week's recap
GM / GN 🌞🌛
🚀 Welcome to our second newsletter. This issue presents the most important observations in the digital art space, we also included the upcoming calendar for online and IRL happenings for this November. Lastly, a few notes on an amazing drop that is coming soon.
We hope you will enjoy reading.
Yours,
Georg Bak, Dimitria Markou, and Henry Barrows.
🔝 News Recap | 29 October, 2023 👀 ✨
📌✨🗓️ November Events
This issue of The Digital Art Collector has the most important IRL and online happenings to add to your calendar for November.
🤖 From “Critical AI in the Art Museum: Practices & Politics” a series of online discussions by important figures including Hito Steyerl and James Bridle, to exciting IRL events like the Ape Fest in Hong Kong, and remarkable exhibitions coming soon - we highlight the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.
📌 SNOWFRO x OPEPEN
Reveal coming up on Monday, 30 October
As you may have heard, the 25th Opepen Drop landed on Friday night: A Collaboration with Snowfro; the Snowpepen.
As in every Opepen set, there will be 80 Snowpepens, according to the rarity split of (blank) Opepens (40 Edition, 20E, 10E, 5E, 4E, 1E = 80 Editions total), the Full Spectrum Snowpepen being reserved for the 1 of 1.
In order to get one, you need to “opt-in” a Blank Opepen, which in turn has to be selected in the Reveal according to the Mechanism (v2).
Image: Opepen 40 edition (blank)
Obviously, this is a big deal, as one of the most prolific artists in the space Erick Calderon (Snowfro) is integrating his work into a collection of Jack Butcher. He stated on Twitter:
With Opepen, @jackbutcher and @jalil_eth are creating a permanent (immutable) catalogue that is open to the public (all NFTs are publicly accessible experienced in their native state by anyone with a computer), which researches, communicates and exhibits, for many purposes including education and enjoooooyment, material evidence of humans and their environment (in web3).
As paradigms shift, particularly in the area of digital art, I believe that looking back in 10 years creators and collectors may very well consider being recognized and documented in projects such as this one to be meaningful akin to having been collected by a traditional art institution.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that a new feature has been introduced, whereby the artist signs the Opepen set, and includes a message in the onchain transaction. This can be seen on Etherscan.
Unfortunately, the chance to get selected for reveal is ~1% at most, especially for more coveted Opepen releases, so chances of getting one are rather slim unless multiple Opepen are opted in.
With such a well known figure making an appearance in the Opepen roster, the question is now more than ever: What’s next?
Gremplin drop on the horizon? Beeple? Tyler Hobbs?
Opt-in for Snowpepen is open until Monday, 30 October 2023, 12am CET
175 Sets remain to be revealed. If luck does not strike on the reveal, the Opepen can be opted in again in the next round.
Image below: Gremplin’s Tweet
📌 NFTs that have lost a huge amount of value in the past year
Who were the big losers in the NFT market last year? It is interesting to note that some PFPs, like Moonbirds, Azuki, and CloneX, were selling at floor prices of 20+ ETH during their peak and have since fallen to 1-4 ETH this year. Is it a good opportunity to buy now, or has the big hype for these NFTs waned?
On the other hand, there are artists whose work has held its value quite steadily, such as Kim Asendorf, Vera Molnar, Frieder Nake, Tyler Hobbs, Andreas Gysin, Leander Herzog, William Mapan, and Squiggles (by Snowfro).
The market is currently undergoing significant transformation, and it appears that collectors are still buying, but they are becoming more selective and are gaining a deeper understanding of the history of digital art.
1. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
📉 From 118.0 ETH to 25.9 ETH (78.05% loss)
Image: Three BAYC (#688,#701,#729) minted by Giannis Sourdis, an interview we did with the NFT Collector (read here)
2. Azuki
📉 From 21.9 ETH to 4.2 ETH (80.82% loss)
Image: Azuki #1803, #4946, #7560
3. CloneX
📉 From 16 ETH to 1.0 ETH (93.75%)
Image: CloneX #1549, #16675, #18280
Are your NFTs worthless? No worries ... Kaufland Deutschland offers you a swap opportunity. They take your NFT in exchange of fresh fruits and vegetables. On the Wall of Lame you can visit a NFT collection which certainly qualifies for the Golden Raspberry Award in digital art. This offer ends on 30th October.
📌 Is Solana the new blockchain partner of Art Basel?
Solana is now listed as Show Partners on the Art Basel’s website of the upcoming edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. After Tezos this would be the second blockchain partnering up with the world's biggest art fair.
📌 Our key points from DA Z’s "THE NEW ART MARKET" the Professional Days Programme from this Friday, 27th of October.
How AI, BLOCKHAIN, NFT and METAVERSE are changing the art market. Developments, opportunities, risks and threats.
Co-hosted by LOREZ LEGAL
Panels included:
💡 “Artists, collectors and NFTs put to practice”
with Dr. Karin Lorez (Moderator), Leander Herzog, Dimitria Markou, and Tamara Müntener
The Impact of NFTs on Artists' Careers
NFTs have provided artists with new opportunities and income streams. The artist, Leander Herzog, mentioned that the NFT boom in 2021 allowed him to quit his day job and become a full-time artist, which was previously impossible. Herzog also spoke about the advantages and challenges of selling NFTs.
“Dealing with collectors, pricing, understanding your market, all these economic factors, which as an artist that's not your primary motivation. But in the end, I think it's good to consider and understand all these factors, because otherwise someone else will consider where to sell your art and how much it should cost. Usually, that's not very good for you as an artist.”Diverse NFT Projects
Collector, Dimitria Markou, shared her experience on owning various NFT projects, ranging from CryptoKitties to artworks by renowned artists like Damien Hirst, and web3 DNA artists like Jack Butcher and Jalil. Despite a bear market, certain NFT projects continue to thrive, demonstrating the ongoing innovation and value within the NFT space.
💡 “Ways of curating digital art”
with Mimi Nguyen (Moderator), Mirjam Varadinis, and Lukas Amacher
Lukas Amacher spoke about Digital Art in Public Spaces:
“When I think about public space, I think very much about the internet because inherently, the internet is public space, and tokenized artworks are continuously accessible 24/7 online.”
Mirjam Varadinis discussed the connection between digital art and conceptual art, emphasizing how artists use new technologies to explore and redefine the conceptual aspects of art:
“It's very much linked to ideas and concepts. It gets really interesting when it comes to NFTs as the medium as it is also questioned or used in a different way. I see much more connection to conceptual art. This new technology opens new ways that doesn't need to be linked to massive investments but more into, let's say, a concept.”
💡 “The end of the art market as we know it?”
with Deborrah Schaer (Moderator), Georg Bak, and Hannah Halbheer
Hannah Halbheer discussed the role of gatekeepers in the art world, including galleries and institutions, and the need for education:
“Galleries are really important gatekeepers, since they are reflecting the tastes of their collectors, but also galleries are the ones choosing the artists to show and educate their collectors on these artists that they think are important.”Georg Bak spoke about the traditional art market and its need for more transparency, such as adopting blockchain-related certificates and improving contract processes.
“It's a very old-fashioned market. You still buy and sell without a contract, a certificate is a paper certificate, which should be in my opinion, an NFT, or a blockchain-related certificate.”
He also stated his desire for a less exclusive and more accessible art market as a hope for the future.
📌 Understanding OnChain NFTs
There are different levels of on-chain NFTs. Metaversal created a nice categorization that explore the following:
👁️🗨️ A Beginner’s Guide to Onchain NFTs
👁️🗨️ The Offchain-Onchain Spectrum: OffChain, Semi-OnChain, Calldata storage, Hashed OnChain, Hybrid OnChain, and Fully OnChain
👁️🗨️ Examples of OnChain NFTs
👁️🗨️ Making your own OnChain NFT
👁️🗨️ Additional resources
👁️🗨️ Zooming out
We recommend reading this article.
📌 Latest Update:
🔹 Async Art is closing down
⛓️ Read more here
🔹 The 2023 Lumen Prize Winner
Including artists duo Operator for the Metaversal Generative Art Award category
⛓️ Read more here
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💡 Disclaimer: This newsletter does not constitute financial advice. It is intended solely for educational purposes and should not be considered as providing investment or legal guidance, nor should it be viewed as a solicitation to engage in the purchase or sale of any assets or to make financial decisions. The author may have positions in and engage in transactions involving the assets discussed.