Blog_en

Cryptoart workshop in Gran Canaria

chr5
workshop

I must say that the experience of my first face-to-face workshop on the island of Gran Canaria (Spain) held last November 4th has been fascinating.

First of all because this workshop has forced me to study and organize often scattered material. Issues related to cryptography, computer security and the art market kept me entertained in the preparation of this workshop. Secondly because it has turned out to be a fascinating experience where I have met a small and select group of artists of the most worthy recognition.

This workshop was attended by artists Dani Hache, Nacho Ramirez, Alfonso Crujera and Marcos Rivero Mentado. Four Canarian artists from different backgrounds of exceptional artistic quality.

We spent a whole day getting to know the process of cryptoart. We started in the morning talking about the context of cryptoart and introducing us to art collecting. While sharing reflections around the problematics of digital art on the blockchain, we created wallets in Tezos and Ethereum and started collecting some simple pieces in Tezos.

Then we shared a lunch together at the fascinating rooftop space “Atlas Association” where we had the opportunity to get to know each other even more.

From the early hours of the afternoon we started with the second part of the workshop where we were introduced to basic aspects of computer security, cryptography, we talked about blockchain and began with the process of minting work.

For various technical reasons (possibly network saturation) we did not manage to mint all the work that the artists had prepared.

Despite being an intense one-day workshop, the artists were satisfied and eager to continue advancing in this new artistic experience that cryptography offers us.

The four artists have decided to start art collections on the Tezos and Ethereum networks and soon we will be able to see their works in the 52Weeksartistsdrop collection that we will make on the Tezos network. If you’re interested in collecting work by these artists, don’t miss out.

The four artists have decided to start art collections on the Tezos and Ethereum networks and soon we will be able to see their works in the 52Weeksartistsdrop collection that we will make on the Tezos network. If you are interested in collecting work by these artists, don’t miss out.

Nft Music

chr5Leave a comment
musica nft

A few days ago I attended a spectacular Nft Music Twitter space organised (spanish) by Mito Gallery where several Hispanic entrepreneurs were presenting and discussing the innovative aspects that the world of nft music brings with it. Some of the things that stood out in this twitter space had to do with the new relationship that is being established between creators and fans. The blockchain brings with it that relationship of closeness where artists and fans are able to relate to each other in a very different way to the way they have been relating to each other until now, and this more direct contact is now possible thanks to NFTs. Many artists offer their fans and buyers to keep in touch in whatsapp groups, where the artist shares news before releasing it to the general public. Special editions of their songs, merchandising related to their music production (guzzu participated), video previews or any other matter related to their career. In this way the connection between fan and artist is even closer if possible.

Several NFT music platforms were discussed, among them sound.xyz where you can buy the music releases that the artists of this platform are launching or other NFT streaming platforms such as audius that are launching and that in some way comes to combat the current business model concentrated in very few companies that pay per listen to their musicians.

The NFT sales model is a new model that is helping many artists to “survive economically” with their artistic work. Hence the talk of the “economic sustainability of the artist” which presupposes that an artist who has 100 or 200 followers-buyers of his work, can manage to support himself economically by producing his art and doing what he likes without the need to reach the mass market. Everything that the NFTs propose as a new model of artistic production and sustainability is a very interesting subject.

In this sense, this Sunday 5th February, from colaborative.org and nftcanarias.org we will have a space on twitter dedicated to NFT Music where we will have the guest artist SonarKlang and the Mexican youtuber CriptoWolf talking about this interesting topic that is the nfts in the world of music. We are waiting for you.

What is a Poap

chr5Leave a comment

One of the things I’ve learned this year around blockchain is how to create and collect POAPs. What are POAPS (Proof of Assitence Protocol)?

As the name suggests, they are proofs of participation or attendance. Remember that Michael Jackson, Nirvana or Metallica concert ticket you have from the 80s? Imagine now that this “ticket” or “souvenir” is registered in a blockchain associated with your wallet with all the advantages that this entails. On the one hand you have a “real” and authentic digital record of your attendance. You can save it, view it and share it.

On the other hand you have all the advantages of the blockchain: you could trade this ticket, give it away or sell it if someone is interested in it. For the creators of any event – whether it’s an online event, a physical event, a birthday or a bachelorette party – it has many advantages. They are very easy to create and can be used as a reminder or to keep a record of the attendees who collected them. Anyone with an Ethereum wallet can create them and can receive them. The poap.xyz project allows you to make it visible through their website and they also have an app that you can download and use to see your proof of attendance.

Yesterday I tried to collect a POAP that PaisanoDAO had created in one of their Twitter spaces and I couldn’t find the “mintear” option. “Minify” means that you have to log in and “confirm” that you want that POAP to be created and be able to collect it. This “minting” can be done through a web link, by using a secret word provided by the organisers or by scanning a QR code. In this case I was looking for where to enter the secret word and I couldn’t find it. The trick is to use the Mobile APP. The Mintear option is only available on the mobile app. So I had to download it. Remember: in our next NFT Canarias event we will create our POAPs, so create a wallet and start collecting our artistic poaps. See you on the blockchain!

Interview with Javier Arrés about Criptoart

chr5Leave a comment

Javier Arrés, in addition to being the artist of greater international recognition within the new field of crypto art in Spain, is an excellent person, generous and humble, friendly and, with an excellent sense of humor always willing to talk and share his experience on any matter related to his career. Unlike many interviews with artists, this interview is aimed at creatives. In it we review his career as a professional, where Javier tells us how he began his career as a designer, what kind of work he was doing and how he managed to position himself within the world of international illustration agencies. Later we investigate his crypto-artistic work where he gives us his vision of the field of crypto art focusing on the type of work that he considers can work in this new artistic context.

It lasts approximately twenty minutes and is made in Spanish.

In the second part of this interview we investigate market aspects within crypto art. It will be available exclusively within the Online Course of crypto art aimed at artists and visual creatives that I am currently preparing and that I hope will be available soon. You can sign up for my list of interested parties and take advantage of the launch discount I will make as soon as it becomes available. It will be an online video course of affordable price for all those interested in entering fully into the field of crypto art in a rigorous way.

Support an artist

chr5Leave a comment
Origin
Fragment of the work Origin, Rayana Cabrera

I am very happy to have been invited to the cryptoart Foundation platform by the Brazilian artist Rayana Cabrera. I met Rayana last year as a result of her work “Origin” her first work minted on the blockchain. Origin attracted my attention and I found it an enigmatic work: it shows an indigenous woman with sealed eyes. I felt very identified with this work and I was certain that it spoke about something that interests me a lot in art and in life: human dignity. Indigenous people, people who have been excluded from society in many countries without voice or vote, ravaged by a technified world that has swept them off the face of the earth. I think of indigenous Australians; I think of indigenous Brazilians in the Amazon. I bought it. Her first minted work, my first collected work. It’s a very special and comforting feeling when you support an artist in their career. From an investor’s point of view, an artist’s work can be seen as a commodity capable of being bought, exchanged, traded, sold and resold with which to make money by speculating on its price. It is legitimate and necessary: the art world needs investors and art collectors to support artists. For an artist, the fact that they buy your work can become a boost to your self-esteem, a form of recognition and appreciation that can also mean a lot in the beginning of your career. In Spain, and in the world, we need investors to support artists.

A year later, thanks to Rayana, I have been able to access Foundation, a marketplace of NFTs aimed at visual artists with access filter. In order to access the platform, artists must be invited to each other. Unlike other more open and unrestricted platforms such as Opensea, Foundation maintains a selection of very creative artists who present quality collections. There is also an investment community that supports these creative works and encourages its artists. I hope to take advantage of this opportunity with the launch of my next collection “We Robots” that I am preparing for this year 2022. We will see what happens during this year.

You can see brasilian Rayana Cabrera’s profile and my Foundation’s profile.

Damien Hirst’s Currency

chr5Leave a comment
Damien Hirst

At the moment, 1700 people have bought some of the 10,000 pieces that make up the work “The Currency” by Damien Hirst, one of the three most sought-after artists worldwide in the art world. He now explores the world of cryptographic art with his first collection titled “The Coin.” As a challenge and exercise in skill, the artist makes a work on paper, plastically simple: a series of randomly painted colored dots cover the entire sheet of paper.

“The Currency” proposes a game to the buyer, demanding that he decide between the physical work and its replica minted in NFT. The artist proposes in “The Currency” a reflection, What happens when the work of Art becomes currency (in NFT) and the Currency (the NFT) becomes Art? Where are the boundaries and linkages of each area? To investigate this concept, the artist takes this premise to its ultimate consequences: The artist creates unique works on paper, which are replicated on the blockchain in NFT. Just as NFTs are guarded, each work is guarded in a safe. Each buyer of the NFT acquires the right to the work on paper, and “ultimately, (the buyer) must decide between the digital NFT or the physical work of art, which are works of his property. Whichever he chooses, the other will be burned.” In this way the artist “carnalizes” the process of “burning” an NFTs in the physical simile of “destroying” the work on paper. The work has been minted on Palm Blockchain and is shown on OpenSea.