Artcrush's open newsletter #2 : The World (Tour) is Ours 🌎
We open our hearts to share precious information about Digital Art and its impact.
In this 2nd Artcrush Monthly Newsletter, we’ll talk about Death, the future of (Ai) Art and about our Artcrush World Tour – Season 1.
We’ll also share some “Alpha” with you, as well as an Interview with @Arthemort (the 2nd Artcrush Co-Founder).
“NFTs are Dead” (again)🪦
You may have read it: the value of NFTs has been under pressure during the past 2-3 months, and especially “PFPs” (Profile Pictures) NFT’s.
For example: the famous “Moonbirds” are now selling for 2.5 Eth, when they were selling for 15 Eth not so long ago.
What do we think about the actual downward trend ?
First, we believe not all NFTs are equal. A “PFP NFT” is difficult to compare with a “Digital Arts NFT”. For “Digital Arts NFTs”, Art is the Utility.
Secondly, we believe that you should “Buy Art you like in quantities you can afford”.
… Then leave it in your (digital) vault for 10-20 years.
… Then (and then only) evaluate (or not)!
There will be ups. There will be downs. This is a long-term endeavor.
In the Seventies, it took Andy Warhol’s “Canvas Soup” 7 years to be recognized with a bid of 70K$ (now it’s worth millions). Don’t hope for this new wave of modern (Digital) Art to go much faster.
Refik Anadol’s “Unsupervised” AI Art exhibition is attracting the masses 🤖
There are so many people visiting the Refil Anadol Exhibition at the MoMA that the famous institution has decided to leave the end date of the Exhibition “open”.
Even if there’s also been criticism (from the Traditional World of Art!) about Refik’s Exhibition, some rumors are starting to speak about making Refik’s work part of the permanent collection of World’s Nr.1’s Museum.
We’re not there yet, and at the same time it’s great to see that the Artificial Intelligence Artworks of Refik Anadol are getting such a positive response.
Digital Arts is starting to shake the Traditional Arts World, and that’s great news.
Artcrush has become a World Player in the field of Digital Art Exhibitions 🗺️
We’ve started our “World Tour - Season 1” on April 10th, during NFT.NYC. By doing so, we’ve acquired a status of reference in the field of “Digital Art Exhibitions”, that maybe a handful of actors can claim.
We’re now recognized by stars like Hackatao, Trevor Jones, Jake Fried but also by thirds like Professor Jun & Cozomo De Medici, as a team creating Outstanding Digital Art Exhibitions, with perfect execution and service to the Artists.
Just to give one example: the video posted by Vexx_art on his Instagram during the NYC Exhibitions reached 500.000 different persons … and that’s just one of the 40 Worldclass Artists we Exhibited.
The curator’s corner 🎨
by our Lead Curator @arthemort
Are you looking for some amazing Digital Art to buy, for a reasonable budget?
'“Forever Supper” is an original initiative from Async Art, the cool kid of NFT platforms experimenting with a niche market category: dynamic NFTs.
Dynamic Blueprints aim to solve a lot of the existing problems the space has: inflationary supply, meaningless drops, community engagement. It is a showcase of what NFTs should be: delightful yet scalable experiences which have a reason to exist beyond speculative value. The creators who are the first adopters of this tech will become pioneers for a new page of crypto art history.
Artists have always spurred on big, powerful cultural movements. I can think of no better way to drive the next wave of NFT adoption than with the first Dynamic Blueprints collection, called “Forever Supper” where an infinite amount of possibilities await the user.
Name: Forever Supper - Budget: As from 100 dollars for your own version
> https://async.market/
Everyone will have a seat at the table in the biggest, ongoing digital art collaboration. This is Async Art's first Dynamic Blueprint collection, a homage to First Supper, the world's first programmable, dynamic NFT that was minted in 2020 in which 13 OG artists such as Matt Kane, Coldie, Hackatao and Josie came together for the first time in a dynamic artwork.
Step 1: Mint a Core. In the case of Forever Supper, this is a free, soulbound empty room, and your ticket to start.
Step 2: Collect Expansion Packs. Expansion Packs are Editions that can be used on the Core NFT. They are rolling out Expansion Packs in Courses.
Step 3: Make it your own. Apply Expansions to your Core to flex, support your favorite artists, and express yourself.
On the menu are a few artist that are part of our world tour such as Mr.Richi, Jaen, Ripcache and Hackatao, as well as other artists we’ve presented at Artcrush in the past, like Skeenee.
I (Arthemort) even have a character designed after me that you might have a chance to mint !
The monthly interview of a member of the Artcrush Team 🖤
Today: @Arthemort (on Twitter)
📣 Hello @Arthemort, can you tell us a bit more about you?
Hello, my "real" name is Brian Beccafico.
I’m NFT specialist at Sotheby's auction house and I've been curating Artcrush's exhibition since last year.
My story with Blockchain and art started in the midst of the last bull run cycle of 2017; I was fresh out from high school and trying to figure out what my vocation could be, at the time I was fascinated by white collars criminals, more precisely counterfeiter. Back then a few companies where trying to bring the blockchain in the art world as decentralized leger, offer unique synergy with this market and provide revolutionary transparency and tracking of information that can help everyone figure out the provenance and therefore the authenticity of artworks. I was always a bit nerdy and very much sensitive to fine art as both of my parents are celebrated art collectors. I spent most of my life in a multicultural setting and abroad, so far
I've visited over 90 countries and been to some of the most remote places in the world such as Antarctica. This setting made it so I was very much inclined to thrive in the global village that the internet is as most of my social life was digital.
I have a bachelor's degree from one of the top business schools in Europe and a master's degree in art market study as well as various certifications in relation to the field of art investment.
Since 2018 I've been collecting crypto art and starting 2020 been very much involved in the WEB3 ecosystem as a collector, in the span of a few years I've established one of the most important NFTs collections in France starting with less than 30 000€.
When I finished my master's degree in 2022 I started working as an independent curator and writer, organizing some of the very first NFT exhibitions in France, I joined Sotheby's as head of the European NFT department in August 2022, and since then I've generated a few millions gross revenues in sale for the esteemed institution in the middle of the bear market.
Around the same time I joined Artcrush and was able to exhibit many established as well as up and coming artists in the space with whom I have a priviledged relationship.
I'm happy to provide Artcrush members with my expertise and have them benefit from the years long relationship I've built up since I started collecting.
📣 Can you tell us why you joined the Artcrush Project in July 2022?
I met Mathieu at a Web3 event. Usually all the people you meet there always pretend to have a "revolutionary idea that will change everything" and in 99% of the cases its an unoriginal idea that has no potential at all and the founder themself usually only believe in it. Until they have got some seed investment.
So when I met Mathieu I was bracing myself to hear another monologue of that sort but to my surprise, his idea was actually very good and his passion genuine.
He identified a problem that many curators like me have experimented: the cost of putting up an NFT exhibition is ludicrous. Renting entry price display for a few days will easily cost me around 10 000 euros for a very unsatisfying quality of scenography. If you add the cost of renting a space, you have your explanation as of why you can count on the fingers of your hands the number of NFT galleries in the world.
Large scale displays are the way to go to transcribe the monumentality of the artistical revolution that is upon us and Mathieu can get those magical billboards for a fraction of the price of a small screen!
Artists in the space need to be exhibited and even the top 100 best selling artists rarely get the chance to be exhibited outside of WEB3 conferences.
Artcrush trully provides them an opportunity with added-value and meaning.
I wanted to be the one bringing this to artists. This explains how we can get some of the best selling artists of the Web3 space in our roster.
I wanted to have more impact in our community and Artcrush truly enables me to do so.
📣 What is your role at Artcrush?
I lead the curation team, helped by @Ellii_art & invited Curators.
I also guide the tokenomics strategy of the project and I help forge long-term partnerships with important actors of the scene, like the Artists, Galerists and Collectors whose involvement are key to help us build world’s largest Digital Art gallery.
I often act as an ambassador and make the team benefit from my connections as much as possible.
I build trust. People of the space trust that Artcrush is legit as I'm a recognized and respected player of the field and could easily be held accountable if anything were to go sour.
📣 On a somewhat lighter note, where does your Twitter Nickname come from?
Arthemort was randomly generated for my Death Knight in World Of Warcraft. It’s essentially a game tag that I had no idea of how to pronounce it and it kind of stuck once on Twitter.
At first my pseudonym was "a man of culture" but I went back to Arthemort as I've used it for so many years now, whenever I feel embarrassed about that pseudonym I usually say its in reference to my mentor (Jason Bailey) pseudonym on twitter "Artnome".
On Instagram, you can find me under the nickname “le_collectionneur_art”