They’ve been around for a few years, but in the early years they played no art-related role: non-fungible tokens, or NFTs for short. It wasn’t until auction house Christie’s auctioned the digital work “Everydays. The First 5000 Days” by American digital artist Beeple and accepted a cryptocurrency for it that NFTs also conquered the world of art. During the pandemic, digital art in the form of NFTs has become the hottest must-have in the art scene. Because where museums were closed, art fairs cancelled, the whole analog art circus had pretty much stopped and physical viewing, but also appropriation and commerce had shifted to digital, new forms of digital art were popping up everywhere – especially NFTs.
It doesn’t matter what exactly the certificate of authenticity of the non-fungible token refers to. It is important that its uniqueness is confirmed. And so, with the help of NFTs, in an age of infinite reproducibility, digital art has become what art has been for centuries: something unique. The value of these works of art rests exclusively on the fact that their uniqueness is recorded in a data set, a so-called blockchain, using cryptographically unique, indivisible, irreplaceable and verifiable characters. Therefore, an NFT only exists once and can only be purchased as a whole. Artistic NFTs are gaining more and more followers around the world.
Betty Mü, specialist in video mapping and immersive art, is also participating in the NFT May for Xcircle.
(Photo: Betty Mü/Courtesy of XCricle)
Exhibitions and workshops throughout the city
Now, of all places, Munich, which is so closely linked to the analog art world, is about to start NFT-May 2022, Germany’s biggest event series for NFTs in art and culture. From May 5 through May 31, there will be a festival, exhibit, speaker series, workshops, zoom projects, and podcasts — the latter coming from Minneapolis. The events are organized by the Blockchain Association Bayern and supported by the Bavarian Ministry for Digital Affairs, in particular the Bavarian Minister for Digital Judith Gerlach. Various Munich institutions such as the Munich Urban Colab and the Villa Stuck Association have also pledged their support, and even the Department of Labor and Economics is involved.
All digital or what?
(Photo: NFT-Mai/Muc.xyz)
Venues are also varied: Sugar Mountain is one of the highlights, where the Freeman Contemporary Circus hosts a festival with Pepe Arts as organizer and master classes for artists and collectors. MCBW, Munich’s leading design fair, invites you to an event on virtual fashion and digital collectibles in the era of NFTs at Munich Urban Colab. The Blitz Club and Pacha are taking part, the NFT platform XCircle will present NFT shows with Munich AR specialist Betty Mü, among others. The Lazy Gallery attracts visitors with an exhibition and workshops. And Haus der Kunst will host NFT-May 2022 for two days, where Muc.xyz speakers include: Jiayin Chen, Director of [email protected], Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands, a Hong-resident game software company Kong, digital minister Gerlach and digital specialist Annette Doms, an expert in technological art and blockchain-related art shops as well as a lecturer in art history at LMU. The selection of places and the list of events alone show the different interests that the subject of NFT encounters.
“Munich can play a leading role in the NFT field”
Annette Doms considers NFTs to be one of the most important contemporary innovations in technology and finance, and an important cultural phenomenon. She is convinced of this: “Munich already has a large blockchain community. Munich can play a leading role in the NFT field.” Doms knows what she’s talking about. In 2013, together with Benedict Rodenstock and Irmin Rodenstock Beck, she founded “Unpainted”, a digital art platform, and organized art fairs in Munich for digital art that is not media art. At that time, the art form itself was still in its infancy and only specialists dealt with NFTs.
And Florian Matthes, professor of computer science at the Technical University of Munich and CEO of Blockchain Bayern, also sees the great potential of NFTs in the field of art: “Digital art is currently the field in which NFTs receive particularly great attention and where they can be experienced for the first time However, there are many other application scenarios in which this blockchain technology shows its strengths and which affect many people in their daily lives. Educational certificates like proof of participation in continuing education are an example of this. May 2022 is a great platform to show people what is possible.” And Christian Pfeiffer, spokesperson for NFT-Mais, promises: “By combining all the events, we show the growing relevance and influence of NFT art.”
NFT May Munich, 5.-31. May, various places, all information on www.blockchain-bayern.de/nft-mai