5 Things You May Have Missed @ Art Basel Miami (Top Signals?!)
Top sig·nal (noun): Usually a sign of PEAK HYPE before a cool down AKA things that might really freak you the f*** out if you’ve been in crypto awhile.
I, like many of you, attended Art Basel this year, but what I’d really like to call it is NFT Basel because that’s what it felt like. Everywhere you looked it was ‘mint’ this and ‘digital’ that.
News headlines now flood the internet like, “It’s Art Basel Miami — or, more accurately, the crypto tailgate,” “Crypto-native art is now taking over the annual Art Basel” and “How Art Basel Miami Has Been Permanently Changed by NFTs and Crypto.”
And my favorite (least favorite), the plane advertisements continuously gliding over South Beach donning a “Buy Bitcoin” advertisement. 😵
So, bullish or bearish, were these top signals or are we up only? You decide.
- Artwork available for purchase in ETH and BTC.
Only this year did Christie’s become the first leading auction house to actually accept ETH as payment. This year sculptor and painter Alex Yanes, showcased at SCOPE Art Show, offered his artwork for sale in USD, BTC, and ETH.
2. Well-known artists adopting infamous digital artwork
Well known contemporary artists like Javier Martin, known for his iconic art collection called Blindness, are joining in on the NFT trend. Blindness which was previously showcased all over the world for the past decade has been shown at art basel before, but not like this. This year, Martin showcased what he called a ‘Blindness Cryptopunk,’ derived from Larva Labs CryptoPunks.
3. Exclusive NFT holder parties
We all know everyone goes to Art Basel for the (art?) parties. Each day there were exclusive parties for NFT holders, everything from Doodles, Rabbitars, Etherrocks, and the infamous BAYC. Not only that but the headliners at these parties included the likes of Diplo, Dillon Francis, Marshmello, Jauz, and more.
4. New festivals including DCentral Miami and NFT BZL
For the first year there was DCentral Miami, the largest NFT and DeFi conference which housed stages of speakers, multiple NFT galleries and a digital fashion universe. There was also NFT BZL which was dedicated to highlighting trailblazers in the NFT and Metaverse community.
5. Digital art installations turned NFTs
Art installations are not new to Basel but seeing art installations that are then sold as NFTs was all the rage. I will say, there’s something amazing about this as it creates an entirely new revenue stream for artists. Just this year NFT sales have had a breakthrough year totaling 12 billion in sales and during the week of Art Basel, there was a whopping $292 million in NFT sales.
Adoption is inevitable, all these signs were hard to miss. Saw, heard or read something that seemed bullish or bearish from Art Basel 2021? Let us know.
