After the digital art market frenzy of 2020-2021, interest in NFT works from investors and speculators has noticeably declined. What experts warned about happened – the invisible hand of the art market managed to determine the real price of non-fungible tokens. NFT sales in 2022-2023 are down almost 92% compared to 2021. At the same time, about 95% of token collections now have practically zero value. But despite the correction in the art market, interest in NFTs, as works of digital art, and not an investment asset, remains at a high level. Major players in the art market are trying to satisfy it by holding exhibitions of works and opening separate museums and galleries dedicated to crypto art. Today we will tell you about the most famous sites where NFTs are exhibited.
Exhibitions in traditional museums and galleries
There is ongoing debate among art critics about the artistic value of NFTs. Both the method of their creation and the degree of participation of the author in the creative process are criticized. And yet, there are more and more fans of this kind of work every year. Traditional museums and galleries are meeting them halfway. Now, within their walls, events are periodically held dedicated to works of digital art of regional and world level.
Exhibition at Madinat Jumeirah
At the beginning of 2022, Madinat Jumeirah hosted the contemporary art exhibition Art Dubai 2022. It also featured NFT works. The annual event is rightfully considered the largest event in the art industry of the Middle East. The event's speakers were co-founders of New York gallery Postmasters Tamas Banovich, Bright Moments company Seth Goldstein and virtual platform Aora Space Jenn Ellis. The Campus Art Dubai section featured works by 12 artists from the UAE and other countries.
Center Georges Pompidou
At the beginning of 2023, the first NFT exhibition took place at the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris. The exhibition featured the famous CRYPTOPUNKS and AUTOGLYPHS #25, previously donated by the developer Yuga Labs. According to the philanthropist, the NFT transfer took place as part of a worldwide campaign aimed at popularizing crypto art. Yuga Labs has also provided tokens to other renowned museums, galleries and art institutions. Prior to this, the developer donated CryptoPunk #305 to the Miami Institute of Contemporary Art. Let us remind you that the Georges Pompidou Center specializes in the preservation and popularization of modern and contemporary art.
"Parallax" at the Gazkhane Museum
The unusual exhibition “Parallax” was held in April-May 2022 within the walls of the museum in the city of Gazhan, Turkey. The main theme of the event is demonstrating to the audience the possibilities of multiprobability reality. At the event, one could see NFT works by 15 artists (Aviz, Backtopoints, Selcuk Artut, Asli Dincha, Chagata Guchliu, etc.). The spacious rooms where viewers could view works of digital art were once part of a Turkish coal gas plant. In 2021, the enterprise was closed, and a museum of modern art was created on its territory. The exhibition mainly featured works by Turkish artists, but in the future the institution plans to attract artists from other countries.
Perez Art Museum Miami
Since 2018, the Perez Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami has shown interest in digital art, which was then gaining popularity. To explore the possibilities of exhibiting works in a new format, a special department was created, which officially opened at the end of 2022. In December 2023, the institution launched the PAMMTV streaming service for new media and time-based works. The goal of this and other similar digital art initiatives is to create a sustainable, mature infrastructure for NFT art that is not dependent on external funding sources.
Digital art museums
Following the accumulation of digital art in the art market, some crypto enthusiasts have begun to speak out in favor of creating dedicated galleries and museums for NFTs. The logic was as follows: new art needs new institutions. The first such sites began to appear several years ago. Despite the noticeable decline in interest in NFTs that followed the market collapse in 2022-2023, digital art will retain, and in the future will only increase, its presence in the art market.
Seattle NFT Museum
A successful attempt to institutionalize digital art was the opening of the permanent Seattle NFT Museum in Seattle, USA. It started its work in 2021. Visitors can enter the above-ground halls, just like in traditional museums, but instead of canvases, there are monitors on the walls to display the works. Visitors use QR codes to access the works. They allow you to view your work, access metadata and author information, and interact with the work. The priority for the Seattle NFT Museum is the work of local artists, so the basis of the exhibition fund consists of works by craftsmen from Seattle.
In addition to introducing NFTs to fans of beauty, the institution positions itself as a center for popularization and education of all interested. Today in the exhibition halls you can see both permanent and temporary exhibitions provided for rent by the owners. In 2023, the Seattle NFT Museum adjusted its strategy for selecting works for exhibitions. Now you can also see works created using artificial intelligence.
Meta History museum of war
In 2022, the first Ukrainian digital art museum was launched as part of the Aid For Ukraine initiative. Its goal was to popularize NFTs by Ukrainian artists, thematically related to the Russian war against Ukraine, as well as to disseminate information about the tragic events in our country through the global art market. In the museum you could not only look at the works, but also purchase them for cryptocurrency. The funds received from the sale went to the Ethereum wallet of the Ministry of Digital Information to provide for the humanitarian needs of Ukrainians. One of the first in the virtual space of the museum was the NFT collection “Warline”, dedicated to the creative understanding of events at the front. By July 2022, the sale of digital art had generated over $1 million in revenue. At the moment, the museum is closed, and it is unknown when NFT collections can be seen there again.
Pixlr Genesis
For the first time, plans to create an art museum of digital art Pixlr Genesis became known to the general public in 2021. Against the background of the rising cost of NFT works, a group of crypto enthusiasts decided to create an ecosystem with an internal ART token. It was planned that system participants would be able to use it to manage the infrastructure. The Pixlr Genesis digital art museum was intended to bring together a new generation of artists and collectors. It was believed that over time it would create competition for the major players in the traditional art market. Unfortunately, at the time of the project’s launch at the end of 2021, it became clear that high expectations would not be met amid the falling value of some NFTs and dim prospects for the industry. Today, the Pixlr Genesis Museum website is not working, and nothing is known about its activities after its launch.
KyivGallery art critic