Here’s your metaverse news for the week
Tyler Hobbs, QQL: Analog #2, 2023. The exhibition features large-scale paintings based on Hobbs’ own experiments with the new QQL NFT algorithm he developed in collaboration with fellow generative artist Dandelion Wist. Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez/Fortune
Welcome to This week in the Metaverse, where Fortune rounding up the most interesting news in the NFT world, culture and metaverse. Email [email protected] with tips.
NFTs got some good news this week: After months of uncertainty and filth, the overall market jumped 137% quarter-over-quarter to an eye-popping $4.7 billion. Individual sales also rose 8.56%, according to a report from DappRadar.
This fresh sense of excitement in the NFT space was exemplified by Tyler Hobbs’ QQL: Analogs exhibit (open through April 22), which I attended last week at Pace Gallery’s location on West 25th Street in New York City. The exhibit, which was part of Pace Verso, the gallery’s Web3 hub, featured a bunch of Hobbs’ work in the form of physical paintings, some created by the Brooklyn-based team at Artmatr.
The buzz at the event showed how important the sense of community is among many of those in the NFT space – and how physical forms that highlight NFTs can spark interest among non-crypto audiences.
I spoke with a local artist who had no idea what NFTs were — “just a contract to me,” she said — but added that she was intrigued by one of Hobbs’ paintings and wanted to learn more about it.
In my mind, NFT creative art for art’s sake is having a resurgence, even though creator fees are falling and Blur has overtaken OpenSea in trade volume recently (OpenSea still has more users).
Hobbs tends to agree with my view, I think. Although he has been offline for the past four months and could not comment directly on the current market dynamics, he said he was happy to return to his painting roots for the exhibition and for people to experience it in a different way.
“People know me for my purely digital generative work – very well at this point – but I still have a very strong connection to painting,” he told me, “and I still think there’s something very special about work like this and the way that you get to interact with it personally on a large scale and take in all the details.”
That’s it for this week, but if you’re in New York next week, happy NFT.NYC! Maybe I’ll see you there.
In other news
The Drone Racing League will soon become the first sports property to stream the entire season in the metaverse. Following the 2022-23 DRL Algorand World Championship Race Finals on April 8, the league said it will host a two-day “metaverse marathon” where fans can watch the entire 2022-23 season of races, where drones loop and dive through real life race at 90 mph.
By clicking on a social media link, users can also enter a digital twin of the Drone Racing League Simulator video game’s popular MegaCity map, where they get the chance to meet master pilots.
Courtesy of DRL
DJ and self-labeled “eco-warrior” BLOND:ISH releases a biodegradable PHA vinyl record … that also features an NFT. Created in collaboration with the artist’s non-profit organization, Bye Bye Plastics, the record uses naturally occurring bacteria to compose the 14-track vinyl for her record #PlasticFreeParty. The NFTs will be sold in a 72-hour sale – each for 0.04 ETH – on sound.xyz on April 11. Each NFT purchased will be redeemable for a physical copy of the biovinyl.
Courtesy of BLOND:ISH
Web3 trading card game Wildcard is hosting its first public mint on April 20th, via Magic Eden, for a run of 4,444 NFT “WildPasses” on the Polygon blockchain. The NFTs will give buyers access to holder-only airdrops, priority access to playtesting, and early access to ownership opportunities in the Wildcard universe. WildPass will also offer exclusive access for private developers, such as holder-only roundtables, roadmap sneak peeks, and more.
