NFT Art Day Zurich 2023
Last weekend we had the pleasure of participating in the 2nd edition of NFT Art Day in Zurich. The 2-day event was organized by art advisor and digital art expert Georg Bak and took place at the same time as Zurich Art Weekend and Art Basel. This digital art event is rapidly developing into the largest Swiss-based NFT art event. Here are some of the highlights.
Day 1 – NFT Art Day
Tom Rieder
One of our favorites on Day 1 was an introduction to the topic of NFT by Tom Rieder. In the chart shared with us, it’s clear that art is still a small part of the NFT world, which is largely dominated by games and collectibles.
Diagram 1 source: Tom Rieder
Brian McAlister
In Workshop 2, Brian Mc Alister showed how easy it is to use the objkt.com platform and how their new AI feature works. Minting an NFT yourself was demonstrated by Kenny Schachter live on the podium at objkt.com.
Photo 1: Brian Mc Alister explains the objkt.com platform
Picasso on Blockchain
In the third workshop “Picasso on Blockchain”, 360X Art presented its platform for the fractionalization of physical paintings.
Photo 2: Shirin Marquart, Marie-Catherine Vogt, and Katharina Helena Schulz by 360X Art
Day 2 – NFT Art Day
Day 2 of NFT Art Day in Zurich was also full of highlights.
Kenny Schachter
In Kenny Schachter’s keynote, he discussed “”The Current State of the NFT Market”” and gave us an insight into his work. One of the highlights of his presentation was a video of art being buried.
Photo 3: Kenny Schachter with one of his NFTs
Panel: “The effect of accelerated technology in the arts”
The panel “The Impact of Accelerated Technology in Art” moderated by Luba Elliott, with James Bridle, Anne Spalter and Mario Klingemann included a true statement from Mario Klingemann: “Blockchain is absolutely instrumental”. So we should use the blockchain technology, and should not earn it. The possible areas of use are enormous, not only in art.
Panel: “How do you discover artists?”
Image 5: How do you discover artists? | Panel with Micol Ap, Lukas Amacher and Tiffany Zabludowicz, moderated by Anika Meier
In this panel, moderator Anika Meier addressed the “always-be-available” mentality. Lukas Amacher immediately realized that it doesn’t have to be this way: “As with any business, communication with the community is key, but first you have to create a community. There is no golden way to become aware of future artists. But the information about which platforms you can and should find out about the artists was of great help to all art-interested people.”
Anika Meier: “We are online 24/7”. Lukas Amacher: “We are also offline 24/7!”
Collection in the age of NFT
Image 6: Generative choreography | Artist Talk by operator
The following question kept coming up during these two days in Zurich: Should bridges be built between traditional art and digital art, or should they be broken?
Here, too, the artists themselves and art experts have very different views. Brian Droitcour used his valuable knowledge to tease out interesting answers from panelists Sabine Himmelsbach, Valérie C. Whitacre and the funny guys on the “Collecting in the Age of NFTs” panel.
Picture 7: NFT Think Tank enjoyed themselves at NFT Art Day
Final thoughts
Of course, for most artists, collectors, curators and galleries, NFTs are the future. They can be of service to anyone as digital art, for fractionation or as a security tool. So the word NFT will soon become part of everyday life for everyone.
NFT Kunstdagen 2023 was very well attended, all visitors had fun and the presentations and panels were a very good source of information. With this format, Georg Bak has proven that art is not dry and boring, but very interesting and also fun! I’m already looking forward to NFT Art Day Zurich 2024!
Georg Lanzinger is a blockchain consultant for NFT, Track & Trace and Crypto. As a speaker at conferences and panels, he shares his knowledge to help and connect beginners and professionals. Georg is also the founder of yourvision.blog, a video blog that invites people to talk about their vision of web3 and sales.
