This NYC gallery allows NFT owners to remotely display their art from anywhere
by James · July 5, 2022
In short
- Web3 NYC Gallery is a new NFT gallery that opens in Manhattan on June 15th.
- The gallery’s Genesis NFTs allow holders to control a screen in the room so they can display and even sell their NFTs.
Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue is an acclaimed strip of shops, with luxury retailers and other major brands vying for customer attention. Come next week, an NFT gallery will join their ranks, which Web3 The NYC Gallery will open in Midtown.
But the location itself may not even be the most interesting piece of the puzzle. What really stands out is the ability of anyone, anywhere to own the exclusive rights to display and sell their own NFTs – either created or assembled – on one of the screens, and remotely control it.
It’s the hook offered by Web3 NYC Gallery, which opens June 15 at 510 5th Avenue in New York City. As part of the offer, the site will contain 300 NFT screens from partner Tokenframe, which can only be controlled by the owner of an affiliate Genesis NFT.
“I think we have 20 times more NFT frames than have ever been in a room before,” said co-founder and CEO Nick Rotola Decrypt. It’s just the user-controlled framework as well. There are hundreds more that will be used for brand partnerships and other product offerings.
If you buy a Genesis NFT – either during the first primary sale, or in the future from a secondary marketplace – you can show off almost any NFT you want in the gallery. Web3 NYC Gallery has developed a software platform that allows owners to connect to an Ethereum wallet via a web page and select which images to display. (Tokenframe plans to add support for other public blockchains, such as Solana and Tezos, in the future.)
Within the gallery, visitors can scan a QR code on the frame and purchase any NFTs listed for sale. Rotola told Decrypt that the store will have NFT-skilled employees available to help buyers set up wallets and buy artwork, and will help them understand the process and not buy knockoff collectibles.
“We took our longest wall and we said, ‘This is going to be owned by people,'” Rotola said. “People are going to have the same access to Fifth Avenue that Louis Vuitton has, and that all these big, amazing, incredible brands have. They can be on Fifth Avenue, but so can these people.”
An NFT serves as proof of ownership of a digital object, and NFTs often represent things such as digital artwork, profile pictures, collectibles for sports and entertainment, and video game objects. The market expanded significantly in 2021, generating something $ 25 billion in trading volumeand 2022 volume is currently on the verge of crushing that sum despite an often volatile market.
Web3 NYC Gallery offers displays related to its Genesis NFTs on three different levels: 160 10-inch Collector’s Club displays from 1.5 ETH ($ 2,680) to 2 ETH ($ 3,580), 110 21.5-inch Degen Club displays from 5 ETH ($ 8,950) to 10 ETH ($ 17,900), and 30 43-inch Alpha Club monitors sold privately at unlisted prices.
No ongoing payment or rent is required for NFT owners to use their respective monitors. Genesis owners can display owned NFTs from their wallet, whether it is one Bored Ape Yacht Club avatar on Ethereum or their favorite XCOPY or Art blocks piece. They can even showcase their own NFTs, offering a way for project creators to market their products.
However, there will be restrictions on pornographic content due to the fact that Web3 NYC Gallery is a publicly accessible site, and they aim to eliminate “scam” content, too. Rotola said the gallery uses “very proven AI to test every single image” for offensive content.
On board the masses
As mentioned, while the collector-powered screens make up a large part of the Web3 NYC Gallery’s footprint, there’s more going on in the room. There will be other display areas for partnerships with brands and NFT creators, as well as additional Web3 content – such as crypto games and metaverse offerings.
It also has an exclusive club for Genesis NFT level alpha owners, along with different benefits for each team of NFT owners. Rotola also said that the gallery has many revenue streams underway, including Genesis NFT sales and secondary royalties, commission agreements with brands and artists, sponsorships, events and exclusive clubs for high-value collectors.
Web3 NYC Gallery is not the first NFT gallery in New York City—one opened early last year– let alone the rest of the world. Decrypt has covered gallery openings London, Chicagoand Los Angeles, for example. It even opened Quantum Space LA has its own NFT membership program focused on access to events and NFT drops.
In addition to the ability to let NFT owners control the exhibition framework, Rotola suggested that what sets Web3 NYC Gallery apart from other such galleries is a focus on getting on board with the masses.
With a prominent location on Fifth Avenue, he sees significant potential for the gallery to serve as a run-in to the new and potentially confusing world of Web3. Rotola wants Web3 NYC Gallery to be “a bestseller for Web3”, which includes a number of initiatives across the Web3 site along with helpful staff and a number of things to see and interact with.
“If you look at what Best Buy and Circuit City did for Web1, it has to happen for Web3,” he said. “You are not going to get the masses on board chat rooms, and they are not going to come to Crypto Mondays or that kind of thing. They need something very simple. “
Web3 NYC Gallery’s solution is to have knowledgeable employees who can hold buyers’ hands when setting up wallets and understanding the space. But it also wants to make things tangible in some ways, like offering printed plates and jackets showing someone’s NFTs, plus plans to add a vending machine which is ideal for children to buy and exchange digital packages with NFT collectibles.
With the coming metavers expected to be one opportunity of several trillion dollars to cryptobuilders and both technology giants is focusing on, Web3 NYC Gallery is also looking at expansion. It plans a franchise model that allows crypto and NFT builders to open their own local outposts using the same type of approach, complete with Genesis NFTs for each room.
“Ultimately, there will be 2 billion Web3 users,” Rotola said. “How are we going to get from now to 2 billion? I think you need stores like ours to hold people’s hands from start to finish, and that’s what we’re betting on. ”
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