[ad_1]
This year, in its 15th edition, the three-day fair hosted more than 100 local and foreign art dealers, with 17 galleries and platforms throughout the exhibition area dedicated to the display and sale of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
non-homogeneous token The sales platform uses the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies and turns anything from illustrations to memes into virtual collectibles that cannot be duplicated.
Benedetta Ghione, executive director of Art Dubai, said NFTs became mainstream last year and are now trading at major auction houses, attracting a lot of attention in the United Arab Emirates, already a hub of leisure and business. The increased interest, and Dubai’s “unique status” as a “growing hub for cryptocurrencies,” has prompted show organizers to dedicate a new digital section, she told AFP at Friday’s launch event.
“We thought it was the perfect time and the perfect place,” she said.
Dubai – one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates – last week introduced a new virtual asset law and regulation to govern the industry, after signing a deal with Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, in December. mechanism.
“exponential growth”
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, tweeted that the move “establishes the UAE’s position in the sector” and aims to “ensure maximum transparency and security for investors.” “.
Native NFT platforms welcomed the business-friendly move, with cryptocurrency holders increasingly interested in digital art as a form of investment.
“The crypto community has grown exponentially,” said Jennifer Stelco of Morrow Collective, an NFT curation platform that featured some 20 digital artworks at the fair, nearly all of them by Emirati artists.
These included work by Vesa, a prominent Finnish mixed-media artist based in Dubai, whose work combines paintings and digitally retouched images, and was being sold for 50 ether (the cryptocurrency), about 127,000 at Sunday’s price Dollar.
A piece by Lebanese artist Magda Malkoun whose main work depicts her hometown, Stelco said beirutWas sold for three ethers.
In the global NFT craze, American artist Beeple sold a piece of art for a record $69 million last year, prompting Emergeast, the Middle East’s first online platform, to turn to digital art.
Founded in 2014 to focus on emerging artists in the region, Emergeast sees NFTs as an opportunity for artists to “really expand” their audience, reaching both collectors and non-collectors, co-founder Nikki Mefta Tell
AFP.
“The benefit is also that all artists get a royalty on each sale,” she added.
Facing the NFT hype, Emirati sculptor and painter Aisha Juma started redrawing some sketches on a tablet a few months ago, though she emphasized the importance of artistic messages in her medium.
“It’s complicated because now people are interested in media … technology,” she said.
“The technology is so valuable. It gives me a platform to express more and use more tools, and I don’t deny that, but I also want people to look at the art and see what I’m talking about.”
[ad_2]
Source link