Culture / 400 posts found
When NFT Projects Die: Lessons From Web3 Failures
The Web3 community knows that situations can turn on a dime. From the fall of FTX to Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, it has become clear that market volatility isn’t the only thing to be worried about. And all it takes is just one tiny event to set off a chain reaction throughout the NFT space. Oftentimes, this can be a positive thing, like Jack Butcher’s Checks changing the trajectory of open editions. On the other hand, events like February’s demise of the Friendsies collection can mean the inevitable spread of fear throughout the metaverse. Although the NFT space enjoyed a […]
Getty Unveils First NFT Drop, Featuring Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, and More
The Alpha: Starting on March 21, 2023, Getty Images will release The ’70s Music & Culture Collection, a compilation of images of musicians and cultural icons, including Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, The Rolling Stones, and several more. To release their first-ever NFT drop, Getty partnered with Candy Digital, a digital collectibles platform and marketplace that has previously helped Major League Baseball, Netflix, The WWE, and more enter Web3. Fans will be able to purchase the images, which will be minted on the Palm blockchain, on Candy.com with credit cards or USDC. Photographs in the collection will range […]
Owls NFTs Are Driving a Resurgence in ASCII Art
Owls NFTs have been on an absolute tear recently. Having dropped on March 3, the 10,000-piece collection of randomly-generated colorful text art owls has already done more than 11,000 ETH ($17 million) in trading volume on the secondary market and currently has a floor price of 0.184 ETH. Little is known about the collection, whose Twitter account is just a month old and whose creator recently self-doxxed to reveal that they go by Rei. What is certain is that the project has rekindled interest in ASCII art NFTs and other on-chain projects that make up a remarkable part of the […]
Next Up: Five Ones to Watch in March 2023
In 2021, a new creator economy was born on the blockchain. Since NFTs took center stage, artists have achieved NFT superstardom, billion-dollar brands have been forged in just a few months, and many lives have been utterly transformed time and again. Yet, the most inspiring thing about the NFT space is the number of artists of all creeds and mediums who have found community and support by embracing this technology. In keeping with our mission to empower creators, we present Next Up — our monthly franchise dedicated to showcasing rising artists. Although the NFT space has changed significantly over the […]
BREAKING: AI Artist Claire Silver’s Latest Collection to Premier at the Louvre
The Alpha: AI-collaborative artist and AI art movement advocate Claire Silver announced today that her newest collection will debut at the Louvre on March 21. Silver’s existing 1/1 artwork, Love in the Fourth Turning, will also be exhibited at the world-famous art museum. Both are in collaboration with Superchief NFT. In the same tweet detailing the announcements, Silver also revealed that she has signed for representation with WME as the company’s first AI artist. Dive deeper Silver is one of the AI art movement’s most consistent and prominent voices, regularly holding AI-collaborative art contests on Twitter and providing perspective and […]
Runway: Digital Fashion From the Parisian Frontlines
We flew to France last week for NFT Paris and are happy to report that, contrary to popular opinion, NFTs are not dead. In fact, they are thriving in multiple forms of art, tokenized media (cheeky Now Pass shoutout) and digital fashion. NFTs have rapidly evolved from the early days when the words “non-fungible tokens” splashed across headlines in the art world and helped launch the tech into the public eye. Now they have become synonymous with Prada, Gucci and Moncler. Luxury and fashion brands are increasingly entering Web3 to engage with younger, tech-savvy consumers, and these brands are becoming […]
Binance’s AI NFT Tool Attracts Thousands Amidst AI Ethics Concerns
Launching an AI art tool is risky business these days. While the AI-art movement continues to develop, with artists and galleries hosting competitions and physical exhibitions displaying the work of artists using the tools, society remains wary of the very concept. The general public has some reason to be; while many of the critiques lobbed at AI artistry are reactionary and based in fear, there are legitimate, ethical concerns surrounding the tools’ creation and use. But by the looks of it, popular crypto exchange Binance isn’t too bothered by the controversy. On March 1, company CEO Changpeng Zhao announced the […]
A Guide to Photography NFTs and the Future of Imagery
Never before has society been so visually saturated. Trillions of photos are taken every year, and the popularity of social media and the prevalence of image-based marketing are simply a given at this point. Clearly, image is everything. But, this proliferation of images and the infrastructure surrounding their consumption hasn’t always been for the better. At times, social media has been a particularly fertile ground for the outright plagiarism of professional photographers’ work. In October 2017, photographer Cath Simard shared a picture of a Hawaiian road on her Instagram account. It immediately went viral and was shared across several platforms […]
NFT Marketplace Blur Is Beating OpenSea, but Will It Last?
The Web3 landscape is shifting. With the explosive rise of the NFT marketplace and aggregator Blur in recent weeks and months, OpenSea now finds itself in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position: it now has a legitimate contender for the title of NFT marketplace leader. If Blur’s steadily growing presence since its launch last year wasn’t indicative of this change, the previous month certainly has been. In the last 30 days alone, the platform has done $1.24 billion in trading volume. And OpenSea? Nearly $383 million. In the aftermath of Blur’s token launch on February 14, activity on the platform has […]
17 Influential Black Artists Shaping the Future of Web3
In 2023, crypto is seemingly becoming less of a stomping ground for wealthy white men. While racism and prejudice undoubtedly still exist on the blockchain — and the “crypto bro” stereotype has undoubtedly affected the formation of Web3 thus far — the NFT space has slowly but surely become a more equitable place for people of color to find community, support, and prosperity. From POC creators leading the charge in Web3 music to helping popularize IRL NFT activations to bootstrapping organizations so other marginalized groups can flourish, there has been no lack of decentralized Black excellence in the past few […]