On June 2nd, this past Tuesday, a virtual art show took place in parallel with a number of events happening in Miami this week. What set this show apart from most of the physical events happening across Bitcoin Conference Miami, Shitcoin 2021, and a number of NTFS.tips events – this show was presented entirely virtually. Curated by Trish Reda, as per the commission of JenJoy Roybal of Ntfs.tips curation team, this show featured over two dozen diverse photographers and image-makers from around the world. Displayed in a virtual world constructed by the talented Roger Kenny, called “Road Gallery,” the space evoked a midnight drive across a desert. Except, in which, either side of the road was featuring beautiful billboard-sized renderings of photographic NFTs. The experience is truly unique, as one enters the space, you feel the need to speed up and get through the show. However, the user’s character moves slowly with intentionality, lingering on each piece in order to give it the time and appreciation that it deserves. As the viewer moves through a star-lit desert vista, new pieces of art emerge in the distance, each one entirely unique and striking in and of itself.
And the STILL photography show is up and going. There are two of them, linked here and below. I want to thank @RogerWallstreet for all of his hard work. I threw him a few curve balls for sure. Join us at 1pm PST in Clubhouse to meet the photographers. https://t.co/Ww5PakUG2F
— Trish 🫧 (@nft_ish) June 2, 2021
The show featured a healthy mix of established voices and exciting new talent. Including staples in the NFT photography space such as Matthew Neubauer, Sean Bonner, and John Knopf (the current highest-selling photographer in the NFT space). At the same time, featuring a number of fresh/up-and-coming voices, handpicked by Reda herself, including Raven “50mm,” Dariush Raad, Amat Toussaint, and many others. This diverse and decentralized blend of talent from all over the world spans a vast array of practices and styles within the confines of photographic work. From analogue to digital, unprocessed to heavily manipulated, traditional images to animated ones. This virtual art show displayed the near full palette of options that have been made available to photographers active in the space today. In fact, the cavalcade of styles and processes exhibited in such a new-age format gave the show quite a futuristic feel. Though this could simply be my personal bias as I, the writer, was one of the artists featured and this was my personal first ever purely digital gallery exhibition.
However, my own involvement aside, there are three key aspects I’d like to take away from this experience as a viewer. 1) The virtual space that this was held in was, and is, constructed beautifully. If you haven’t yet – please make sure to click the first embedded tweet and follow the link directly to the show. It’s a custom gallery created in Mozilla hubs, and while it may not be the most realistic virtual experience I have ever had, it was definitely one of the most visually appealing. 2) The diversity and range in artists from all different styles and backgrounds all within the confines of one specific medium were extremely encouraging. In a time where companies and individuals alike find excuses for lacking diversity on a daily basis – Trish Reda came into this space as a fresh curator and, intentionally or not, truly acted as a champion of diversity and representation. From representing artists all over the world to a healthy mix of race and gender expressions to purposefully highlighting several queer artists (such as my partner and myself) in celebration of Pride Month – Trish truly went above and beyond. 3) Finally, just because I’m so impressed, I need to mention the time frame. Trish reached out to me only 5 days before the exhibit. So, in a matter of about a week, Trish Reda was able to coordinate with over two dozen artists and promote an extremely well-received event and corresponding clubhouse room. While I’m not surprised, as both Trish and the NTFS.tips team are absolute powerhouses, I am nonetheless extremely impressed. Most established galleries would struggle to do the same and Trish, more or less independently, pulled off the impossible in just one week!
A wholehearted BRAVA to Trish and all of the artists involved!
