NFTs go mainstream at Art Basel Miami Beach

 Museums and galleries in Miami Beach will include new additions to traditional art in the form of non-fungible tokens as  NFTs arrive at this year's Art Basel art fair. 

The explosion in popularity of NFTs has led to crypto art being viewed by the art world as a legitimate art form. Art fairs such as the prestigious Art Basel are an opportunity for artists and creators to showcase their art, as well as providing a marketplace for these artists to sell their work. 

Global art mega-fair Art Basel Miami (ABMB, 2-4 December) is a showcase for some of the most exciting and iconic contemporary art, with this year’s show including an exhibition that allows visitors to mint their own NFTs. 

German artist Mario Klingemann, known as Quasimondo, is the brains behind an immersive installation that will generate AI portraits for visitors of the exhibition who will then be able to mint NFTs of their digital artworks. This installation is part of an exhibition titled “Humans + Machines: NFTs and the Ever-Evolving World of Art,” that features work from several NFT artists including including Helena Sarin, Matt DesLauriers, Sutu (Stuart Campbell) and Iskra Velitchkova.

Klingemann commented on his installation:

“The one thing I always appreciate about working with AI is the chance to get results you didn’t expect, or that are somewhat out of your control,” he says. “There’s a machine that’s your counterpart and you interact with it, and it does some things by itself, but at the same time you get the feeling that it’s not random and you have some control. I like the intermediate space.”

Klingemann’s installation will utilise six different screens with cameras to film participants before creating a unique portrait of them. climate-conscious cryptoartists such as Klingemann are bringing attention to clean NFTs on that run on the much cleaner Tezos network.

Aside from the art exhibitions, a number of talks will run led by panelists who explore cryptoart and the impact on the art industry including a panel discussion: Vectors for Future Art Ecosystems.

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