Where Tech Meets Art: Samsung Next & Miami Art Week 2021
It’s impossible to ignore the energy surrounding NFTs, DeFi, and DAOs, and their ability to alter categories including gaming, media, and art. Based on our recent experience at NFT.NYC, the hype is real. We are moving from URL to IRL as blockchain facilitates the convergence of the digital and physical worlds.
Art is one of the sectors being transformed by blockchain, with digital art drops debuting at art fairs around the world, galleries minting NFTs in real-time, and general accessibility to NFT marketplaces on the rise. This kind of activity is converging during Miami Art Week, November 30—December 5, and we think it will serve as a catalyst for digital art in 2022 and beyond.
Miami Art Week promises to shine a light on a paradigm shift that is transforming how art is exhibited, viewed, and collected. What has long been an opaque and exclusive market is now becoming more accessible to everyone.
At Samsung Next, we’ve spent much of 2021 considering the implications of trustless, open, and decentralized protocols, and their ability to create powerful, new, disintermediated business models and experiences. In addition to our investments in the infrastructure side of blockchain, we’ve concentrated investments on platforms and applications that enable both creators and businesses to utilize non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for media, gaming, art, and other creative endeavors. Since February, we’ve invested in companies such as Bright Moments, The Sandbox, Big Whale Labs, Atomic Form, Nifty’s, SuperRare, and Axie Infinity.
The insights we’ve gleaned from the founders of our portfolio companies is invaluable. It helps Next as we double-down on investing in the best builders and founders, and facilitates our support of Samsung in identifying the technologies, trends, and ideas that matter. We’re thinking differently, and as a result, we’re focused on participating in both established and new events that bring together industry stakeholders.
During Miami Art Week, we are partnering with SuperRare, Nifty’s, Dapper Labs, Spatial, Bright Moments, and Atomic Form to produce NFT IRL, a two-day invite-only experience that focuses on how NFTs are fundamentally changing the future of digital art as the world moves towards web3. This IRL (in real life) program is designed for investors, builders, artists, and collectors. We’ll be tackling meaty topics, such as the convergence of NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), artist and collector monetization, how artists can make the transition to NFTs, the importance of community in growing a marketplace, upending perceptions and claiming space in the NFT ecosystem, and the next breakthroughs in web3.
We also will be at the SCOPE Art Show in Miami Beach as the exclusive provider of state-of-the-art TVs in the SuperRare exhibit space. The exhibit will feature Samsung Neo QLED models, which provide the ultimate in color, clarity, and resolution. This will enable artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to focus on the iconic art created by SuperRare artists. It also will feature The Frame, a Samsung TV that provides the perfect screen for displaying digital art. TV when it’s on. Art when it’s off.
Miami Art Week is recognized as one of the preeminent international modern and contemporary art events in the world, featuring an array of iconic and signature artwork, dynamic projects, and special installations across more than 140 international galleries.
For Samsung Next, our two-day program at Miami Art Week is the first of its kind, and we are ready.
See you in Miami, IRL.
Angie Lee is Global Head of Brand & Marketing at Samsung Next. Samsung Next's investment strategy is limited to its own views and does not reflect the vision or strategy of any other Samsung business unit, including, but not limited, to Samsung Electronics.
