text: Simon van Cleeff* creation 2021 nº 327 53 Art Basel Miami Two weeks ago, the art event of the year took place, Art Basel Miami 2021. Capitola.Social was there to launch the Snapchat AR Lens for NFT collective Doodles. The extremely diverse programming made the event worthwhile for every type of art lover. From internationally established galleries with booths at the major fair venues to fringe programming of less commercial art scattered throughout the city, with a special focus on NFTs. For the first time at Art Basel Miami, digital virtual art, Non-Fungible Tokens or "NFTs" for short, played a major role. These are digital media files that can be traded using blockchain technology and smart contracts. NFT was the buzzword of Art Basel Miami. Even the booth of the famous Ross+Kramer gallery had digital screens with NFT works of Bored Ape Yacht Club ("BAYC"). To give a little financial sense to that; another BAYC NFT sold for $2.7 million in October this year. While there are also many affordable NFTs, the prices of some NFTs are already reaching gigantic heights. hype or here to stay? A large part of the programming was dedicated to NFTs. With many explanations, but also discussions about the role of NFT's in the art sector. The discussion was mainly about the question if NFT's are a hype or if it's a new form of art that's settling down in the artsector. What makes NFTs special is that they are traded digitally via blockchain and, in general, without the intervention of a gallery. As you can imagine, most established galleries were not very positive about this new art form. Bad for business. But the more innovative galleries do see the potential, precisely as an additional art form, with a different target group as buyers and an additional sales channel. Skeptics couldn't ignore NFTs at Art Basel Miami; for a large group, this is already the new mainstream. For many, NFTs were even the only reason to come to Art Basel Miami. And not just to look at them, but also to trade and exchange. transparency NFTs are not only changing the form of art, but also the way of trading. For example, on NFT marketplace Opensea, full transparency is offered about the value. The creator always receives a percentage of the sales value at each sale and the sale and purchase price by previous buyers can be seen by everyone. Snapchat x Doodles x Capitola.Social NFTs exist on the blockchain but are usually placed in a platform where you can view and trade digital art. This happens for example via a MetaMask wallet which in turn is connected to an NFT marketplace like OpenSea. You can see this as your personal online gallery. NFT collective Doodles had its own event in Miami. This event was purely focused on NFT's and attracted more than a thousand interested people. Capitola.Social developed an AR Selfie Lens for Doodles. The NFT art of the Doodles can be shown with AR within the Snapchat app. This way, Snapchat users can interact with the NFTs of Doodles. This is interesting for people who have a Doodles NFT; it allows them to showcase their purchase to a large audience. It is also interesting for the creators of the Doodles. Their NFTs are much more visible. It is also interesting for Snapchat, because it allows them to facilitate and claim this domain on social media. For the user it is cool to interact with the Doodles in a unique way via AR. *Simon van Cleeff is partner at Capitola.Social The role of Snapchat Art Basel Miami has been an important event this year for the positioning of NFTs in the established art world. For many visitors this was no longer a question, but it still had to be explained and shown to the sceptics. The use of Snapchat to investigate the various NFT possibilities is very interesting. Snapchat opens up its platform to show and share the NFT's in order to appeal to a large online community, to inspire and let them interact with digital art. About Capitola.Social Capitola.Social is a creative social agency focussing on creating highly immersive and engaging Social Augmented Reality effects and filters. People communicate through their smartphone camera on social media daily. This makes the camera a new high attention media space. We help brands understand the opportunities within this space and how it enables new ways of engaging with their audience. Augmented Reality effects boost these camera experiences making it an important part of a brands marketing strategy.
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