Art of the Basel | Should you go???

Rantumbits.ETH   talks about the different events at Art Basel Miami 2022.

https://www.artbasel.com/?lang=en

 

Rought transcript - don't judge

[00:00:00] Well, we've got a quick podcast here, topic on all about affordable NFTs, where our very own Andrew went over to Art Basil. You know, we talked about, you were there day one, but I felt like there was more to say. And so this is just like a quick recap of, you know, it's been a week or so since you've gone.

[00:01:05] you know, news is settled. Time to settle. What are the things that are still sticking in your mind from actually getting to walk around on the ground in Miami? Hey, uh, yeah, it'd be good to talk a little bit about this. I was, hadn't really gotten to experience much of Basel before, uh, or when we last spoke about it, I was just heading over to some events, um, and got to a lot of events over the course of the, the.

[00:01:31] Three, three nights I was there. Uh, it went by quickly. Um, there's got over to the convention, uh, the convention itself, uh, which is where Art Basel really is. And, and Art Basel is a, uh, it's an event that happens in four times a year. It's based actually in Basil, Switzerland. Then there's one in, they have an event in Miami, uh, Hong Kong and.

[00:01:55] Wanna say, I think it's either London or Paris. I, I, I could look that up. I'm sure you could too, if you're really interested. . Um, so this is the Miami version I had never been before. Went over there and this was an enormous exhibition with very high end artwork of most. Mostly newer artists. I mean, newer being, uh, the last a hundred years or so, and there's some really impressive artworks on sale.

[00:02:17] Uh, so I should say on display, I mean, the art galleries, they, you can buy them, um, or one can buy them if you have the, uh, , the funds. But, um, you know, there were some, some very pricey works. There were things that were also reasonable. In many cases, the prices aren't listed, but you see works from, from, uh, from artists.

[00:02:35] Uh, Picasso for, uh, I guess Banksy was over at another, I. Maybe I could, I could, I'll separate that. Um, uh, but Kandinsky, uh, uh, uh, Trent Morro, any many works from, from just artists that, um, that, you know, um, that by naming it, if you aren't maybe the, the most into, to art. But, uh, there's some, there's a. It, it's impressive the number of galleries there and the people that have traveled from all around the world.

[00:03:05] I mean, you can hear just different, uh, different languages being spoken and, and, uh, just the galleries that are representing, uh, different, um, cities around the world. Um, it's quite impressive. Yeah. You know, based on some very soft, uh, research by myself, 23 countries, you know, 160 plus galleries. I mean, it's, it's massive.

[00:03:27] Been going on. Was supposed to start actually in 2001, happened in 2002. Uh, cuz it was postponed due to nine 11. So it interest, yeah, it was quite 20th anniversary. They were, I was actually surprised at, you know, maybe I'm just used to, uh, N F T events, but the, the lack of, uh, swag that they were not giving away anything along with the, you know, $75 ticket or so it seems like.

[00:03:51] You know, you maybe want somebody walking around with a bag or, or whatnot. If you do, um, you know, if you get people in the door, but, uh, maybe that's, maybe that's not, not their game. . Yeah, maybe not. I'm curious, you know, were you able, here's an objective question, right? The ticket cost $75. There's premium tickets, which cost whatever.

[00:04:11] Uh, you have to pay for a hotel. You have to pay for a. Here's the quick question. You know, it's been a week. You got new NFTs, I noticed. I see your wallet. , objectively speaking, are the NFTs you got potentially if you sold them, not like right now, would it cover the cost of the trip, assuming you paid full freight?

[00:04:29] Oh, uh oh, man, that's, that's tough to say. You know, Miami, you know, there were. A lot of events to go to, tickets to buy, um, you know, and, and staying there. It, it's a, I used a lot of of points, uh, on that trip. It's, uh, but the traffic was, it's crazy how much traffic, uh, or how much time units sp sitting in traffic.

[00:04:51] So this was the, the main Basel events, and this is all really part of Miami Art Week. Um, as, as they're really trying to , you know, to. Um, you know, market the, the whole week in Miami, um, most of the, the Basel or like the real Basl event is on Miami Beach, and then that's a lot of the, the super high end galleries are over there.

[00:05:14] And so there's a lot of people that come over to drive over to Miami Beach, which is accessible by, uh, essentially two narrow bridges and they get super backed up as we were getting on to go back from. From Miami Beach over to A to N F T Now's event, um, which I'll speak about in a second. Um, it, the said it would take up to about 15 minutes as we, as we pulled onto the bridge, the driver told us it would be an hour, and, uh, he was definitely more correct.

[00:05:45] I, I fell, I fell asleep on the way over anyway, it wasn't so bad for me. And as I woke up, I said, Hey, wait, it's. It's only been two minutes AC, or we've only shaved two minutes off the time. I know we've been in the car a long time. So, um, you know, I heard a lot of stories of people just sitting in traffic.

[00:05:59] Um, so it was. Definitely not as bad over on the, the Miami side. And that is where most of the N F T events were. Uh, there was one event that, or one, a big expo that was sort of in between. They had a, they had some digital arc there and, um, I should, uh, Tezos was a, uh, I guess that was actually at, at Basos Tezos did have a, was a sponsor at, uh, Basl.

[00:06:24] Um, so there was some n ft representation there. At the, the other one it was a little bit more, um, modern art. That's where I saw Banksy. Some, um, more, uh, s, I don't know, maybe established or traditional fiat based artistry, . and also someone that, you know, if you had, if you had thought about, you know, if you had told someone in the, you know, maybe 1970s that this artist that had done a lot of graffiti would end up being one of the most popular artists of this time.

[00:06:55] And I think you go even LA much later than that. Um, you know, that would probably, uh, sound pretty surprising. So what I. You know, what I like about that is I think that there's a, a big opportunity for, for N F T artists to, to make headway here. And that it's a, it's a, it's a place that's generally, um, more accepting two creative ideas done well.

[00:07:17] Um, so, you know, kind of hopeful that, you know, we can start to see NFTs move up in these, uh, in these different events and, and become more of a focal point at them. Um, the N F T now event was, they had. I mean, it was like two or three blocks sort of, uh, sectioned off down there and then down to, uh, I don't know, an area of Miami, um, that had a lot of, it seems like there were a lot of sort of storefronts that could just, that were.

[00:07:44] Empty and could be used for pop-up stores. So Meta Mask had a booth there, art Blocks, uh, 90 cc, who is a fashion company. Uh, and I, I think I mentioned this on a previous episode, they were doing a live. Minting of live minting printing of shirts there. Uh, so this was a collaboration with Snow fro. They made 1200 unique shirts.

[00:08:09] You could, uh, actually go there and mint your shirt, get, you'd see it display on the screen. There's a, I'm gonna get a co-op of your shirt at some point when we hang out. Yeah, well, yeah. So they do, they put an they right as you're there, you see them put the NF seed chip in, uh, in the shirt. They put your.

[00:08:29] Your, your squiggle design, you know, your squiggle inspire design pops up on the screen so you can see it in the, in the lounge area as you're waiting. And, um, they did a really good job of, with the, uh, the presentation of that. And, you know, it was, they, the box was really impressive too. I should, uh, you know, if I, that was good at these, at sharing photos, like, you know, I, I would put something together, but, uh, , I'll ask.

[00:08:51] I'm not so, so good at that . Um, you know, I can talk about it, but it doesn't sound so cool, does it? I mean, hey, depends on the audience. Really Awesome. . Like, it sounds cool to me. Kinda. Yeah. Hey, it was really cool. I mean, they did a, they really did a great job. The events were, were nice there. Um, the other, uh, you know, big, uh, or one of my favorite events there was the, uh, the FOCs Paint party.

[00:09:15] I was waiting for that one. The paint party? Yeah. So it was the second paint party that I got to go to. The last one, uh, was, the last one was in New York. N F T N Y C, uh, this past June. Um, and those were painting canvases, big canvases that were stung from the ceiling, and those have been made into the canvas NFTs.

[00:09:34] Um, so this one was a little, was different in that you're painting t-shirts and actually all sorts of different fashion items. The t-shirts you got to take home with you. The other items such as Adidas sneakers, Jean jacket style, you know, jean jacket, whatever, you know what I mean? , those types of jackets.

[00:09:57] Uh, just pants, all sorts of other items. Uh, all bright white when they were, uh, you know, put out there, those were available for anyone to paint on, but those had to stay there. So I imagine that those will become part of a new, uh, collection of some sort that will be released in the future. You know, the idea being that everybody chipped in on these, uh, These, these object as well.

[00:10:19] Uh, it was a fun time there. They, they do a really good job of getting people in. It's a, it's a lot of people that come in and they keep it manageable. Lot of supplies. Big warehouse, big space. They have food, they have full zip up suits, I gotta say put on. Sounds like they have the most buttoned up. Type of I R L meets N F T game.

[00:10:40] Is that fair? Like walking, walking around. You have been to two, you went to one in NYC and now one in, uh, in the Basel, right? In Miami, yeah. Yeah. This, I mean, there's a lot of these. I didn't even mention that my wife came on with me on this, this trip and, you know, so I was, You know, trying to make sure that I was doing things that weren't entirely, uh, N F T and, you know, staring at your phone and geeking out and being like, Hey, uh, you know, but this was one that I, speaking of, which I thought was a, Hey honey, I know she listens to all the episodes.

[00:11:07] Thank you. Okay. We'll see if she hears that. Yep. Uh, . Oh, big test. Oh boy. Oh man. But, I mean, shoe had a good time at that event. It should. She painted her own own shirt there. I, you know, did have a couple of, of tickets. So, uh, it was cool to, to be able to do that one and, you know, go to some of these events that it's, it's so much more than staring at your phone.

[00:11:29] You know, there's some of these, you know, it's, it's, it's a, I mean, that's a certainly experience that we'll both remember going to. It's something that you, I mean, yes, I had done it once before, but, but it's a pretty, it's a pretty different thing than what you would normally do, uh, when you're, and like you said, it's approachable for other people, like, Goes beyond this, like, Hey, look at my digital collectible.

[00:11:48] Or I have access to this like special room where there's like, okay, another opportunity to buy a thing. As I understand it, they like scan you at the door, dress you up in a, like a suit so you don't get your clothes. What hand you a spray paint can and say have at it kind of thing? Yeah. There's all sorts of painters, spray paint, there's all sorts of, I mean, there's markers, there's, you know, just all sorts of things around, there's, you can hang 'em on walls and other guidelines like, don't draw a bunch of dicks everywhere.

[00:12:14] No, I mean, there's. I think, huh, maybe, maybe Fis has, has done a good job of that. You know, he's able to curate, curate it downstream being like, yeah, I mean, you gotta be a holder, I guess, to get in. So, you know, maybe there is something there. I don't know what it would be like in other collections or in other project, I mean,

[00:12:35] I don't have a lot of hope for Dick Butts, but Okay. Yeah. I'm not . Right. Um, but yeah, I mean that was definitely one of the best inter inspiring experiences. Uh, you know, the N F T now one I felt like was a little bit more targeted at people that already knew a lot about NFTs, uh mm-hmm. . They had, there was a very cool gallery in an old bank where they put, uh, they put.

[00:12:58] Some of the, the especially high-end pieces, like an X copy on display in the vault, uh, which is a cool thing to walk around. Um, it just was somewhat, um, and it wasn't the most, it wasn't the easiest for my wife to get interested in, you know, I probably would've spent a little bit more time there, but I felt like it was very targeted at people that already knew something.

[00:13:19] And I, I'd love to see that kind of expand and, you know, bring people into this that don't know much about it. Make it something that you. I know you don't have to have known so much. You don't have to be so ssed in the N F T world to, um, to really have a good experience at, uh, a awesome final question, I guess is would you go back, would you do it again?

[00:13:43] If so, what would you do differently? Yeah, I, I would like to go back. I don't know that I would go, you know, next year. I'd like to go back at, at some point and see. See the progress that NFTs make over time. I think that they're, I think that NFTs will become more, uh, more of a focus of some of the galleries.

[00:14:04] Uh, you know, maybe we even, and I, I guess that's something that I'd be interested in seeing. You know, are we going to see, are we gonna see. Galleries or, or, you know, crypto native spaces pop up in, uh, in, you know, more official Basel places or, you know, are you gonna see super rare there? Are you, are you going to see, um, bright moments at at, at one of these?

[00:14:30] Events, or are they going to continue to really do things separately? Or are we gonna see the, those mainstream galleries that are at Basil, are we gonna see them start to adopt NFTs? You know, I, I think that's Look, follow the money. Follow the money, follow, like, yes, probably. Unless there's like a certain

[00:14:47] Well, I think there's, I mean, I'm sure there'll be pushback from certain, certain people in, in the art world and. and there's going to be competition. So it's gonna be a matter of, you know, who, you know, I didn't see a big push yet, and I would be interested to see how that changes over time. You know, I think it may take, it may take a couple years, uh, and as I said, it's, I mean, it's a lot to go to as far as , I mean, getting there from for, for a weekend, from Fr, from San Francisco anyway.

[00:15:14] But it's definitely something I would be, be interested in, in checking out again at some point in the future. . Well cool. It's very interesting to at least hear it from your perspective being on the ground and then like a little time passing so you can kind of absorb what's actually, uh, memorable about it.

[00:15:29] Cuz it seemed like at the time, very overwhelming. You were trying to find like a Geocache X copy somewhere, . Oh man. Those went fast. I never got anywhere close to those. Never were anywhere close to it. All right, man, man. Yeah. I guess maybe it's, no, I was watching your, try to spend some more time there, but that's how, man, there's just so much to get packed into these events.

[00:15:47] That's part of the, the, the fun of going, I think. All right. Well, uh, thanks for sharing that.

[00:16:25] No, no, no, no. Don't, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do it. There's one more thing, but wait, there's one more thing. What he, Andrew was so excited about this extra one thing. We turned on the microphone again, and we're spending the money on the tape right now. . Oh, man. It is, it's pricey. I think we, we did just, I picked him up from Costco the other day.

[00:16:43] So, cassettes? No, you know, I, I forgot to mention the, this, this ridiculous. Um, At M Machine that was on display, or it was a, it was an exhibit by, uh, MS. C H F mischief Mag. I, I, I don't. They've, they've done a lot of magazines and a lot of, um, kind of ridiculous products before. This was one where they had an at or an at t m card reader that would take a picture and a, and would, uh, grab the balance that you have in your in your account.

[00:17:20] So I believe the, uh, the leader ended up being, The, uh, artist Diplo who had something like 12 million in his account, his at TM account, which is both absurd and ah, I mean, it's absurd. I don't know, but, but it's, it's quite a, I mean, that, I just felt like that was, it is something of, of like, what, what is an N F T of this?

[00:17:46] Or is it just. Yeah. There's no nft. I wish there were, but you know, I, I was, it just felt like there's, there's a lot of that in Miami. There's a lot, because I would buy the N F T of DIP bank account balance. That's, I'm showing something interesting. All the, yeah. Right. Because I think there is something at this time, at this place, that guy had a lot of money in his account.

[00:18:02] Mm-hmm. , that's a, but that's a digital. There is something to that that's like, it's showing digital wealth, right? It's just a bank account and I wanna show it off somehow. And I don't, it made me think of once people start, I mean, you see so many people there trying to show off money. It's a Fiat Plus, right?

[00:18:20] That's a Fiat plus. It's, I, that's something that I, I felt like was, you know, I don't know, maybe we're almost missing that people need, people want people to show this off, and I think that there's a lot of people that can realize, that, will realize that you can actually show these off a lot easier than you can show off the thing that's hanging in your living room.

[00:18:37] That's pretty hard to get someone to come over to your living room and see it. But if you can show. Somebody that you own this piece of art on the blockchain, there's something there. So it was just an idea that was kinda in my head, after seeing that thing. And eh, people like to flex and show off well, and it's a good thing for NFTs and, and ridiculous.

[00:18:58] Part on the blockchain. And as we were saying, it's uh, bellwether, it's a bellwether for N F T adoption in the art world, which is probably its strongest footing in use case right now. Although there are many, many use cases. Uh, but in terms of if we're talking about, you know, price and value, um, that's where we're probably seeing it.

[00:19:17] So thanks. Thanks for sharing. Glad we, uh, spent the time on the tape,