ART and NFT: how to create commercially successful projects

The capital hosted the largest IT forum in Central Asia, Digital Bridge-2022. The international event was held in Astana on September 28-29 with the participation of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, leaders of world companies, the best experts in the field of IT innovations. Within two days, the forum brought together almost 25 thousand participants, over 300 speakers and 100 startups from 15 countries of the world on its site. All this took place within the framework of 45 panel sessions. One of the most intriguing discussion platforms was the session: ART and NFT: how to create commercially successful projects in contemporary art.

На этом ивенте собрались спикеры, которые непосредственно занимаются развитием диджитал искусства и хотят вывести эту сферу в Казахстане на новый, более масштабный уровень. Так в обсуждении приняли участие генеральный директор казахстанского NFT маркетплейса NF-TIME Кирилл Морозов, цифровой дизайнер соавтор первой в Казахстане виртуальной коллекции одежды “Tengerim” Ольга Лисицына, основатель NFT маркетплейса Slonworks NFT Евгений Хоботов, генеральный директор брендов MIMIORIKI и GLOBAL NOMADS Инна Апенко, руководитель центра креативной индустрии, эксперт-исследователь креативной индустрии Центральной Азии, идеолог  проекта Global Nomads Fashion Awards Ирина Харитонова и со-основатель медиа-портала о художниках Art of Her Алихан Мусатаев.

Главной темой дискуссии было становление и развитие искусства в диджитал пространстве, так как новые технологии все увереннее входят во все сферы нашей жизни.  Кирилл Морозов и Евгений Хоботов рассказали о возможностях для художников создавать свои NFT-произведения. Ярким визуальным украшением дискуссии стала демонстрация коллекции одежды Global Nomads. Завершающей и красивой точкой стала речь Алихана Мусатаева который обратил внимание всех присутствующих к развитию не только диджитал арт, но и всего состояния казахстанского искусства. 

“Unfortunately, our Kazakhstanis are not often seen at exhibitions. I would like our portal to change this situation and people to be interested in art events. During the 6 months of the portal's existence, we have met with many international organizations, the UN, UNESCO Almaty, now I am flying to Lithuania to present our project and tell what artists we have in Kazakhstan. If we talk more about NFT, our artists will enter this market. In order to gain even more of their experience, skills, and popularization of themselves. In general, I wanted to say that there are a lot of talents in Kazakhstan, so friends, if you, of those sitting here, have those who write about art or those who want to work in art, or artists, I invite you to join our team, we are always happy. We will always be open to cooperation. The more exhibitions we hold, the more people will appreciate art, because art is part of culture, and culture is our country.”

After a large-scale discussion, informal communication took place, where everyone could ask a question to the guest of interest. It should be noted that this session was one of the most successful, along with no less significant ones, which were devoted to the digitalization of the state and modern technologies. After all, the theme of the development of art will always be relevant, regardless of whether it exists in real or digital space.