Blockbuster NFT Art Exhibition in a Renaissance Palace?
This article is a digital review done without ever physically attending the exhibition of the Palazzo Strozzi’s current exhibition of NFT art: Let’s Get Digital! Showcased at the Strozzina, the Renaissance Palace’s underground space from 18 May to 31 July 2022, the exhibition features works from prominent crypto artists such as Beeple, Refik Anadol, Daniel Arsham, and Anyma.
And as artnet reports this show marks a significant shift in the attitude of museums towards crypto art as a medium that has been especially prominent amongst Italian institutions. The positive move does not come as a surprise from Palazzo Strozzi, an exhibition space in Firenze that although makes its home inside a Renaissance palace and known for exhibitions of Renaissance art such as Donatello and Verrocchio, has been consistently opening its doors to breakthrough contemporary arts like Marina Abramovic and Jeff Koons.
Promoted and organised jointly by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Fondazione Hillary Markus Recordati whose mission is to empower new forms of art, the exhibition is curated by Palazzo Strozzi’s Director General, Arturo Galansino alongside Serena Tabacchi, Director of MOCDA (Museum of Contemporary Digital Art), the premiere museum of digital art in the metaverse of Decentraland that boasts excellent curatorship and promotion of arts as they are staffed by those who formerly worked in prestigious art museums such as the Venice Guggenheim, with Tabacchi herself coming in from a former Tate modern position.
A comprehensive account of the show was done by Milan based online media, Design Boom, it allows more in-depth analysis of some of the featured works. Of course being unable to physically attend the show means that the writer is not able to enjoy how these works are interpreted in a physical space, outside of one’s laptop, which should be one of the exhibition’s main appeal.
From the article, one trend is immediately apparent, the works and artists selected are the crème de la crème of the NFT art community, again not a surprise for a space known to showcase blockbuster contemporary art exhibitions. Names like Beeple and Refik Anadol are immediately recognisable for the wider public, making the exhibition a comprehensive introduction to the work of crypto art for the general public and crypto art enthusiasts alike.
Some of the notable works are a series of Beeple’s 2021 Spring Collection , featuring his own distinct and detailed post-apocalyptic landscapes, rich of political and social commentary by showcasing larger than life politicians and tech billionaires surrounded by little people and crowds that are often 3D renderings of popular memes.
There’s also Eroding and Reforming Bust of Rome (One Year) [2021] the first NFT artwork from renowned sculptor and painter, Daniel Arsham. Known for his exploration of eroded classical sculptures, this work develops along the same vein with a Roman Bust that sits inside a Japanese house with its panels giving us a direct view of the garden outside. The scenery outside is set to change as the seasons change within a year and so does the bust, coded to seemingly erode overtime as if affected by the digital elements around it.
This show may as well be a blockbuster exhibition of crypto art, validating a medium of art that since the sale of Beeple’s Everydays for USD 69 million has taken the art world by storm, with its own fans, critics, and haters alike, as it continues its way to the mainstream with the art auction duopoly as one of its largest supporters, and other parties like Palazzo Strozzi, Istanbul Art, CUBE Art Fair, and HongKong’s Digital Art Fair backing it up.
Therefore making Let’s Get Digital! at Palazzo Strozzi. a great addition to the unmissable NFT phenomenon.
