The Art Plug's Marcel Katz.
The art world is buzzing with the excitement of Art Week’s return after being canceled last year due to COVID-19. Miami is also abuzz with the advent of the first NFT Music and Art Festival coming to Miami Art Week 2021 at Wynwood Studios.
It’s money talk that’s creating this excitement or actually NFTs—digital tokens tied to assets that can be bought, sold, and traded – offering artists a new avenue to profit from their work. Since the sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s earlier this year for a whopping $69 million, collectors of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have emerged as a new breed of art collectors.
Dimithry Victor, a 20-year-old multimedia artist based in South Florida, joins an impressive group of the artists exhibiting in the pop-up art experience.
The first ever Art Party Exhibition will feature a four-day pop-up experience merging the worlds of music, art, and crypto technology in Miami’s art district. “It’s going to be a great time and unique experience that raises the bar for art in the future,” say Marcel Katz – a Miami-based digital creator and online gallery owner working with the event. Katz founded The Art Plug—an art collective—with the goal of making art more accessible to the world. Katz says forty artists will be featured in this festival exhibiting art online and physically during the four nights along with musical showcases and exclusive NFT drops. “This event will bring more awareness to art,” says Katz. “Art is going to be forever.”
The events of the festival will be powered by FTX – the third leading United States-regulated cryptocurrency currency exchange and one of the biggest players in the world of crypto. You may recognize the name that has rebranded American Airlines Arena as the FTX Arena. FTX has now expanded into the art world making their first in-person participation for this event at Wynwood Studios. A fully immersive four-night pop-up experience (Wednesday, Dec. 1 through Saturday, 4) featuring art, music, advanced technology, and top-notch performances by some of the world’s most recognized DJs. Special performances include Seth Troxler and BLOND:ISH (who will be releasing a music NFT), Damien Lazaruz, Nic Fanciullio, DJ Diplo, Guy Gerber and Kaz James.
"Put in a Box" by Dimithry.
FTX’s Marketplace in collaboration with The Art Plug – Marcel Katz’s art collective—will showcase artists exhibiting art from some of the top globally renowned digital creators. Dimithry Victor, a 20-year-old multimedia artist based in South Florida, joins an impressive group of the artists exhibiting in this pop-up art experience. “It’s the first time I’ve exhibited in a pop-up like this but I’ve been selling my work online.” Dimithry, like many other artists found it difficult to sell artwork until he joined the NFT world. His work has been selling online via cryptocurrency which he believes is the future of the art world. NFTs transform digital works of art into one of a kind verifiable assets that can be traded on the blockchain (like Bitcoin). “My work is figurative, expressive, and cartoonlike. When someone buys my art digitally, they also receive the physical art while other artists only offer the digital image.”
Dimithry, originally from Haiti, expresses his excitement to join this group of digital creators in his first exhibition.
“I’m very pleased to be part of this collaboration of artists from all over the globe. I think NFT is the future of art,” the artist says.
Wynwood Studios -TOE JAM, 150 NW 21 St., Miami. Wednesday, Dec. 1 through Saturday, Dec. 5. Tickets $100 for individual events, $350 for 4-day pass. www.popup.wynwood.studio.
