An NFT from Tezos

They’re being shown at Basel, included in Venice: let’s see what the data tells us about NFTs and their long-term potential. Our contributing editor and columnist Sophie Neuendorf looks into it

Sophie Neuendorf

At this point, I believe that most of you will have heard of the phenomenon that’s taken the art world by storm: Non-Fungible Tokens, better known as NFTs. Ever since Christie’s sold that now famous NFT by artist Beeple for $69 Million in March 2021, this nascent category has grown exponentially. Over the past year, something like $44 billion has been spent on about 6 million NFTs, usually issued to certify digital creations but sometimes for physical objects such as paintings and sculptures.

The popularity of NFTs can be attributed to several factors. Primarily, it can be attributed to the rapid digitalisation of the art industry. Now, more and more artists, collectors, and professionals are comfortable with browsing, interacting and transacting online. This coincides with the cultural shift to the metaverse, which is a digital copy of the real world. It’s unsurprising that the metaverse should include fine art and collectibles, given that luxury fashion brands such as Gucci, Prada or Ralph Lauren are also represented.

Jimmy Fallon’s NFT by Bored Ape Yacht Club

But how can one identify ‘good’ or ‘bad’ NFTs and NFT artists? How do we know which NFTs are a good investment? This process is not much different to that of traditional art: after a period of time, a selection of NFT artists will crystallise as those that are most in- demand and desired. This may be a reflection of tastes and preferences but also of the zeitgeist and, most importantly, of who collects them. Many of us look to tastemakers and well known gallerists or collectors to see what they are buying, then use that information to help us form an opinion.

As one does before committing to a traditional work of art, it’s important to research prices and comparables before purchasing an NFT, as the market for NFTs has evolved and changed rapidly, even within the past year.

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As you can see from the graph, the prices for NFTs appreciated rapidly from the spring of 2021. However, since the end of last year, NFT prices have experienced a correction – the average transaction value has decreased substantially. This is in no way a reflection of the long-term viability and value of NFTs as a collecting category, but can be interpreted as the stabilisation of the market. Much more volatile than other assets or collectibles, such as contemporary art or gold, NFTs also suffer from price fluctuations due to the changeable nature of cryptocurrencies. Additionally, as it’s a new category, speculators may see it as less viable and secure as an investment in comparison to traditional blue-chip categories (as demonstrated below, on this page) – as yet, in terms of art as an investment, postwar and contemporary art, for example, are seen as much more secure than the nascent NFTs.

Yuga Labs is the company that is responsible for the extremely pricey ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ NFT series. At the beginning of this year, they announced the acquisition of the intellectual property behind their rival Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks and Meebits projects. This means that now three of the world’s most important crypto companies are under one blockchain-supported roof. Yuga Labs thus attempts a novel solution to a riddle facing more and more art professionals in this era of Instagram-ready immersive installations, branded merchandise, and fractionalised ownership: how do you turn a niche obsession into a mainstream phenomenon?

One of 10,000 avatar NFTs created by Azuki

Yuga Labs’ answer is to grant direct financial incentives to NFT owners to help the company build – and market – a creative universe around its tentpole intellectual property (IP). The move makes an expensive category accessible to a potentially much wider fan base. Despite the correction in transaction value, these popular NFTs are still expensive. The cheapest Meebit now costs about 5.6 ETH ($14,500). The floor price for a CryptoPunk is about 75 ETH ($195,000). Bored Apes sell for at least 97 ETH ($250,000).

Read more: Maryam Eisler On Tim Yip’s ‘Love Infinity’

‘Rebirth’ by Beeple

This new development answers the question of how to build a broad fan base for IP in such short supply, and with such impressive price tags: create derivative works available at low costs. Think of the Basquiat estate licensing the artist’s imagery for Uniqlo T-shirts. The difference is that Yuga Labs is outsourcing this task to NFT owners, rather than proliferating the Punks, Meebits, and Apes in house. Yuga Labs will give direct financial incentives to NFT owners to help the company build and market a creative universe. Or, to compare it to the traditional art world: create prints off of original works on canvas for a fraction of the price.

NFTs have already been shown at major fairs, such as Art Basel. This year’s Venice Biennale is showing NFTs in the Cameroon Pavilion. Galleries and museums, such as the Uffizi and Belvedere, are issuing NFTs of their Old Master and modern paintings. With auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Artnet auctions regularly offering NFTs, it’s only a matter of time until they are less of a novelty and more fully integrated in the traditional art industry.

Sophie Neuendorf is Vice-President at Artnet

This article first appears in the Summer 2022 issue of LUX

The Nature Conservancy has grown to become one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organisations in the world. All images copyright: Carla Sanatana/ TNC Photo Contest 2019, Ethan Daniels, Randy Olsen, TNC Belize, Claire Ryser/TNC Contest 2019, Julieanne Robinson Stockbridge

Non profit environmental organisation, The Nature Conservancy, has over 400 scientists working and impacts conservation in over 75 countries and territories. With the UN Ocean Conference currently taking place in Lisbon, Melissa Garvey, Global Director, Ocean Protection at The Nature Conservancy speaks to LUX about the effectiveness of philanthropy and investment to protect the oceans

LUX: The Nature Conservancy has an interesting niche, combining philanthropy and investment. How does that work?
Melissa Garvey: The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. Building on nearly six decades of experience, we’ve protected more than 280 million acres of ocean, 119 million acres of land, and 5,000 river miles. We are able to accomplish so much because we make careful use of our resources, maximising the philanthropic and public funding that goes toward our science-driven program work.

We are also able to leverage philanthropic funding with innovative finance strategies. The Nature Conservancy has an impact investing unit that works with our conservation colleagues and collaborators around the world to source and structure investment products that support TNC’s mission at scale. With partners, we have been able to originate, structure, fund and close investment vehicles representing more than $2.3 billion of committed capital. Philanthropy is instrumental in supporting our teams to develop, execute and manage innovative finance strategies that allowing TNC to help countries access billions of dollars in long-term funding for conservation.

LUX: Financing is a key barrier hindering ocean protection. How are you overcoming this barrier?
MG: The Nature Conservancy’s Blue Bonds Strategy is one solution. We transform debt into conservation action at scale.

At the heart of these projects is a basic deal: A coastal nation commits to protect approximately 30% of its near-shore ocean areas. In support, TNC refinances the nation’s sovereign debt, leading to lower interest rates and longer repayment periods. The government uses the savings to capitalise a conservation trust fund to support new marine protected areas to which the country has committed.

TNC’s role is to assemble the deals, use our science and a stakeholder driven marine spatial planning process to facilitate the design of a system of protected areas and create a trust fund that holds the government accountable to its commitments—ensuring that we finance real conservation, not paper parks.

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An example of this is the $553 million debt refinancing we completed in Belize in November 2021. This project enabled the Government of Belize to reduce its debt burden and generate an estimated US$180M for marine conservation in support of Belize’s commitment to protect 30% of its ocean, strengthen governance frameworks for domestic and high sea fisheries, and establish a regulatory framework for coastal blue carbon projects. This is especially meaningful to the people of Belize as the country’s tourist-based economy continues to suffer from the impacts of COVID-19

Our goals is to project 4 million square kilometres of ocean and unlock $1.6 billion for marine conservation.

LUX: Are blue bonds going to become more significant elements in the market?
MG: The TNC Blue Bonds debt conversion structure is highly scalable and replicable. Transaction sizes and overall market are limited by three criteria:

1)Countries committed to achieving the conservation outcomes. As the threat of climate change and awareness of the role that natural resources and biodiversity play in economic growth rapidly increase, most developing countries will require additional financing for conservation.

2)Availability and affordability of credit enhancement, whether through the US Development Finance Corporation or development banks to do more deals in more markets.

3)Availability of debt to refinance: while debt conversions work well with sovereign debt trading at a discount in the capital markets, they are not exclusively for countries threatened by high debt distress. Many countries have high-coupon bonds. Even if these trade at little to no discount, they can still be refinanced with lower coupons and longer tenors to create significant funding for conservation. Many also have commercial bank loans that may be candidates for refinancing into a lower interest rate and/or longer tenor loans.

LUX: How will sustainable blue economy finance need to develop over the next few years?
MG: Sustainable blue finance is essential to national economies and the 3 billion people rely on healthy oceans for their livelihoods. Financing often holds back countries from implementing ocean conservation that will ensure oceans are sustainable into the future. Philanthropic and public funding is essential but insufficient to close this gap.

Today the challenge of financing the sustainability of our oceans is compounded by the Covid 19 health pandemic and the financial crisis, which has placed unrelenting pressure on public finances and slashed tourism revenues. But there is hope. Innovative debt and market approaches can help bring in new funding at a scale that can address the problem.

LUX: Are you looking for UHNWI individual investors, institutional investors or philanthropists?
MG: Philanthropy is instrumental in supporting our teams to develop, execute and manage strategies, policy and partnerships – including innovative finance strategies — that allow TNC to help countries access billions of dollars in long-term funding for conservation. We simply couldn’t do our work without the generosity of individual and institutional supporters.

LUX: Do governments need to become much more active on ocean protection?
MG: Governments are already active in ocean protection, and there is a lot more to do. We are already three years into the decade during which we have to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. So, this year the global community must finally agree a new and ambitions Global Biodiversity Framework, including a target to globally protect 30% of freshwater, land and the ocean. To deliver against this target, countries must also conclude negotiations in 2022 on a new treaty for the protection and sustainable use of the High Seas with clear powers to establish protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction. But we can’t wait for these treaties to be negotiated before we act. The UN Ocean Conference is an opportunity for the ocean community to both demand action and offer solutions.

LUX: Is there is a risk of creating an uneven market with low-regulation governments allowing exploitative practices on a large scale?
MG: There are always a risk like this. But investing in the health of oceans creates long term benefit. Globally, the gross value of marine ecosystem services is estimated at US $49.7 trillion. This suggests that the economic benefits would far outweigh the costs of establishing a 30% global MPA network. We are developing a costing framework to help decision makers in individual countries better understand today’s costs of implementation and management of ocean protection as well as the long term benefits of marine conservation so that governments, NGOs and the private sector can make more informed choices.

LUX: How important will the role of science and innovation be in the Blue Economy? Can you give some examples?
MG: Science and innovation are essential for Blue Economy interventions that change the way that we protect and value oceans. For example, did you know that you can insure the protective value of nature? You can.

It works like this: We know that reefs can decrease the power of waves coming on shore by about 97%. That is really important during the ever more frequent – and increasing more severe – storms. But these storms also take a toll on reefs, which leave coastal areas at greater risk to future damage if the reef isn’t restored. We worked with the insurance industry and put that science into insurance models. Together, we came up with the world’s first insurance policy to insure a portion of the Meso-American reef in Quintana Roo, Mexico that protects areas near Cancun and its $10B tourism industry from hurricanes. If a storm hits, the insurance is triggered to ensure that the reef can be quickly restored. This insurance was tested in the Autumn of 2020 when Hurricane Delta hit. The $800,000 insurance payout funded vital reef repair activities. This is a win for nature, a win for coastal communities and will drive further interest in conservation finance and the need to protect marine ecosystems across the globe.

Read more: Julie Packard: All In Together

LUX: There is no metric to compare the value of different nature-based solutions in ocean conservation, and no consistent measure of the effectiveness. Is this true, and is it an issue?
MG: I don’t agree that we can’t measure nature-based solutions. The reef insurance I mentioned above is one example. Here’s another: Blue Carbon Resilience Credits. We know that the coastal wetlands provides a unique opportunity for climate finance. If we restored even a quarter of these habitats, we would add 10 million hectares of carbon-trapping wetlands to our coastlines. That is an area equivalent in size to Iceland. In addition, protecting existing coastal wetlands would prevent the release of 80 million tons of carbon emissions currently being stored by these habitats.

TNC worked with international experts to develop science, flood modelling, and carbon and resilience methodologies for the Blue Carbon Resilience Credit. These credits support not just carbon mitigation, but also quantifiable, verifiable resilience benefits like flood reduction to adjacent communities. We have identified projects across the US and globally and are bringing our first supply of Blue Carbon Resilience Credits to market.

LUX: You say a comprehensive approach is best for ocean investment. How should this work?
MG: To achieve truly durable ocean protection, we have to focus on scale and representativeness of the areas we conserve, as well as ensuring long term financing for conservation, and equity and sustainable livelihoods for the people who rely on oceans. Our global ocean protection program drives new protection, restoration, and management improvement in support of biodiversity and communities.

We work at multiple scales. We address the long-term need to secure large-scale new protection and sustainable financing for marine conservation while we tackle today’s urgent need to restore critical coastal ecosystems — like coral reefs and coastal wetlands — and improve management of our oceans, while we build capacity for communities to manage their marine resources.

Find out more: nature.org

The OWO Whitehall, Residents’ Lounge. Image courtesy of Grain London

London’s hottest luxury residential area? Westminster, next to the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street. So what took it so long, asks Samantha Welsh

Big Ben, Downing Street, Whitehall, Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square: all names intimately associated with London, and now the administrative and touristic heart of the world’s high net worth capital. The area, broadly known as Westminster, is (pandemic excepted) the epicentre of tourism in Britain.

The OWO Whitehall, principal bedroom. Image courtesy of Grain London

And now you can live in high style down the road from the Prime Minister and the royals, with the creation of one of the most opulent residential developments in the world, inside the heart of the area’s grand buildings.

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The Old War Office (OWO), in Whitehall – opposite Horse Guards Parade and almost directly opposite Downing Street, and so near to the Prime Minister’s residence that you could shout from rooftop to rooftop to see if you could borrow some milk (or champagne for a lockdown party) – has been transformed into 85 apartments.

The OWO residence turret. Image courtesy of Grain London

They are serviced by Raffles, the appropriately peripatetic luxury hotel brand now owned by the French Accor group. A new Raffles hotel, London’s first, is opening next-door and residents will have a full suite of luxury services. The building’s redevelopment has been done with thought: the best of British material and design, along with other high-end touches, like bespoke appliances by the German manufacturer Gaggenau.

Read more: Maryam Eisler On Tim Yip’s ‘Love Infinity’

Residents will have priority access to 11 restaurants and 3,000sqm of leisure facilities, gardens and terraces. The building’s heritage has been conserved in partnership with Historic England, with design overseen by Thierry Despont. As an OWO resident your local chiming clock is Big Ben.

The OWO residence entrance hall. Image courtesy of Grain London

This is the building from which Winston Churchill directed efforts in the Second World War of what was then the British Empire. The apartments now are suitably imperial, but have a contemporary smoothness. On your Sunday morning strolls in St James’ Park (assuming you haven’t decamped to your weekend home in the Cotswolds or Ramatuelle) you will bump into the Prime Minister, and numerous spies – the important ones are there on Sundays. Arguably the best school in the world, Westminster, is along the road. And if you need to lobby the government, you can just lean out of the window, while puffing on your Romeo y Julieta and sipping a glass of Pol Roger, Winston Churchill-style.

Find out more: theowo.london

This article appears in the Summer 2022 issue of LUX

Aberlour, Deanston and Bruichladdich whiskey

Launching his new column for LUX, whiskey collector, Utsava Kasera advises on the perfect whiskies to suit your Father’s Day plans

It is the best of time and it is the worst of time for whisky. What was considered as a drink for older generation is now being revered by the world savvy dandies as their drink of choice. While the whisky boom in the last decade has made the consumers spoilt for choice of their dram, it has also created cult figures like Macallan and Yamazaki. Sometimes even having deep pockets is not enough to get hold of some of the finest collectibles, which either go under the hammer or just reach the drawing rooms of the select few.

Utsava Kasera

With fathers’ day approaching, I’ll share some suggestions for a tipple with the old man to go along with some stories. Whether you decide to go on a hiking trip with him, play a round of golf or just sit in the garden on a glorious summer afternoon, one of these whiskies will be a pleasant companion for those engaging conversations or silences between them.

Aberlour 16-Reserve Collection

Aberlour 16-Reserve collection

Aberlour produces some fine whiskies but what stands out is their reserve collection.
If sherry is your thing, this is an absolute gem. The nose reminds me of walking in a room full of sweet spices while the palate is a dark chocolate cake with sour cherry, cinnamon and liquorice. At 55 percent ABV, it does set some fireworks at the first sip but grows on you while you continue the evening.
Offered with optional engraving to write that special message.

Find out more: www.aberlour.com/distillery-reserve-collection

Deanston Port Cask 2002

Deanston Port Cask 2002

A rising star in the whisky world, Deanston is getting rave reviews for their whiskies. Under the master distiller Brendan McCarron, they do some interesting experimentations creating delicious spirits with distinct waxy characteristics. Deanston Port Cask is a distinct one as the waxy style is enhanced by flavours of toffee, juicy pear and pineapple. At ABV 51.1, this is a surprisingly easy whisky to drink. Hard to find, but if you’ll go an extra mile, it’ll be a very special gift.

Find out more: deanstonmalt.com

Bruichladdich Black Art 9.1

Bruichladdich Black Art 9.1

Nestled in the beautiful west coast of Scotland, Bruichladdich distillery on Isle of Islay is one of my favourites. Isle of Islay is known for producing peated whiskies but Bruichladdich offers some incredible unpeated choices too. Black Art 9.1 is one of their masterpieces for its sheer complex flavours. This whisky is a honeyed Christmas cake layered with tropical fruits and a hint of sweet vanilla. Savour it to start the evening, finish the evening or just save it for a special occasion, this dram will not disappoint.

Find out more: www.bruichladdich.com/-black-art-1992-edition-09-1/

Artists from around the world, including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Italy, came together for the Third Majhi International Art Residency in Eindhoven; and their installations on show in the 1918 Steentjeskerk church

Like many organisations, the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation saw its programming curtailed during the pandemic. In the second of this two part feature, Mark C O’Flaherty reports on the Majhi Residency, in which he saw artists from South Asia take over a church in Eindhoven, overcoming travel restrictions and bureaucracy to do so

Sometimes art takes on a significance and poignancy through timing and circumstance, like Andy Warhol’s ‘Sixty Last Suppers’ silkscreens, completed shortly before the artist’s death in 1987, or the ballerinas of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ performing their pas de chat on a loop on Russian state TV, marking the end of the Soviet Union. The theme of the Third Majhi International Art Residency, held at the historic Steentjeskerk church last October, was ‘Land, Water and Border ‘–inviting a group of artists from a broad range of geographic locations, to explore their individual and collective experiences of the roles played by each of the elements in the title in their lives, along with the politics, culture, heritage, nature and technology associated with them.

Interactive installation by Yu Zhang, ‘3 Screens [land; water; border]

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“The response to Covid showed just how easily the Western world can open and close borders on a whim,” says Durjoy Rahman, the initiator and founder of the residency. “We faced a travel ban for certain Asian countries, and Bangladesh was among them. I had to solve the logistics of numerous travel permissions before concentrating on the content. We were proud to be able to create the only art event of its kind in the Netherlands during the period.”

Audio-Visual Installation by Anon Chaisansook, ‘Lands with no Volcanoes’

Once the artists had managed to cross their various borders, there were other issues. “Many of the artists have vaccination records that the local authorities don’t recognise,” explained the UK-based event organiser Eeshita Azad at the launch event. “They weren’t able to access cafés or restaurants.” At the time, even the McDonald’s in Markt, the centre of town, was off limits to anyone without an EU-accredited pass, excluding Azad as well as the artists from the Indian subcontinent. Periodically, Durjoy hosted private dinners of hot meals and wine. There is a symbolism inherent in breaking bread together around a table that a snack from a street vendor simply doesn’t have.

Mixed media installation and performance by Joydeb Roaja, ‘Poolang, melody of the flute that brings unity’

The artists in Eindhoven bonded over a shared outsider status, but also the challenge of creating work for an imposing space that they were unfamiliar with. The church, built in 1918, stopped being a place of worship in the 1970s. Its pews are long removed, leaving a grand interior of tiling, marble and pillars. “It was overwhelming when we first arrived,” said Moch Hasrul, the Indonesian artist who created an interactive installation entitled ‘Protypo #2’, chronologising flour production and distribution within the agricultural industry using microcontrollers, sensors and Play-Doh. The work, conceived before coming to Steentjeskerk, was engulfed by the space in which it was exhibited. But, like everything else on show, it was one facet of a greater story.

Audio-Visual Installation by Anon Chaisansook, ‘Lands with no Volcanoes’

The curator of the most recent residence–the third in an annual series, following Venice in 2019 and Berlin in 2020 – was Kehkasha Sabah, who wanted to explore the idea of “decolonising the Anthropocene”, essentially taking the human race as a geological force, and establishing the idea of many worlds within one.

Read more: Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation: Bridging Global South And North

“We need to listen to the earth and help others to listen to what we hear,” explains Sabah. “We have shared histories of colonialism, dictatorship, crisis, emergencies, and recently, the pandemic. How can we think about the new world order and, as cultural practitioners, contribute to a better world? How can we use technology and at the same time save nature?”

Interactive installation by Moch Hasrul, ‘Prototypo #2’

Some of the artists used the church as a performance space, complementary to their installations. Giulia Deval created physical theatre with her ‘Phonotransparence’, transmitting sound from her garments as she walked around. Joydeb Roaza played a wind instrument made by members of the indigenous Mro community in Bangladesh as part of his installation ‘Poolang, the Melody of the Flute That Brings Unity’; and Satch Hoyt, who has lived a nomadic life from Jamaica to Berlin, played a composition linked to his topographic-style painting ‘Crossing Paths that lead to Cultural Amalgamations’. Hoyt has spent his career creating maps generated by sonic forces that encompass the African diaspora, with work ranging from installation to traditional vinyl.

Sound Installation Pier Alfeo, ‘The Blind Age’

While the artists found their time in Eindhoven challenging –living on supermarket sandwiches and working in temperatures close to zero –the residency represented a unique opportunity to create work together at a time when international communion

was a difficulty and a privilege. Flicking on a constant loop on the half-domed ceiling above the old altar was a film by Jog Art Space, recording a performance by the Bangladesh-based Yuvraj Zahed A. Chowdhury: a figure moves rhythmically on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, representing the great priest Khoaib Khazi, overseeing the purification of all who gather at the bay. As Chowdhury said of the work: “Humans are fragile. Everyone seeks refuge through sharing pain, and sometimes that sharing makes us happy.” Land, water and borders have become a shared experience in ways that we may never have imagined. And the fragility of our place within them has never been of greater concern

Find out more: durjoybangladesh.org

This article appears in the Summer 2022 issue of LUX

Still for VR work Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City, Cai Guo-Qiang, courtesy, Cai Studio, Vive Arts

Celina Yeh is the Executive Director of Vive Arts, a platform trying democratise the art world through digital innovation. Here, Yeh speaks to Samantha Welsh about the endless opportunities that technology is bringing to the art world as well as extended creativity for the artists themselves.

LUX: Is your background in tech or art?
Celina Yeh: Before I became the Executive Director of Vive Arts, I was the Head of Global Partnerships, working directly with artists and museums on projects across the digital spectrum. My background has always been in art and design. I previously worked in cultural organisations and design consultancies in London, New York and Taipei. In these roles, I often worked on experience and exhibition design, which gave me substantial production experience and a strong understanding of the creative process and how things are made.

One of the strengths of the Vive Arts team is the diversity and depth of our experience. Our willingness and interest in engaging with collaborators from all disciplines allows us to innovate and develop new possibilities for artists and creators.

LUX: Why did the Vive Arts partnership programme and art market platform spin-out from tech giant HTC?
CY: Vive Arts was established in 2017 as HTC’s art and technology programme, aiming to harness the latest technologies to transform how art and culture can be experienced.

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We started by working with museums in a range of different ways, from developing content that told the stories of their collections and exhibitions, to supporting with hardware or the physical installation for digital works. In 2018 we started collaborating with a group of contemporary artists and really exploring the possibilities of VR as a medium for art.

Over the past five years, we have now partnered with over fifty international institutions, including the Louvre in Paris, the Museum of Natural History in New York and the Tate Modern and V&A in London and worked with visionary artists – such as Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Cai Guo-Qiang on their first VR works.

Slav Epic VR

At the end of last year, Vive Arts launched a new chapter, with a new brand identity, website and our art marketplace platform, reflecting our own evolution and the rapidly changing digital art space. As digital technologies have become an increasingly integral part of the art world and daily life, we wanted to continue to innovate new frameworks for artistic expression.

HTC actually developed the first blockchain smartphone in 2018 and had been exploring this field for some time. So when NFTs exploded, it seemed very natural for us to expand our remit, so that we could offer new services spanning VR, XR and metaverse technologies to the creative community.

LUX: Can you tell us about how digital mediums such as AR, VR, XR offer different experiences of immersive art and open up access to the metaverse?
CY: VR, XR and AR offer new ways to create and experience art – fundamentally they enable experiences that would not otherwise be possible.

To discuss the differences – In VR – instead of standing in front of an artwork, you are immersed inside it, in a 360-degree virtual environment. This offers a powerful first-person experience, as you look around and explore, interacting with others and the space itself. AR in contrast, brings the virtual into the physical world, showcasing artworks only visible through your phone or another device. This opens up opportunities to host interventions in public spaces, expand an exhibition with a digital layer or present pieces that could not be produced in any other form.

These digital tools and mediums are the building blocks for the metaverse, a 3-dimensional, spatial iteration of the internet and will become increasingly important as the boundaries between online and offline become increasingly blurred and these technologies become more seamless. At HTC, we are constantly improving our sensors, eye-tracking and face-tracking, so that if you want to have a realistic avatar in the metaverse you can show facial expressions and when you speak your lips will follow. These technologies will determine how we access and interact in the metaverse, allowing users to experience an artwork or attend a live event or exhibition, from anywhere in the world.

Still from Mona Lisa Beyond the Glass, Courtesy Emissive and HTC Vive Arts

LUX: We are familiar with digital forms of art experimentation, so what kind of institutions, artists and creatives are asking you to partner with them?
CY: We work with a range of artists, institutions, and creators and have had a particularly busy programme this year. We partnered with Serpentine on their major solo exhibition by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and worked with Dominique for the second time, producing Alienarium, a new VR art experience for the show. We supported critically acclaimed artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang on her mesmerising film and sound installation Of Whales for the Venice Biennale, which she has iterated into her first ever VR work for Art Basel.

We are also currently working with the Triennale di Milano and are preparing to launch a special new VR experience for the 23rd International Exhibition. This piece is quite different as it celebrates the Fondazione itself, shining a light on its most important exhibitions from 1933 to present day and its impact on the world of art and design.

Additionally, we are also developing several exciting NFT collaborations, that will launch on our marketplace, spanning sound art, astrology, photography and more.

We get a lot of exciting proposals, including those from the education sector and from independent artists and creators. We are therefore thinking about doing an open call in the near future.

Wu Tsang Of Whales. Photo by Matteo De Fina, supported by Vive Arts

LUX: To what extent would you say you are cultural custodians?
CY: An important part of our mission is to preserve art and culture and to make it accessible to wider audiences. In our partnerships with museums, we explore creative ways to add a new dimension to their collections and programming, extending their reach beyond their physical walls. For example, in our ongoing partnership with the Mucha Foundation in Prague, we collaborated with them on Slav Epic VR, a VR experience dedicated to Alphonse Mucha’s iconic series of paintings. While it is difficult for the monumental 20-canvas series to travel, this experience can be hosted in exhibitions around the world, offering audiences an opportunity to engage with the artist and his legacy.

LUX: What kind of creative freedom does immersive experimentation potentially offer an artist?
CY: As these technologies are constantly evolving, I believe we have only begun to scratch the surface of what can be achieved creatively in these new mediums, especially with the radical innovation and experimentation of artists.

Immersive mediums enable artists to bring their vision to life, unconstrained by what is possible in the physical world, and they offer their own powerful forms of storytelling. VR invites viewers inside an artist’s world, for a deeply personal experience, where you can embody new forms and perspectives and have visceral sensations, such as gravity or movement.

For example, Wu Tsang often explores different visual languages and narrative techniques in her practice. She was interested in experimenting with the world building potential of VR and game engine technologies and has used them to create different encounters throughout her series of Moby Dick adaptations. This ranged from building virtual environments, that were incorporated into her live-action silent film to creating a poetic rendering of the ocean, through the eyes of the whale for Of Whales. A mighty mass emerges, again offers a completely different artistic experience, as viewed through the VR headset, audiences are immersed under the surface of the ocean, as the whale completes its deep dive cycle.

VR still, A mighty mass emerges, Wu Tsang, 2022, courtesy of artist and Vive Arts copy

LUX: Does the use of digital technologies irrevocably change what art is about and the creative process?
CY: I think that the use of digital technologies doesn’t so much change what art is about but opens up new areas of engagement and enquiry. The creativity of artists often inspires us, as in our experience each artist approaches digital mediums in their own distinctive way, their existing practice, putting their own imprint on the discourse.

For example, the two VR artworks we are premiering at Art Basel, by Albert Oehlen and Wu Tsang were created using Unreal Engine and Unity, which are both game engine technologies, but the creative process and pieces are entirely different. While Wu has used the technology to enable viewers to imagine and inhabit a non-human perspective, Albert has created an amazing, hyperrealistic avatar of himself, using photogrammetric scanning, a motion capture suit and other techniques found more in films and video games.

Albert has been exploring the aesthetics of technology since the 1990s, using inkjet printers and computer aided drawing programmes in his paintings. In Basement Drawing you can get up close to him as an avatar and watch him create an ink drawing in real time. He plays with reality and fiction in this virtual scene, adding his own glitch, flashing green and red lights, pounding electronic music and a surreal arm, sticking out of a self-portrait in the room.

Another unique approach was when we worked with renowned Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang on his inaugural VR piece Sleepwalking in the Forbidden City. He wanted to ensure the ‘hand of artist’ could be seen, producing the key elements in the physical world, including producing a real, large-scale day-time fireworks display and a handcrafted alabaster model of Beijing’s Forbidden City.

Still from Curious Alice, a VR experience created by the V&A and HTC Vive Arts. Featuring original artwork by Kristjana S Williams, 2020

LUX: From this, what will be the take aways from Vive Arts’ partnership with Art Basel this year?
CY: We are thrilled to be partnering with Art Basel in Basel for the first time this year, following our previous presentations at Art Basel in Hong Kong. We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to our lounge and showcasing Wu Tsang and Albert Oehlen’s first VR works. We feel that these two new VR works really speak to our mission of transforming how art can be experienced and demonstrate the technological progress, innovation and creativity taking place in the digital art world. We hope that visitors will enjoy being transported into Albert’s studio or Wu’s ocean world and have a new and distinct experience of art at the fair.

LUX: Tell us more about transacting in Vive Arts marketplace?
CY: There can be a lot of ‘hype’ in the NFT space and when we were developing the Vive Arts marketplace we really wanted to keep the focus on quality and content of the artwork itself, as did the artists we work with. We have a holistic approach and as with our other digital art projects, we work with artists and institutions from the very beginning to think about the concept for their NFT series and what they would like to create. We see the platform as a virtual gallery space and metaverse solution for the creative community and due to HTC’s expertise and experience, it has a technologically robust infrastructure that can host all forms of digital art, including complex immersive pieces.

Read more: Alissa Everett: Covering Beauty

Our aim is for the platform to democratise the digital art market, offering access to creators and collectors, whether they are well versed in NFTs or exploring them for the first time. It is designed as a curated, easy-to-use, intuitive smart marketplace, which accepts both crypto and fiat currencies and we have in-house artist liaison, art advisory and technical teams that can offer support through the whole process.

The marketplace is part of HTC’s metaverse platform Viverse, so that users can seamlessly explore, experience and purchase the digital art works.

LUX: So, in the Viverse, buyers are effectively avatars in a transactional alternative universe?
CY: Viverse is a virtual universe that people can inhabit to learn, explore, create, shop and socialise together but it can be experienced in a number of ways. HTC has designed the platform to be accessible, so it can be entered through a phone or laptop as well as VR headset. Some experiences may be first person, while for others you might create an avatar as a way to socialise or explore the virtual space.

Wu Tsang Of Whales. Photo by Matteo De Fina, supported by Vive Arts

LUX: What energy-conscious, sustainable alternatives are there to blockchain provenance and what are you doing better than competitors?
CY: We are aware that NFTs have been criticised for their impact on the environment and on our platform, in addition to Ethereum, we provide a more energy-conscious alternative Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Stake Authority (PoSA) Blockchains. We are constantly looking for ways to be more energy conscious and to offset our carbon footprint and are exploring and supporting technological advancements that will create a sustainable future for digital art. We have joined the Crypto Climate Accord (CCA), an initiative inspired by the Paris Climate Agreement, committed to decarbonising the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, though accelerating the development of digital #ProofOfGreen solutions and establishing new industry practices.

LUX: What are the first steps for anyone wanting to engage with Vive Arts?
CY: We would love for visitors to Art Basel in Basel to come and experience our latest art commissions and collaborations at the Vive Arts Lounge or to visit our other projects that are currently on show, at the Serpentine in London and at the Venice Biennale.

We would also like to invite audiences from around the world to explore our projects, through the Vive Arts website and marketplace and through Viveport and other VR platforms, where you can experience several of our past projects such as Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, which was developed in collaboration with the Louvre for their blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in 2019 or Curious Alice, which we developed for the V&A’s Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser last year.

Find out more: www.vivearts.com

Alissa Everett

California born, Nairobi based artist, Alissa Everett has visited over 130 countries and since 2003 has been covering and photographing conflict and ethnic issues that still remain today in places such as Iraq, Darfur, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most recently Alissa travelled to the Ukrainian border with The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to document the humanitarian response efforts. Here Everett tells Candice Tucker about her work and her latest solo exhibition, Covering Beauty

We Carried Our Work, Kigeme, Rwanda, 2012

Open to view at the Venice Biennale until 27 November 2022 is Everett’s solo exhibition Covering Beauty, part of the sixth edition of Personal Structures at the European Cultural Centre (“ECC”) for the 59th Venice Biennale. The aim of the exhibition is for people to see the beauty within these places of conflict that Everett has visited, which are normally only associated with destruction and sadness.

Heading Home, Pakistan, 2008

“I would describe myself as a documentary photographer rather than conflict photographer. What speaks to me the most are moments of unexpected beauty that happen in our daily lives, in both conflict and non-conflict zones. The depiction of areas which are labelled by conflict are often skewed by the negative, and people rarely get the chance to see the moments of beauty which exist.

Transit camp for Ukrainian refugees in Huși, Romania.

The images in Covering Beauty on until November span my entire career, from the war in Iraq and up to the latest conflict area I’ve been working in – Ukraine – with the International Organisation for Migration. I felt it was important to include these in order to demonstrate to audiences that circumstances like these can happen world over.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

They happen in continents that are labelled as conflict areas like Africa, the Middle East and Latin America but they also happen in those not labelled – in Europe. These areas are not ‘other’. We too easily forget that we all have a common history, conflict can arise anywhere in the world.

Kayna, Democratic Republic of Congo

The purpose of Exposing Hope is to raise funds and direct them to very specific projects that directly assist people I have been working for, rather than operating as a large-scale NGO. We collaborate with grassroots organisations who we find on the ground whilst working, those who rarely have international named support, fundraising arms, or much visibility.

Read more: The Futures: A Token Of Goodwill

We’re about to open a library in the Kakuma refugee camp in Northern Kenya and are currently looking for an organisation to assist in Ukraine.”

Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan

On 21st June Alissa Everett will be speaking at the Frontline Club in London about ‘Covering Beauty’. To book tickets follow the link here: frontlineclub.com/covering-beauty-with-alissa-everett