Tezos Presents: Come Together – Building Communities in the NFT Art Space – S.E.A. Focus
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Tezos Presents: Come Together – Building Communities in the NFT Art Space

This talk was part of SEAspotlight Talks during S.E.A. Focus 2023. Click here to watch the recording of this talk online. 

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NFTs often evoke the notion of collectibles fetching astronomical sums. Yet the NFT art space is also one of diverse creative communities coming together – a space of creation, collection, experimentation and connection.

This conversation looks at the varied communities in Web3/ NFTs , and asks questions about this rapidly evolving space. How does an NFT art community form? How do its different members – curators, creatives, collectors, and collectives – interact? What impact do NFT communities have on the non-blockchain art world, and vice-versa?

Speakers

Clara Peh, Curator; Founder, NFT Asia

Clara Peh is a curator and arts writer. She is the Founder of NFT Asia, a nonprofit collective that supports Asian and Asia-based artists in Web 3.0. She is also the Art Lead and Curator at Appetite. Her curated projects include: “Proof of Concept”, Singapore, 2023; “A Screen of One’s Own”, New York, USA, 2022, and “Right Click + Save”, Singapore, 2021. She currently sits on the advisory board of the Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize. Her work has been published in the Asian Art Biennale Reader, Hyperallergic, Outland, and more. Clara holds an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Bjorn Calleja, Artist

Bjorn Calleja is a Filipino contemporary painter and interdisciplinary artist. He earned his BFA from Far Eastern University, where he later became a part-time lecturer. Aside from exhibiting his work, his early career involved corporate jobs and stints as a graphic designer. He co-founded Design. Other Things., a design studio that worked with a team of visual artists.

Calleja’s work has been included in various local and international exhibitions, and his animations have been featured in a number of NFT exhibitions, he is also the creator of Stoopid Avatar Project (2021), a satirical PFP project minted on the Tezos blockchain.

Tulika Ahuja, Curator; Founder, Mama Magnet

Tulika Ahuja is the founder and a curator at Mama Magnet, an independent consultancy for cultural strategy, collaborative and curatorial intervention. Mama Magnet builds audience journeys and multi-media art experiences that explore social, ecological and/or mystical conversations of current time. They empower artistic agency, while creating encounters for the community to navigate unconventional futures.

Moderator

Marissa Trew, Senior Content Lead, Blokhaus Inc

Marissa Trew is the Senior Content Lead at Blokhaus Inc and the host of TezTalks Radio – the global Tezos ecosystem podcast. In her role, Marissa focuses on profiling the people and projects building on the blockchain, speaking across events including Art Basel, SXSW, VidCon and more. Marissa also hosts Just So We’re Clear, a Singapore-born podcast focused on holding conversations relevant to modern Asian women.