VerticalCrypto Art’s 2021 Roundup — December 31st
By: Harry Martin
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VerticalCrypto Art’s 2021 Roundup — December 31st A Very Vertical Reflection of 2021 ⭐ Hi everyone! 🤗 Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Roundup, we hope you’re well. 😎 We’re doing things a little differently this week, as it is our final one of the year: we’re doing a 2021 Roundup! 💫 “What? Resolution Roundup? But I’ve only been in Web3 space for, like, a week!” Lol — time to take off your metaverse helmet, cowboy. 🤠 2021 has been an incredible year, to say the least. So much has happened in Crypto Art, Web3 and the Metaverse, with many friendships being made along the way. We at VCA are deeply humbled to have met each and every one of you in our adventures together. In memory of such adventures, the team has assembled some of the best moments from each month of this year within the VerticalCrypto Art ecosystem. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and we’ve tried our best to narrow it down. Strap yourselves in for what is sure to be an emotional rollercoaster! Let’s rewind the clock. ⏳

January ❄️ Rarible Picks Do you remember this iconic series? We sure do. Back in January, Micol took the initiative to highlight emerging artists from Rarible on a weekly basis. With each episode being unique, VerticalCrypto Art enjoyed promoting quality Crypto Art content on analogue tv monitors for the first time. This series, with its weekly coverage, then led to similar VerticalCrypto Art series with other platforms later in the year. Rewatch the Rarible Picks series here. VerticalCrypto Art’s Interview with Metapurse — January 26th Later in January, Micol interviewed Twobadour from Metapurse — a crypto-based fund financed by Metakovan, created to engage with important causes and promote cultural cross-pollination. Making bold acquisitions such as the Beeple sale for $69 million, Metapurse is eager to create a shared legacy inspired by the colour and collaboration now unique to the NFT space. This was a fascinating talk, as Micol came to understand Twobadour’s origins, democratic views on art and current engagements in the NFT space. Rewatch the interview here.

February 🌨 ‘Curation in the NFT Space’ — ClubHouse It was in February that Micol, along with a cohort of Crypto Art OGs, launched the weekly ‘Curation in the NFT Space’ series on Clubhouse. Acting as a blueprint for NFT discussions to follow, ‘Curation in the NFT Space’ highlighted news and curatorial practices in Crypto Art from notables figures such as Diane Drubay, Fanny Lakoubay, Artnome — Jason Bailey, Colborn Bell, Sam Brukhman and many more. Prior to the advent of Twitter Spaces, this was as good as it got for discursive conversations about NFTs, Web3 and blockchain technologies. Rewatch the ‘Curation in the NFT Space’ series here.

March 🌤 Hicetnunc Curated OBJKTs Series In March, Micol launched a series similar to Rarible Picks, but for a fledgling, Tezos-based NFT platform in the Crypto Art scene: Hicetnunc. Noticing that emerging artists were becoming increasingly drawn to this minimal yet funky dApp, VerticalCrypto Art switched focused its curation efforts to promoting emerging artist’s works from Hicetnunc on wall spaces (as opposed to on cute, analogue TV monitors). Given the life and soul that HEN brought to the Crypto Art community, this VerticalCrypto Art series holds a soft spot in the hearts of many collectors, artists and enthusiasts. Rediscover the Hicetnunc OBJKTs series here. Hicetnunc and Friends Livestreams Since the start of Hicetnunc in March, Micol set up a series of conversations with the founder, Rafael Lima, and other early contributors of the community such as Artnome, James Paterson and Mario Klingemann. Watch the Hicetnunc and Friends series here. Nate Alex x VerticalCrypto Art — On-Chain Conversations Micol’s conversation with NFT42 co-founder and Squiggly creator, Nate Alex, was the first in a series of weekly livestreams from the #onchaingang: a collaboration between Micol, Nate and invited guests (such as j1mmy.eth and Nahiko) discussing metadata on smart contracts, the importance of “on-chain” data and much more. Rewatch the On-Chain Conversation series here.

April 🍃🌼 New Artists on KnownOrigin Video Series Starting the Spring season in partnership with KnownOrigin, Micol instigated a weekly series curating pieces from artists of the KO community: New Artists Video Series. Spanning seven weeks and highlighting 9–10 makers in each episode, New Artists was well-received among collectors, Crypto Art enthusiasts and follows of KnownOrigin. Uniting people with shared interests, Micol was pivotal here in drawing attention to 1/1 NFTs as tools for prospective and innovative artistic production. Revisit the New Artists series here.

June ⛱ KnownOrigin x VerticalCrypto Art’s ‘Cyber Color Exhibition’, Decentraland Kicking off the summer, our first June event was in co-curating KnownOrigin’s ‘Cyber Color’ — an exhibition exploring cyber, sci-fi, pop, neon and colour themes. Featuring works by 26 artists such as Luluxx, Max Osiris and Ann Ahoy, Cyber Color communicates just how abundant colour is within the digital and virtual realms of Crypto Art. Quoting Micol’s exhibition statement, Cyber Color is ‘meant to be messy, it’s meant to be strong, it’s meant to be confusing and provoking’. With Cyber Color taking place in Decentraland’s vibrant metaverse, this statement was proven in bright, colourful spades! Read the ‘Cyber Color’ press release here.

Revisit the Decentraland exhibition here. Launch of VerticalCrypto Art Online Residency Program It was in June when the VCA announced the creation of a NFT native online resdiency program for emerging creators in the fields of NFTs, web3, metaverse and digital & new media art. This was a pivotal moment for VCA — a program supported by Tezos Foundation as the main partner as well as others. With over 150+ applicants, 25 mentors supporting the program, 5 key partners, the VCA team & mentors reviewed the huge applicant pool. All eyes — from mentors to prospective residents — were on VCA at this moment. Who was going to make the cut for the cohort? Only time would tell!

July 🌞 AMA with HEN Exploiter — 1st July In late June, Micol created the VerticalCrypto Art Discord channel — an extension of VCA’s presence in Crypto Art and NFTs. Almost immediately after its launch, an unexpected surprise happened: an exclusive AMA between Micol and the late exploiter of Hicetnunc! Not knowing what to expect, the HEN community was curious to how the hacker discovered the platform’s exploit, and whether they intended to use it for good or bad purposes. Fortunately, the hacker was approachable and even complimentary of the Hicetnunc community. Pointing out the exploit and promptly responding to all questions in VerticalCrypto Art’s dedicated Discord channel, the AMA was certainly a profound highlight of the year. Make sure to read it in full on Discord. VCA Residency First Cohort Kick Off — July 16th It finally happened! Cohort I was announced on July 16th, after much deliberation between VerticalCrypto Art mentors and organisers. 👏 This came as great news to many anxious applicants of the VCA residency. As a helpful ice-breaker for the group, Micol encouraged Cohort I to first introduce themselves on Discord, before attending their first VCA Residency class the following week. Cohort I’s onboarding in July feels like it happened yesterday — and yet it’s beautiful to see how they have matured so much since. Good times and fond memories all around! 💗

October 🍁 Sotheby’s ‘Natively Digital 1.2 — The Collectors’ An incredible highlight of this year came in October, when Sotheby’s announced its second Natively Digital: The Collectors Auction co-curated by VerticalCrypto on their new platform: Sotheby’s Metaverse. Featuring 19 of the top collectors and builders of the NFT movement across 53 lots, Micol selected artworks from three influential Crypto Artists — Erick Snowfro, Nate Alex and Kevin Abosch. Utilising NFT smart contracts as artworks in themselves, Micol’s artists are all historic pioneers of the NFT ecosystem from both artistic and technological angles, encouraging much conceptual debate through their work. Rewatch the Sotheby’s exhibition here.

November 🍂 NFT LDN — November 6th At the start of November, Micol was part of the organisation and curation team for the first ever NFT LDN event taking place in Central London. A rapid turnaround, two-day event co-organised and co-curated in partnership with Unit London, Silly Tuna and many more collaborators, NFT LDN presented a weekend of innovation and creativity with some of the brightest minds of the Crypto Art and NFT space. Featured in the gallery was a curated selection of emerging artists and OGs including MABLAB, Rose Jaskon, Mattia Cuttini, Linda Dounia and many more. Micol was careful in her decision-making here, which really showed in the final display. NFT LDN was a wonderful event which brought together many faces from across the UK and European Metaverse in a welcoming space, presented by Institut and Unit London. Rewatch KnownOrigin’s take on NFT LDN here. Boson Protocol x VerticalCrypto Art Auction — November 17th Celebrating the launch of Boson Portal, VerticalCrypto Art collaborated with the protocol to curate a Physical-Digital VerticalCrypto x BosonProtocol Art Auction. Featuring seven 1/1 artworks from iconic creators such as Jon Burgerman, Linda Dounia, Jesse Draxler, Miss Al Simpson, Gary Cartlidge, Marjan Moghaddam and Luxpris, collectors were able to bid on new pieces produced exclusively for the auction. 10% of all sales went to Unicef, with bidders being in with a chance to win 1000 $BOSON. With collectors such as Mondoir and Elsie from the Edicurial Collection placing bids, this was a remarkable auction amongst the many which had already taken place this year. Revisit the auction here.