While everyone is debating whether NFTs fuss is just temporary, things are getting hotter and hotter in the metaverse. Here’s what you’ve missed in this first  

1.     The metaverse is going to be the hottest venue for artistic events

In the first days of 2022 it was already clear that the NFT craze was not about to pass with the end of past years, and from festivals and fashion shows to sports event, Decentraland is getting crowded.  

While Balmain and Barbie have announced a collaboration with an exclusive NFTs digital campaign, it was from the beginning of the pandemic that fashion shows have been happening in the metaverse.  
The metaverse is still a land to be explored but it will for sure give the art world new tools to experience the digital world. An interesting twist is expected for crypto art since exhibitions and fairs will take place in the metaverse, giving access to art simultaneously to people from all around the globe. The presence of art galleries in the metaverse could be a fundamental step for the art system to re-gain control over the digital chaos that is surrounding NFTs. While Beeple and Pak are selling their artworks in a more safe and institutionalized way, less known artists, in less known environments (Opensea first and foremost, due to the width of the platform and the possibility for everyone to access and mint NFTs) artists are complaining about the continuous robberies and illegal use of their work. To solve this kind of problem, the presence of a venue where art can be displayed, and the role of curators could be the key element to re-establish an order in the NFT art system.

2.     “All my apes gone” - Stolen NFTS found on sale on Opensea, and it’s not the first time.

“I have been hacked. All my apes are gone” tweeted Todd Kramer on December 30th. The New York art dealer’s crypto wallet was hacked and all his NFTs were stolen and put on sale on Opensea with over $2 million worth. Kramer deleted the tweet but not before it was minted as an NFTs on Opensea and sold for 0.05 ETH ($180.81).
To deal with the theft, Opensea had frozen most of the NFTs that were on the platform, creating a debate about the role of the platform in what is supposed to be a decentralized organization.
This was not the first case of stolen NFTs, and twitter is the main platform where artists call for help in order to retrieve their work. The Apes robbery was just a few days after NFTs collector Waka Flocka Flame’s Opensea wallet was hacked, while since the beginning of December, another twitter user, NFT theft, started collecting evidence of artists who have publicly tweeted about their works being stolen, with the purpose to make platforms like Opensea safer.
This is bringing up a problem that needs to be solved for the blockchain and the metaverse to be a secure place for the art market. The blockchain is thought to be decentralized, but a mechanism to avoid this kind of piracy is evidently needed.

2.     The first Italian NFTs exhibition is challenging the traditional idea of curatorship.

DART 2121 is the name of the Crypto art exhibition hosted at Permanente di Milano until February 6th, 2022. The exhibition has the objective to introduce the public to crypto art with an interactive exhibition of digital creatives, from the emerging artists to the OG (old Guys) of the NFT world, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and The Sandbox, to say just a few names.
The exhibition is backed by other activities and events, interviews, and collateral projects to portray and display the history and the dynamic events of crypto art so far.
This kind of project shows how crypto art is not inaccessible to the public, and that it is not disconnected from the art world in general. Nobody knows how the art market will evolve, but the whole art system is following the flow of this new form of creativity, which will probably give us a lot to talk in the year that has just started.
There are still a lot of issues and questions to be answered, but at this point, everyone should be able to see the potential of blockchain technology and digital art.

Will 2022 be the year of the conjunction of crypto and non-crypto art in the effort to preserve cultural and artistic heritage?