Many established and emerging crypto & ICO stars are soon to hit the stage at the James L Knight Center in downtown Miami. To many outsiders it might seem to be against better judgment to spend time inside a packed conference hall right next to that seductive turquoise water, gently swaying palm trees and that world famous golden beach. That is true especially for those traveling over from the currently Blade Runner-esque January London. To most crypto obsessives, however, the weather can’t compete with what is available inside.
According to the latest data from Keynote, the attendance expectancy has tripled to 3000 people. Crypto is undeniably on a high roll in 2018. This year might just be the one that blockchain solutions explode into the public consciousness as much more than just a new form of currency. Considering its been around less than a decade the speed is incredible.
Speaker list at BTC Miami here
I will be among the other floor displayers there to present some crypto art and write to News BTC about the experience. Getting an email offer to join the conference came at the perfect time a month back as another trip over had been in the works since last summer.
My second US art exhibit will be at the Art Ford Lauderdale fair a week after BTC Miami so that serendipitous gap might allow me that day at the beach after all – even if to just mentally prepare for what is to come right after. This is also my first collaboration exhibit through the legends only Tranter-Sinni Gallery. Due to the gallery, AFL will now also include our bodypainting performance with dancers and a 30-minute talk about tech, art and societal change at 3 pm on the 25th.
Art Ford Lauderdale site
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. ” – Carl Sagan
It will be interesting to talk at a mainstream contemporary art show about the blockchain, VR, and AI after hearing the latest tech insights a week before at BTC Miami. It is not apparent to most in crypto why the blockchain is relevant to art – let alone those who might have only heard the name Bitcoin in passing. Crypto is fast becoming connected to visual art through innovations like Verisart and Maecenas, a decentralized art gallery. It can solve things that have caused major problems within it for centuries.
After recently selling a piece to Silver 8 Capital I used blockchain to verify it through an open to public ledger. See the online authentication here. The landscape of art business is changing due to technology, and a few galleries already cater to the emerging crypto collector class.
Tropical Bit Thunder
There will be at least two more articles regarding everything that is about to happen in sunny Florida. These will include some professionally put together video material, images, insights and quotes from speakers. There are not many covering topics in this space from the perspective of a creative, so I’m privileged to offer it on this platform.
In the world of finance people often forget why they are relevant to people outside of their primary field of interest. Money, especially now, can quickly feel like a gamelike abstraction only. The feedback loop from outside it is often the one that fuels intuition on where to invest next, what to support and perhaps help generate a new evolutionary idea.
For me, the blockchain inspired a whole new art platform and freed me to express potential future directions more easily than the previous. Grandiose as that might sound within the art world, in tech, this is just a normal Monday.
The trip already inspired me to make this crypto art piece titled “T(r)optical.” The central palm tree has some coconuts in it and suggests that by journeying over you get to crack them open and access what is inside.
The peacock nesting in the tree has spread its wings to flaunt other crypto logos inside as well.
The famous Miami skyline at the bottom incorporates the coins as well as the code that is transforming the banking buildings that make it.
If someone had told me only a couple of years ago that I would be making art about digital money and be inspired by a conference – I’d likely suggested for them to alter their medication.
The power of Bitcoin I guess.
Purchase the T(r)optical art piece nr. 1s before everyone else you can do so here:
More to come and will be listening to U2’s ‘Miami‘ on the way over.
V E S A
Visual Artist
London / Helsinki
www.artforcrypto.com
www.artevo.org