The first NFT museum appeared in Seattle - partly virtual, but generally offline.

     So far, art that exists only in the blockchain has not earned universal and unconditional trust, but enthusiasts are already appearing who seek to "museumify" this phenomenon. Jennifer Wong and Peter Hamilton decided to be among the pioneers of progress.

Can art that does not physically exist be displayed in a museum? Seems to be yes. The institution, which opened in January 2022 in Seattle, is being hailed as the world's first art museum to exhibit only works created on the blockchain. "Digital art pushes the boundaries of physical space without limiting itself in media and materials," Jennifer Wong and Peter Hamilton, co-founders of the museum, said in a statement.

A fragment of the exposition at the NFT Museum in Seattle.

 Photo: NFT Museum in Seattle

The NFT Museum in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood bills itself as the first museum capable of capturing a phenomenon that heralds a revolutionary era in art history. Wong and Hamilton hope that their project — in partnership with Samsung, which provided 30 custom-designed screens — will make the city a “powerhouse for blockchain innovation and a magnet for the NFT community,” which the traditional art world has so far treated with suspicion.

It is not yet clear how the NFT community itself reacts to all this. Tokens are generational; they are the technology and heritage of a generation that grew up with video games and Internet culture and does not distinguish between real and virtual. A picture in a frame hanging on the wall at home, or a set of pixels on the Web and the screen: what, in essence, is the difference? Millennials don't.

The new museum is a mixture of these two approaches to art. In many ways, it still reflects the traditional format. And it's not just about the building. The format of the exposition and the theme of the exhibitions, the development of specific programs for each season will be handled by the curators. The works are designed to reflect the interests of the Seattle community, with special attention paid to the work of local artists. The artworks can be viewed using QR codes, allowing visitors to access "numerous online portals as they walk through the museum, giving artists the ability to add additional ways to interact with the work." Each installation is associated with token metadata and materials about the artist's background.

The founders of the museum have little experience in presenting art, but they know how to work with technology. Wong leads the development of Convoy, a digital trucking service, and Hamilton is a private venture capitalist who founded mobile marketing company TUNE. “We are not experts,” Wong says. We are here just to learn. That is why we are so looking forward to the response and support of NFT enthusiasts to continue to develop our project.”

Hamilton and Wong partnered with NFT collector Aaron Bird, who was the first to lend part of his collection to the museum. The exhibition features works from the CryptoPunks series by Larva Labs; some are worth over $10 million. Byrd has also loaned generative art to the museum from Tyler Hobbs and Eric Calderon, better known as Snowfro.