Art Basel Miami Beach returned earlier this month to a strong showing after being postponed last year due to the pandemic. Art Basel reports that the show attracted collectors and institutions from 72 countries around the world, and hosted 60,000 visitors throughout its VIP and public days.
Art Basel’s Miami Beach event coincided with Miami Art Week, which made for a full-on art takeover of Miami for the week, although the events looked very different this year due to the rise of NFT-based digital art, which was on display along with traditional, physical artwork. And what better way to showcase digital art IRL than with 3D holograms?
This was made possible at various events throughout Art Week thanks to PORTL’s increasingly popular hologram technology, which entered the NFT space back in April when it showcased an NFT by Nicole Buffett — the first NFT ever created specifically to be shown in a PORTL — for the Ocean Drop Auction. PORTL was also used during Miami Art Week to beam in celebrities who couldn’t be there in person. “A few months ago, we had our first discussion with an event organizer about having PORTLs at Art Basel and we were so excited,” says PORTL Inc. Founder and CEO David Nussbaum.
“We'd done things with Christie's and around NFTs before and it just seemed like a natural thing. What we didn't know then is that this would snowball, and we'd have multiple activations going on all over town — including one with 4 PORTLs involved that was one of the most talked about and visually impressive installations of the week: Micah Johnson's Aku World with Pusha T and others' designs in the PORTLs, operated by the company Drop Party.”
PORTL’s activations around Miami Art Week kicked off with an event hosted by ArtRepublic and SuperRare showcasing the Monolith, a 23-foot-tall digital canvas displaying NFT art. During the event, Maxim of English electronic band The Prodigy addressed the VIP crowd as a PORTL hologram from the comfort of his home in London.
"We experienced a taste of what future personal appearances will look like through a PORTL that transcended NFT artist and musical talent, bringing Maxim, of The Prodigy, to our event with a special message direct from the UK, thanks to 2 Punks Capital," says Jessica Santiago, CEO and Curator of ArtRepublic Global.
She explains that Maxim “shared how his NFTs are designed to spread positivity and how important it is to give back through charitable efforts. This body of work was specifically designated for Teen Cancer America. We can't thank Maxim enough for adding this innovative element to ArtRepublic's NFT auction and event. This is the exact type of artist we'd like to continue working with. One who embraces technology in creating art and feels compelled to support worthwhile causes like TCA."
Nussbaum shares that PORTL was also featured at several private events, including one held by Cresset Capital, “with major art world collectors at them, all trying out the PORTL over cocktails.” The most elaborate activation of the week, Aku World, was held over the span of three days. Each day, a different line of limited-edition merch was dropped in the PORTLs and was displayed as digital holograms. Guests were able to scan QR codes on the displays to purchase the physical products, designed by Aleali May, and Pusha T, Jerome LaMaar.
“Our main goal at Drop Party is to provide exceptional merchandise and experiences to fans of content that define and influence culture,” says Marco Marandiz, Founder & CEO of Drop Party. “Aku is the embodiment of that in the web3 and NFT space, and the Aku World event was an amazing way for us to contextualize our platform and experience to a deeply engaged community. We’ve heard from countless people and brands that attended, that the Drop Party and PORTL merch room was one of the most memorable parts of Aku World. It opened their eyes to what experiential retail can look like when you blend IRL and digital commerce."
The next hologram-featuring event was the Washed Up Affair party, celebrating the DoinGud Launch and Open Earth Foundation’s OceanDrop Fundraiser supporting ocean conservation. At the event, PORTL showcased the organization’s OceanDrop NFTs, which were being sold to support the upcoming launch of their new marine conservation program OpenOcean.
"It was a great event for us as Open Earth,” says Open Earth Executive Director Dr. Martin Wainstein, “because not only do we get to do creative fundraising for our high impact environmental programs, we also get to push the tech boundaries on the sector. The OceanDrop made a strong tech statement with the hologram capabilities of the PORTL, and the development of the whole art gallery on the metaverse. We look forward to more applications of PORTL and future events to further empower creators to support our work."
To finish off the week, PORTL presented mau5trap’s “deadmau5 NFTs IRL” at an event hosted by BitBasel alongside artist Gregory Siff doing live paintings. “The future of telepresence is now,” says Scarlett Arana, co-founder of BitBasel. “PORTL, a main attraction at BitBasel, showcased NFTs from top celebrities like deadmau5 as well as Metaverse Game Sandbox displays of cryptoart.”
Miami Art Week and Art Basel offered an exciting display of emerging technology and art, this is only the beginning for PORTL when it comes to NFTs and digital activations. “The experience during Art Basel shows that PORTL is an ideal way to showcase NFTs and that the influencers and artists in the space agree,” says Nussbaum “And by extension, it shows that everything looks great in a PORTL — any kind of digital art or merchandise or archival item, whether it's an NFT or not. It also proved how versatile PORTL is, that we could pull off so many activations in the fun but chaotic scene down in Miami that week — PORTL is plug-and-play all the way.”