The web3 tribes that are the glitches to the norm are gathering again.
After a long-ish incubation period of the summer and end of year shenanigans, it’s now time for VESA to return to the desert. The much-missed sun will be thoroughly enjoyed first in Dubai during the mammoth event that is Token 2049, and later in a VESA first in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at Outer Edge. The Token2049 will bring together +300 keynote speakers in a premiere conference. The girthy list of FOMO inducing side events might just be as impressive as the official lineup, as decision makers and enthusiasts of the industry pile into the city. Outer Edge in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is an exclusive invite-only event with a curated attendance list from the top of Web3 and AI.
Apart from meeting people at the top of their game, this first trip is also dedicated to learning more about the Saudi people and their culture.
This one is going to be amazing, can already feel it.
Ordinals
Million Dirham Hotel
Mirrors Collection
US$5,606.72
Million Dirham Hotel is the first Mirrors-series artwork minted on Ordinals. Some of the earlier versions have been implemented on physical art cars, for which we have a exclusive licence to launch these cars on the streets of Dubai. This artwork, if it reaches a certain sum, will carry that same IP right, which we can implement on selected surfaces or objects. The work is made via painting, photography and digital collaging over multiple days.
The topic of the artwork itself? Can you imagine what a hotel that charges a million dirhams per night looks like? During the last three years of living in Dubai, VESA has observed the attention, luxury and experience economy grow. The class of people who made rather than lost money during Covid or any other recent disaster live a completely different lifestyle to the majority on the planet. The new luxury is a unique experience, unavailable to most. The world is moving from an ownership to access basis even further. A LV bag don’t impress people much. VESA’s new Mirrors-series explores value, experiences and identity in an innovative way. The leveraged IP of the artwork provides another layer to the work’s value argument. How does the art become something that is our unique identity, rather than a common access commodity?
It Used To Be Wired
Crypto Art Collection
US$18,689.07
Very few early VESA works from the 2017-2019 period on the Bitcoin movement are minted as digital originals despite him being in this space full time for nearly 7 years now. It Used To Be Wired is a tribute to the likes of Nick Spanos, who pioneered the early NY crypto scene, and had to eventually leave the land of the free not being so free after all. The work is made via painting, photography and digital collaging over multiple days.
In this art piece the iconic NY island skyline is transformed by blockchain code, but this time Philippe Petit is not walking in between the WTC buildings as the man on a wire. He is walking from the Freedom Tower to the digital unknown. There are many blockchain ventures in the city, but many are moving out of NY and the United States due to a lack of entrepreneurial support. The question remains: “Will New York keep its pioneering spirit or drive out the future of finance?”
When conceptualising this piece in 2018 VESA first thought about the lasting frontier spirit of New York, the artists who have lived there and pioneering moves in Bitcoin really starting from a humble transatlantic pizza transaction. No matter what you think about 9/11 a part of its ghost is inescapably linked to the 2008 financial meltdown and the birth of digital currency. Knowing what we know now, most people in crypto try to avoid doing any business in the US, as it is among the most restrictive countries in the world to be involved with.
Stay tuned for what is going to be a majestic prelude of this collaboration.
Also tonite pls join us on the epic Tone Vays Halving party on Youtube.
See you in the desert and online,
VESA & Lotta
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
