Out of Africa collection to disrupt fine art
The global pandemic has presented a challenging time for many around the world. With the closure of galleries and other public exhibition spaces and venues, it’s been a tough period for those who work in art, entertainment and sport. However, Out of Africa a new pioneering concept coming in Africa could be set to change all that.
One hundred unique pieces of art are being produced to be sold via blockchain technology in the form of NFTs. It will represent a new horizon for many contemporary South African artists who have never participated in such a scheme. The initiative excites executives at Invictus Capital, who are the project’s creators. “This inaugural collection is a first of its kind for Southern African artists, and global investors,” said their CEO Daniel Schwartzkopff.
The ‘Out of Africa’ collection will help raise funds for the artists as it will introduce their works to a new global audience. Marelize van Zyl, the curator of the works, is delighted to bring the pieces to a digital audience. “This collection is a triumph for these artists and represents some of the finest new, upcoming and established talent,” she said.
These digital sales offer the artists a new royalty-driven revenue model, which is only made possible by the use of the Ethereum blockchain. There will be two sales of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the first being digital posters representing the artwork which will then be followed by a second sale of tokens. The owners of these will then have something which acts as an authentic certificate of ownership of the original, unique pieces of physical art stored in a digital wallet, which allows them to choose to have the original artworks shipped to them if they wish. It’s not the first time that the art industry has utilised blockchain technology, but largely sales of the NFTs have revolved around ownership of pieces of digital artworks.
See more: Africa: Which countries are investing in fintech?
In the music industry, world-renowned dance music DJ Steve Aoki has released some of his tracks via sales of NFTs as reported by Forbes, and the world of sport has also seen a growth in interest from people when it comes to digital assets. However, while fine art sales can stretch into substantial figures, some of the digital options for sports fans can cost as little as just $2 (31.55R).
These low-cost options come in the form of Socios fan tokens; while the purchaser obtains a branded, individual digital collectable ‘token’, the value comes from what’s attached to it. Which can extend from an invite to meet their idols or a VIP tour of their organisation, and they’ve proved to be very popular and profitable in the process. Thus adding millions to the balance sheets of the clubs involved, via what many would call a non-traditional method of fundraising.
In a period of financial uncertainty around the world, it’s interesting to see so many industries looking to disrupt the usual constraints associated with investment to find new revenue streams. But we shouldn’t be surprised that the pioneers are here on our continent; as we’ve previously mentioned here on Apps Africa, we like to leapfrog our way into the future.
Source: Apps Africa
