Launch Event

ARTERiA:the Gold of the Earth
The theme of the first edition of the exhibit that will bring together the two worlds has been revealed.

Twelve artists. Twelve NFT.
Billelis, Annibale Siconolfi, Davide Petraroli, Duty Gorn, Eskalator, Federco Garibaldi, Hydrangea Must Die, Iena Cruz, Mattia Giordano, Mendacia, Mr. Wany e Paolo Regis
Special Guest: Alessio Bertallot

Press Relese

MILAN – The six days of ARTERiA, the new format of the Emerging Talents and Craft Sharks

exhibition in collaboration with Wrong Theory, ended on Saturday June 11.

On Monday June 6, the curators Silvia Ranzi and Alessandro Brunello together with Tariel Bisharian of Emerging Talents, during the event held in Viagolaquattro in occasion of Design Week, unveiled the long-awaited theme of the first edition of ARTERiA: the gold of the Earth.

In the following days they interviewed the ten selected artists with open doors in a busy calendar of meetings, interviews and talk shows.

Billelis, Annibale Siconolfi, Duty Gorn, Eskalator, Hydrangea Must Die, Iena Cruz, Mattia Giordano, Mendacia, Mr. Wany, Davide Petraroli and the special guest Alessio Bertallot who will create a musical NFT.
The ten artists, surprisingly, were also joined by Federico Garibaldi and Paolo Regis.

BUT IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING
The Viagolaquattro event was in fact “only” the first step of the first edition of ARTERiA, already scheduled from September 23rd to 26th, at Palazzo Visconti, Via Cino del Duca 8, Milan.

Q&A

SILVIA RANZI – CURATOR
Always behind the scenes of exhibitions, performances, museum installations in Italy and abroad. In 2020, in full lockdown, the “vision” of what was perhaps the first exhibition of real works set up in a virtual space with all the interaction characteristics of the Metaverse, which we are looking forward to so much. What convinced you to “come out” by becoming the curator of this event?
«Curating is a sort of “family business”, it was Gianluca Ranzi who unexpectedly invested me in this role. We are talking about a new media and a new audience; it is an absolute revolution that linguistically has nothing to do with the art of the past. I have always been attentive to new languages and new forms of communication and to understand the world of crypto art, and therefore
of NFTs and blockchains, we must think out of the box, we must not approach the mentality with which we have always approached the idea of art. Curators of this type of event are no longer art critics but those who deal with the media. There is no longer the division of tasks based on a “hierarchy” but there is a single horizon. “

We talk about crypto art in a historical setting such as Palazzo Visconti, with now twelve contemporary artists and a theme that was just revealed. There are all the ingredients for a memorable event?
«There are all the ingredients of ARTERiA: art, internet, and era. With Luca Pagani and Floriano Antonio Benedetto I strongly wanted to create a format that would make the NFT works “come out” from the blockchain to bring them in an almost irreverent way in the setting of the wonderful Palazzo Visconti and make them accessible to the public. In September everyone will be able to visit the exhibition and view the works that will stand out among the frescoes of the building. The first edition will be dedicated to eight well-known names in the world of crypto art, two emerging artists and two well-known names in the world of phenomenal art who will take the opportunity to mint their first NFT and take their first step towards this new era. ARTERiA is the channel through which artists from the real world enter the new world and it is the channel through which artist from the new world

make themselves known in the real world.

ALESSANDRO BRUNELLO – CURATOR

Why did you embrace this project and how do you think it differs from the others considering that lately there are many events related to crypto art and the world of NFTs?

“The reason is very simple: we recognized ourselves among promoters and curators in the idea of putting aside for once the aspect of selling the artwork in a moment during which for many operators of this sector, it seems to be the most important thing. The world of Web 3 in which I have been working from a technical point of view for about ten years and recently from an artistic point of view, in my opinion, needs a wave of human value and a humanistic attitude in identifying the objectives of an exhibition that cannot be just sensationalist or marketing and market oriented. I perceive the personal intent to develop the NFT world even more while keeping man at the center as shared by the beautiful working group that has been created. “

Where is the world of crypto art going? Is there meritocracy in NFT art?

“We have to make some differences: not everything that is minted and that becomes an NFT is necessarily a work of art. A very large part of this market is represented by collectibles, whose value in the present and in the future will be decided by utilities, or by the advantages that the owners will have from different points of view. Often the two elements are confused. Meritocracy is undeniable in a system like this, but even in this case it is not exclusively an artistic meritocracy, given the enormous importance of an artist’s ability to position himself/herself and be perceived as destined to grow. The artists who come from the world of phenomenal reality struggle to understand this very important and decisive element. Our work in this historical moment is to make it less decisive, and I believe that it implies a certain responsibility: to make a new world intelligible to as many people as possible, with new rules and very fast dynamics. For this reason, it is necessary to make the same commitment to support both artists, who we can define traditional, and exponents of crypto art, whose future we can write together, even with exhibitions like this one. “

TARIEL BISHARIAN – EMERGING TALENTS

Why did you embrace this project and what is the potential you see in the union between art and fashion in the new world?

“I firmly believe that art, fashion and design / architecture are interconnected, and each sphere influences the other. For me, fashion is the quick reflection of modern life and today we live in a world of transformation. Our daily habits and activities change rapidly, and the digital world has a big impact on this. When Silvia Ranzi proposed an NFT exhibition in an historical context like Palazzo Visconti, it seemed to me an excellent idea. Artists, professionals, and companies that have joined the ARTERiA team demonstrate it. Emerging Talents Milan it’s not just about fashion design, but talents from all creative fields and ARTERiA fits the concept perfectly.”

What is your thinking on fashion in the Metaverse and on the influence of NFTs on the fashion industry?
“In recent years, technology has had a huge impact on fashion. NFTs and the Metaverse, with their boom this year, will consolidate digital influence in both commercial and conceptual terms. Many hope that the virtual world will solve industry problems such as sustainability, overproduction, and pollution, but if we move mass consumerism from the real to the virtual world, we will soon have new sustainability problems because we cannot ignore the impact of pollution to mint NFTs. Fortunately, more and more blockchains are moving in respect of environmental protection for a sustainable web 3.0 and others are aligning”

FLORIANO ANTONIO BENEDETTO – CRAFT SHARKS

You have been “inside” the Metaverse for several years. Is it fair to call it an evolution of gaming that over time, thanks to communication technologies, has made it no longer an individual activity but an opportunity to connect people from all over the world with a common interest?

«I would say yes and no. It’s true that today we are used to seeing many applications of it in that area, but the Metaverse is much more. Perhaps it is more correct to say that it is the evolution of the internet that tries to move from what we have been up to till now, the internet of things, to what will be the relational internet. A sort of mashup with the world of social media no longer experienced in a detached way through a screen, but with the ability to dive headlong with the help of new technologies such as VRs. “

It seems like there is not much time left for the planet due to pollution and the climate crisis. How do you think the Metaverse can fit into a possible earthly catastrophe?
“What can I say? In these days when we are feeling the reality of climate change on our skin, I think that the “new world”, the Metaverse, even without waiting for a catastrophe, can help in the hottest hours or days of heavy rain, which will inevitably follow this unusual heat, to improve not only communication for business and brand experiences for all those companies that have already started creating various virtual shops, limited editions etc., but also to improve playful interaction and the use of art and entertainment. The lockdown period brought everyone closer to technology and accesses have been considerably simplified. Even baby boomers and boomers now prefer online entertainment. The Metaverse, in case of forced confinement, would absurdly help to keep one’s head in reality. “