Recognizing the positive impact of collaboration to support the creative industry, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority is collaborating with MORROW collective, the UAE’s leading non-fungible tokens curatorial initiative, to host an exhibition of non-fungible tokens celebrating the UAE.
The exhibition, titled 50/50, comprises 50 non-fungible tokens made by UAE-based artists — including Emirati artists Khalid Al Banna, Alia AlGaoud, and Dalal Ahmed — to mark the UAE’s 50th anniversary, and will be presented at Al Safa Art & Design Library starting Jan. 15. This is the first exhibition of its kind to explicitly feature UAE-based artists.
An open call was held to identify the showcased works, and the diversity of the selections reflects the UAE’s multicultural society. The non-fungible tokens vary from 3D pieces to animation, from digital drawing to traditional painting, and from collages to photography.
This is the first time that some of the artists have made non-fungible tokens, and the works cover a multitude of themes, representing powerful portraits of humanity, abstract musings on the human condition, light-heartedness, powerful messages, and an exercise in pure visual enjoyment.
The physical iteration of the exhibition bridges the gap between the traditional and the non-fungible tokens art worlds by showing the pieces of art on digital screens. Of the 50 artworks, pieces by Marwan Shakarchi and Gigi Gorlova have already been sold, and an auction featuring three Emirati artists will take place at the end of this month.
Dr Saeed Mubarak bin Kharbash, CEO of the Arts and Literature Sector at Dubai Culture, said: “Innovation and creativity go hand in hand towards supporting the emirate’s creative industry. Non-fungible tokens are a commodity in the art world that are the result of a rapidly digitalizing future, and through our collaboration with MORROW collective, we at Dubai Culture are embracing the use of innovative new solutions within the arts and culture space to support and retain local and UAE-based talent, attract creative individuals from around the world across the arts and culture sector, and make culture and art accessible to everyone, everywhere.”
Anna Seaman, curator at MORROW collective, said: “The UAE values tolerance, compassion and safety and it prides itself as a country in which everyone is welcome to make themselves at home. Non-fungible tokens are a digital medium that is not restricted by boundaries — whether physical or geographical — and, therefore, in their own way, are a celebration of everyone.
“What better way to mark the 50th year of the UAE than with an exhibition of 50 non-fungible tokens?”
