To look forward, we must look back.
By Judy Mam
It’s only been about a decade but early examples of NFTs are now considered prehistorical artifacts. NFTs are still in their infancy, yet they are misunderstood by many. Most of the people who are now familiar with them (thanks to the bull market, the PFP craze, influencers, celebrities, and big sales), think NFTs were invented in 2020. The innovators who created NFTs, the advances they fostered, and the projects themselves are overshadowed by speculative hype and are not known to many in the NFT community, let alone the public at large. Everyday, someone arrives claiming that they are the first to do this, that, or the other in NFT form. To which we say: get in line. Look back and understand who was there before you and what they did to pave the way for all of us, so we can all do better.
The First Historic NFT Festival is an opportunity to explore and articulate the history of NFTs and the beginnings of the crypto art space from the beginning of time to the end of 2019.
The first Rare Art Fest in 2018 was a watershed moment that crystallized a budding community. It brought together a handful of projects and many inquisitive people to explore our discoveries and enthusiasm for the creative promise of blockchain technology. The energy and excitement in the room were palpable. We knew there was potential in the tech, and sharing stories about what we were building felt like we were on the cusp of something incredibly exciting, and now we were in it together. From that day in January a community was born which is still going strong.
We want to bring together the community of early innovators in the same spirit of experimentation, creativity and innovation. We want to recognize the contributions of those who made NFTs happen, and together, set a definitive timeline that acknowledges and represents all the early NFT history.
Celebrating the history of NFTs means cementing their future. We welcome all members of the NFT community and anyone who is interested in the space: early innovators, artists, developers, platforms, experts, collectors, enthusiasts old and new. HNFT fills an important gap in the NFT community: it provides a forum to discuss NFTs and crypto art in depth and with seriousness, as most of this space is overwhelmed by marketing, and marketing is just noise. The festival is a great opportunity for art institutions to meet the creators of the space and learn about the history of NFTs directly from them. It can also address the negative bias about NFTs that courses through the art world, the media, and the general public. HNFT Fest is open to anyone who is curious about innovation and creativity in the NFT space.
We want this to be a welcoming place to meet and have exciting conversations; let loose, learn a lot, not worry about shilling, and have fun. During three days in October, in a historic landmark in stunning Barcelona we will hang out and talk in depth about the value, historical significance, adventures, and contributions of early NFTs with the people who were there since the beginning. Don’t expect formal panels and presentations. Expect top quality content.
There will be art. We are planning a retrospective exhibition of historical NFTs which will include projects, platforms, innovations, and individual artists. More details coming soon.
There will be fun stuff to do, parties to attend, old friends to see again, new friends to make.
Please follow @hnftfest on Twitter for updates.
