Verse Talks

00:48 - Welcome Adam Levine 01:15 - What sets the Toledo Museum of Art apart 05:22 - Ensuring the community has access to culture 07:20 - The benefit of private funding 10:10 - TMA's digital program 13:25 - The history and founding principles of the museum 21:20 - An emphasis on craft, skill and aesthetic quality 27:10 - Artist studios, manufacturing and industrial process 31:20 - Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms 33:40 - The Digital Artist-in-Residence Program and community onboarding 43:23 - A focus on innovation and strategy 46:10 - Adam's path to NFTs 49:45 - Repeat visitation as a key performance metric 54:40 - "Integrating art into people's lives" 56:25 - Expanding the audience for digital art 01:03:16 - Verse roundtable 01:07:10 - Cultural accessibility, funding and profitability 01:16:55 - Why Artie is exiting the space 01:24:25 - Release cadence 01:30:57 - The difficulty of finding sustainability as a platform 01:37:20 - A maturation of the space 01:41:30 - The potential for a reshaping of consensus around the blue chips 01:44:55 - Harm van den Dorpel 01:49:23 - Verse rundown 01:50:25 - Artist highlights 01:51:50 - Debriefing on Terence Broad Toledo Museum of Art: https://x.com/toledomuseumnoper: https://x.com/bagdelete Kevin McCoy: https://x.com/mccoyspace Jennifer McCoy: https://x.com/jennmccoyspace                

00:40 - Welcome Harm van den Dorpel 01:35 - Working with plotters 05:06 - Creative beginnings 08:45 - A grounding in early AI 11:20 - From tech to art school 13:50 - The shifting context around digital presentation16:10 - The development of post-internet art 18:00 - Separating sales and practice 22:40 - Markov's Window 25:00 - Establishing Left gallery and discovering blockchain 30:33 - The stress of managing a gallery 32:01 - The importance of true digital ownership 35:29 - Mutant Garden Seeder 38:15 - Exploring Quantizer 40:40 - Algorithmic archeology 42:45 - Dithering and Quantizer's traits 46:42 - Two seeds and a double system 50:20 - The reason for artist curation 52:02 - Mandalas, Buddhism and the influence on Quantizer 56:00 - Transience and permanence 58:20 - Surprise born from a system 01:04:10 - Meditation machines 01:08:12 - The relationship between an artists practice and the market 01:09:55 - Defining the digital and physical worlds 01:12:40 - Preserving a digital work 01:15:43 - The thinking behind the series size 01:19:45 - What's next? Harm van den Dorpel: https://x.com/harmvddorpel  Quantizer: https://verse.works/series/quantizer-by-harm-van-den-dorpel?itemId=2f5761c0-0e42-4457-a844-6bd9f854adf5

00:44 - Welcome Harm van den Dorpel and Regina Harsanyi 03:05 - Nasty Nets, Club Internet and the early surf clubs 09:05 - Creating context and community through curation 12:40 - Ongoing scepticism around blockchain and NFTs 18:00 - Left Gallery, early blockchain based ownership and speculation 20:10 - The speed of secondary in the digital world 22:00 - On creating Quantizer 27:10 - A true reflection of the blockchain and networked broadcast 33:40 - The ideal way to display and experience the work 41:30 - The expressive power of the blockchain Harm van den Dorpel: https://x.com/harmvddorpelRegina Harsanyi: https://x.com/reginaharsanyi           

Steve McKeon, a partner at Collab+Currency and former finance professor, dives into the thrilling intersection of art and investment. He shares his intriguing journey from the dot-com boom to the wine industry, ultimately discovering crypto. The conversation reveals the rise of NFTs and the birth of Glitch, exploring how passion shapes investment theses. McKeon reflects on collectability in digital art, the influence of traditional sculpture, and the future of digital culture, highlighting the evolving NFT landscape and the importance of community in art.

03:00 - Luba Elliott on Terence Broad 04:15 - Autoencoding Blade Runner 09:25 - Machine learning in 2016 12:31 - Arriving at the crossroads of technology and art 15:35 - Why Blade Runner? 19:05 - Luba and Terrence's collaboration through Feral File 22:06 - (un)stable equilibrium 25:00 - The conceptual journey behind the work 29:50 - Imperfect copies and more constraints 31:35 - The construction of the final video pieces 34:55 - A renewed mainstream interest in the work 40:01 - Looping in latent space 41:49 - Future explorations around (un)stable equilibrium 44:53 - The possibilities NFTs open up for a digital practice  https://x.com/terrybroad https://x.com/elluba https://verse.works/series/un-stable-equilibrium-by-terence-broad?itemId=07c502f4-8cec-47bf-9eac-8a9c0d2a0bc0           

00:50 - Welcome Roger Dickerman 02:48 - The importance of a physical space 06:02 - Roger's journey into digital art 07:45 - A deliberate imbalance 11:02 - Controlling the bookends 14:15 - The birth of Artifex and 24 Hours of Art 20:25 - Sustainability and longevity 22:35 - Putting the work in and riding out the bear 24:45 - A process of iteration and evolution 28:35 - "One foot in the market, one foot firmly in the love of the art" 30:05 - The objectivity of price action35:31 - How to define excellence and quality in art 39:25 - The impact of exposure to work 42:00 - Feeling vs technical precision 46:07 - A new energy in the space 48:30 - Testing convictions and responding to crisis 52:18 - Community, Sam Spratt and the power of participation 58:58 - Acting with focus and intention 01:01:45 - Ingredients for success 01:05:30 - Assessing the market and thinking about trajectory 01:10:30 - Verse roundtable 01:11:05 - The Art Blocks 500 01:16:15 - Eternalising a time period and creating canon 01:23:10 - Institutional interest and supporting collectors 01:24:45 - Takashi Murakami's 108 Flowers Revised 01:37:28 - Traditional artists' impact on the perception of space 01:43:02 - Speculation and gambling 01:47:15 - Taking personal responsibility for purchases and decisions 01:51:07 - Murakami's tweet and lack of awareness 01:52:50 - The complexity of collecting work on the blockchain 01:57:45 - Collecting to be part of a community vs collecting with an awareness of price potential 02:03:49 - Dalos Dov's Do Machines Dream of Human Bodies 02:06:30 - Valent's Athanasia 02:11:30 - The importance of authentic community engagement 02:21:46 - Verse rundown Roger Dickerman: https://x.com/rogerdickerman 24 Hours of Art: https://x.com/24_hours_artPaul Pfeiffer: https://www.instagram.com/pmp2021 itsgalo: https://x.com/galoandstuff  brawlers world: https://x.com/brawlersworldValent: https://x.com/0xvalent Dalos Dov: https://x.com/dalos 

This week we sat down with seasoned advisor Eli Scheinman to discuss his new role at Art Basel, what’s driving the market’s fresh momentum, how today’s collectors are maturing and how to frame emerging work for a more traditional crowd.00:50 - Welcome Eli Scheinman 02:39 - Why the market's moving 04:30 - The trickle-down effect of big sales 07:07 - New entrants into the space 09:48 - The flow from collectibles and PFPs into art 14:37 - Eli's role with Art Basel 21:30 - Evolving in the face of a challenging market 23:00 - How to create excitement and understanding among new audiences 24:30 - Context is key 28:49 - World-building, narrative and sponsorship 33:04 - Collections as an identity layer and a discovery tool 34:50 - Friction points when onboarding from the traditional space 40:20 - How things have changed across cycles 46:00 - Lower barriers to participation in the digital space and their effects49:00 - The maturation of the core collector base 51:10 - Kim Asendorf's PXL DEX, private sales and new points of discovery 56:45 - Artist highlights 01:02:40 - Social media's impact on an artists career Eli Scheinman: https://x.com/eli_scheinKaryn Nakamura: https://www.instagram.com/frog_spit_simulation Canek Zapata: https://x.com/canekzapata Agoston Nagy: https://x.com/_stc Li Yi-Fan: https://www.instagram.com/liyifanyifanli                         

This week Leyla sits down with artist and filmmaker Nikita Diakur to explore his journey in the art and film worlds, spotlighting his acclaimed short film 'Ugly'. They dive into the film's themes and the creative process behind it, as well as his artistic identity, experiences with NFTs, and his upcoming exhibition on Verse with SOLOS. 00:40 - Welcome Nikita Diakur 02:20 - Identity and a multi faceted creative path03:15 - Finding inspiration06:04 - Exploring the themes in Ugly 10:40 - Unpacking the creative process and the role of simulation17:08 - The expansion of the Ugly world 18:40 - Opening the treasure box, unfinished works and future exhibitions 21:05 - The role of lived experience in Nikita's work 23:50 - Art, politics and the message behind Ugly 26:02 - Finding NFTs and the web3 space 29:49 - Working with Colección Solo 32:28 - A glimpse into Nikita's upcoming SOLOS show on Verse38:02 - Balancing parallel creative practices       

This week we sat down with former General Manager of CryptoPunks and founder of StoneWork Natalie Stone, and artist, gallerist and broker Shane Lavalette. We unpack Stone's journey into NFTs, Node’s Punks acquisition, and the enduring passion of the community as well as the evolution of curation and collector identity, Shane's thought process when looking at an artist's body of work and the value of transparency and provenance.00:30 - Welcoming Natalie Stone and Shane Lavalette 02:44 - Stone's path into NFTs and her work with CryptoPunks 06:40 - The significance of Node's Punks acquisition 09:50 - The future of CryptoPunks under Node 12:40 - The resilience and passion of the Punks community 16:30 - Will there be another project as significant for the space18:13 - First order of business for Node 20:05 - How time has shaped community dynamics 21:38 - The maturation of the space and collector curation 24:00 - Curating as an expression of identity 29:00 - Developing taste, the role of education and exposure 32:40 - Notable collections and collectors 34:55 - Shane's background in the arts and introduction to NFTs  37:32 - The importance of brokering and advisory services 43:24 - Creating space for emerging voices 44:44 - Diving deep and collecting against the trend 51:10 - Dream collecting, "if money were no object" 52:28 - Shane's list in GrailersDAO 55:05 - Balancing transparency with a simplified marketplace experience 59:28 - The importance of provenance  01:01:48 - Artist highlights 01:07:37 - Verse Rundown Shane Lavalette: https://x.com/shanelavalette Stone: https://x.com/naughtaliestone bhare: https://x.com/bhareboy0009: https://x.com/0009ineKlea McKenna: https://x.com/klea_mckennaNoah Kalina: https://noahkalina.com/chickencameraMolly Soda: https://mollysoda.exposedRalph Lemon: https://www.momaps1.org/en/programs/377-ceremonies-out-of-the-air-ralph-lemon                      

We sat down this week with long-form generative pioneer Tyler Hobbs to explore Day Gardens, his new body of work released with La Collection at Art Basel this week. They dive into the balance between personal life and artistic career, and the future of generative art in a rapidly changing landscape, as well as the effect of audience expectations and market dynamics on a creative practice.00:50 - Welcome Tyler Hobbs 04:50 - The evolution of Tyler's artistic journey 10:20 - Consistency and integrity and putting the work first 13:22 - Art Blocks and the shift to digitally focused distribution 15:50 - Navigating between the digital and physical artworlds 21:20 - The importance of saying no, learning when to say yes 25:49 - Thinking about release cadence and managing time 27:30 - Exploring Day Gardens 33:20 - Dealing with the noise and finding balance 39:25 - The increasing speed of culture 41:45 - Thinking about audience expectations and the effect of a legacy 47:00 - QQL and exploring new formats 50:15 - Cultivating community and stepping back 56:00 - What made Fidenza resonate 56:27 - The evolution of generative art and future directions59:10 - Different ways of creating and engaging with the space 01:01:20 - Diewiththemostlikes and a new wave of superstar artists 01:02:50 - Prioritising fun over a traditional approach 01:06:50 - Social commentary and online performance 01:08:30 - Changing perspectives and open mindedness 01:11:55 - Artist highlights 01:61:21 - Verse Rundown Tyler Hobbs - https://x.com/tylerxhobbs Jack Butcher - https://x.com/jackbutcher Shl0ms - https://x.com/shl0ms diewiththemostlikes - https://x.com/toadswiback Sarah Zucker - https://x.com/thesarahshow