An NFT, or “non-fungible token”, is a unique, digital certificate that is stored on a blockchain and provides certain ownership rights for a digital asset. NFTs are implemented in various fields, but most notably in digital art collecting. Some trace the birth of NFTs to an artist-technologist collaboration in 2014; since then, it has attracted attention from the art, crypto, academic circles and alike. With projects such as CryptoKitties going viral in 2017, NFTs have entered the public realm in recent years.
The technology behind NFTs is perceived to revolutionize art collecting, and it continues to push its boundaries while taking the spotlight with some of its high-profile auction results. In March 2021, artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold his digital artwork entitled “Everydays – The First 5000 Days” for US$69.3 million at Christie’s, resulting in the third-highest auction price achieved for a living artist, after Jeff Koons and David Hockney. In August 2021, artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s “Transient Eternity—101 Ignitions of Gunpowder Paintings” sold for 2.5 million USD and set the record for the highest NFT sale from a non-crypto-native artist.
While NFTs inherently possess a high level of authenticity and provide clear histories of ownership, which can be problematic in traditional art-collecting, this new technology is controversial. Many have compared NFTs to the dot-com bubble, and criticized its climate pollution problem.
The upcoming Special Event gathers a researcher, artist, and practitioners in the field of digital art creating and collecting. Joining the roundtable will be, in alphabetical order: Arielle Dubois, Co-Founder of Arie Art Agency and Junior Associate at B&B law firm; Christoph Ebell, Founder/CEO of Arcades Digital and member of Crypto Valley Association; Dr. Touradj Ebrahimi, Professor of Image Processing at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL); the artist No1 [No one], exhibiting his physical and digital paintings at Take a chance; and Qinwen Wang, China Community Lead of Web3 Foundation.
The five panelists will take their unique point of view on NFTs. Curator Dubois will speak about curating and collecting digital art, Ebell will discuss how NFTs enable new forms of collecting and owning art in the 21st century, Prof. Ebrahimi will speak about sustainability and trust in digital art and NFTs, artist No1 will introduce his artwork and creating process, and Qinwen will share her insights on the impact of NFTs in the art field in China.
PROGRAM
16:00 – 16:05 Opening Remarks
Christoph Ebell – Founder/CEO, Arcades Digital; Member of Crypto Valley Association
16:05 – 16:50 Roundtable Discussion (In alphabetical order)
Arielle Dubois – Co-Founder, Arie Art Agency; Junior Associate, B&B Law Firm Geneva
Christoph Ebell – Founder/CEO, Arcades Digital; Member of Crypto Valley Association
Dr. Touradj Ebrahimi – Professor of Image Processing, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
No1 [No one] – Anonymous artist, Creator of Take a chance
Qinwen Wang – China Community Lead, Web3 Foundation
16:50 – 17:00 Q&A
SPEAKERS
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Speaker & Moderator
Christoph Ebell
Founder/CEO, Arcades Digital; Member of Crypto Valley AssociationChristoph Ebell is an entrepreneur, science diplomat, technology consultant, and digital transformation strategist. He first studied physics, then humanities and graduated from Bern and Chicago. After a research stay in Cambridge, Mass., he worked for the Swiss government’s innovation agency, then for the Swiss Interior, Economy, and Foreign Affairs Departments and was posted as a diplomat to head the S&T Section at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C. In Switzerland, he served as the Executive Director of the Human Brain Project, a multidisciplinary European Union (1+billion EUR) project in computer-based brain research. In 2018 Christoph established a consulting firm for technology projects. He is the Secretary General of the European Association for Modular High-Performance Computing in Brussels. He also provides political advisory and international consultancy services. In 2020 he founded Arcades Digital, a company specializing in asset tokenization and certification, with a focus on Fine Art, Architecture, and Design, and bankable Digital Assets. He recently completed a certification as Certified Crypto Finance Expert (CCFE) in Zurich.
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Speaker
Arielle Dubois
Co-Founder, Arie Art Agency; Junior Associate, B&B Law Firm GenevaArielle is the co-founder of Arie Art Agency and a Junior Associate at B&B Law Firm in Geneva. She has a keen interest in all legal, artistic and commercial aspects relating to the art market. She studied history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Lausanne and a master’s degree in economic law from the University of Geneva.
Arielle gained experience in the art market in London, Berlin and Luxembourg, working in auction houses, an art gallery, an artists’ residency and for the art collection of an international bank, before launching her own art advisory and platform for supporting emerging artists. She specializes in the tax aspects relating to art collections and in the digital art market. She often participates to conferences and writes publications on these subjects.
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Speaker
Dr. Touradj Ebrahimi
Professor of Image Processing, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)Touradj Ebrahimi is professor of image processing at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) active in teaching and research in multimedia signal processing.
He is the head of Multimedia Signal Processing Group at EPFL. Since 2014, he has been the Convenor of the JPEG standardization Committee which has produced a family of standards that have revolutionised the world of imaging.He represents Switzerland as the head of its delegation to JTC1 (in charge of standardization of information technology in ISO and IEC), SC29 (the body overseeing MPEG and JPEG standardization) and is a member of ITU representing EPFL. Prof. Ebrahimi is also involved in Ecma International as a member of its ExeCom. He serves as consultant, evaluator and expert for European Commission and other governmental funding agencies in Europe and advises a number of Venture Capital companies in Switzerland in their scientific and technical audits.
He has founded several startup and spinoff companies in the past two decades, including the most recent RayShaper SA, a research startup company based in Switzerland involved in AI powered multimedia. Prof. Ebrahimi is a Fellow of the IEEE and SPIE and has been recipient of several awards and distinctions, including an IEEE Star Innovator Award in Multimedia.
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Speaker
No1 [No one]
Anonymous Artist, Creator of "Take a chance"No1 [No one] is an anonymous artist who has explored painting and photography for 20 years. He develops techniques and experiments with aesthetic renderings as a testimony of the times he is living.
Along his career, he takes on different identities, to dive in various cultures legacy and to fully immerse himself in the currents that he develops.
His work mainly explores abstraction and more particularly in recent years serendipity (happy hazard) and pareidolia (optical illusion and personal representation).
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Speaker
Qinwen Wang
China Community Lead, Web3 FoundationQinwen’s adventures span from being an Artist, to Venture Capitalist to Entrepreneur with a focus on and geographically extending from China, the Middle East to Europe. Over the years, her hybrid backgrounds forms Qinwen’s mission-driven dedication in Web3.0, Tech&Art (NFT, Metaverse), and China Market as blockchain ecosystem builder, collector and investor.
In 2019, prior to join Web3 Foundation which is founded by Dr.Gavin Wood that safeguards decentralization and enables the vision of Web 3.0 as China Community Lead. She is also the Councilor of Polkadot Network, the flagship project of W3F.
Qinwen has also been a continuous contributor to Christie’s from Art & Tech Summit to London & Asia’s NFT Program. She co-produced the World’s first Crypto Art Exhibition “Virtual Niche” in UCCA Lab in 2021. Her investment portfolio includes SuperRare, YellowHeart and MaskNetwork and Series A with the firm belief in Web3.0 and the Future of Digital Art Collecting.
