Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer
Foundry, the hybrid, progressive art space in Downtown Dubai, hosted its first exhibition to herald this year’s art season, by launching Business Art by Metastoric (Jan. 17 – Feb. 25). Metastoric is a new initiative working at the intersection of contemporary art and cryptocurrency that links art objects with NFTs to create disruptive exhibitions and immersive experiences. Addressing the entanglements of art, life and business within the contemporary, Business Art dealt with the NFTs as a medium. The artworks, ranging from sculptures to videos, paintings, drawings, and found objects, were linked with NFTs minted on OpenSea — which dropped the night of the opening and remained available for the duration of the exhibition. Curated by the anonymous artist known as Prestige Villain, Business Art brought together international and UAE-based artists, including Mays Albaik, Mona Ayyash, Ghada Da, Dana Dawud, Rami Farook, MG, Mohamed Khalid, Satwa 3000, and Nada Zanhour.
Their work appeared alongside contributions by Oona Chanel, publisher of Author magazine; Sanaz Askari, founder and curator of The Mine; and Bitcoin historian Elias Ahonen. The prices of the NFTs ranged widely — with the most expensive, entitled Sanaz’s Sweat, listed at 777 ETH (approximately 2.5 million USD at the time of the event).
Here is more info on the “dramartis personae”:
Prestige Villain is an anonymous curator, fragrance connoisseur, and non-digital avatar; Dana Dawud is a visual artist and independent researcher based in Dubai, who works through different mediums including sound production, podcasts and digital painting and Elias Ahonen is a Finnish-Canadian author, based in Dubai who has lived and worked around the world while operating a blockchain consultancy. Maxime Cramatte is a Dubai based artist. His aesthetic emerges from the side streets of old Dubai, where he lives and finds a source of inspiration.
