NFTs seem to be everywhere now. NFT stands for non fungible tokens. The creation and exchange of NFTs has been revolutionary in many ways, particularly in terms of arts and services markets. For example, in the art market, NFTs use blockchain technology to allow for the secure transfer and proof that an original piece of digital art has been sold and is now in the possession of the buyer. It also allows for what we in art history may refer to as provenance of an artwork to be more carefully tracked. The benefit of blockchain is that it enables a global secure transfer of private smart contracts between parties that are stored on an open decentralized network. The result has exposed art market sales more openly and shifted the value of digital art drastically. In this workshop you will learn about rarity, royalties, and crypto wallets. We will look at some examples of the way NFTs are being used in different markets, but will focus most specifically on growing digital art markets. You will also learn the basics about blockchain technology and NFTs, how to set up your own crypto wallet, and how to create your own NFT. No prior knowledge or experience required.

Email JustinUnderhill@berkeley.edu to enroll!

Francesca Albrezzi is an art historian, curator, and digital humanist. She completed her PhD in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), She also holds a Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate through UCLA’s Digital Humanities Program. Her research interrogates modes of publishing, display, and information capture in museums and archives that illustrate a break from “traditional” models, and argues that digital modalities provide a distinctly different paradigm for epistemologies of art and culture that produce greater contextualized understandings. Specifically, she is interested in spectrums of immersive experience within GLAM organizations as offered by technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360 photo and video capture.
For over a decade, she has worked with museums including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (Washington, D.C.), the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (Paris, France), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, California). Francesca has garnered significant experience in developing and teaching digital tools for art historical practice and humanistic research, such as The Getty Scholars’ Workspace™ for conducting collaborative arts research and preservation. She currently works as a Digital Research Consultant at UCLA’s Office of Advanced Research Computing and is co-chair of the educational committee for the College Art Association. She also serves an Editor-in-Chief at the International Journal for Digital Art History and the Director of their virtual gallery.