New Prague exhibition combines art and NFTs
When one thinks of art, the first place the brain goes is not typically finance, specifically NFTs, or blockchains. But a new exhibit called Urban Structures, featuring the work of Czech artist Vratislav Pecka, also known as PosterLad, is merging the two. Twenty-five posters, all featuring famous Czech architectural landmarks, will become a unique NFT, where the buyer also becomes part-owner of the art, and generates income from each additional sale of the actual poster. I spoke to two of PosterLad’s collaborators, Jan Svoboda and Martin Ježek, ahead of Wednesday’s opening.
[Jan] “He’s inspired by the Bauhaus style, and works a lot with shapes, and also Warhol Style pop art, these two things together really shape his work. PosterLad is actually my friend from childhood, we met ten or 15 years ago and recently we discussed making some NFT’s. We thought about architecture, because I am originally an architect. PosterLad was previously based in the Netherlands, and he wanted to come back to Prague. So we decided we would combine Bauhaus style, pop-art, and Czech architecture; these are the basics of the exhibition.”
Can you explain how the NFTs are connected to the exhibition?
[Martin] “What we look at is mostly the technology and what the technology allows you to do. The technology of blockchain allows you to create a ‘smart contract’, and this contract allows you to program it to do anything. So when you buy something (in this case the poster), the ownership is transferred to you. What we are doing with Urban Structures, is that when you buy one of the poster NFTs, you of course get the physical poster, but you also get part of the money that the artists make by selling the posters. Since the NFT is unique, there is only one in the world, you get part of the income generated from selling the posters.”
[Jan] “It’s basically a license for his work, and there is no question if there’s another copy of the NFT.”
That’s interesting, because art and finance are not typically two areas you would see colliding?
[Jan] “But actually, because people have been financing art for a long time, since the middle ages. You need money to finance the art so you can gain an audience, and I think blockchain could bring it up.”
