ARQAAM is an exhibition dedicated to presenting Arab, African and Asian artists on the blockchain through their NFT works, and with performances on the metaverse. This project is exploring a unique and an untapped market, and aims to contribute to a more diverse and equitable blockchain world. Created by Wizara, a blockchain based ecosystem, founded by artists for artists. Wizara is the first pan-regional platform of its kind, founded by Adam Kucharski, Adham Hafez, and Mona Gamil. Wizara curates exhibitions, commissions new projects, offers consultancies to museums and cultural institutions, as well as supports collaborations in art, science, and technology.
Over 20 artists from countries as diverse as Egypt, South Korea, India, Syria, Tunisia, Armenia or Lebanon, are invited to present work that looks at internet subcultures, the environment, and technology. The artists are presenting work in the mediums of painting, text, sound, performance, video and drawing. ARQAAM is curated by Adham Hafez, the Berlin and New York based curator and artist, in partnership with the Irish Egyptian digital arts curator, writer and artist Mona Gamil.
ARQAAM’s projects include a video-performance series by Mey Seifan, text and image work by the renowned novelist Ahmed Naji and visual artist Ayman Zorkany, as well as Harshini Karunartne’s abstract and symbolic digital animations ‘Looking Glass’. ARQAAM aims to connect artists from different disciplines with their peers working in the field of digital arts. It aims to use NFTs to empower artistic communities that are under-represented in the blockchain world today. Through Wizara’s unique curatorial projects, consultancy services and commissions, artists and institutions enter into new creative dialogues together, aiming to create new possibilities for the future of art economies.
Parallel to ARQAAM’s exhibition, Wizara is hosting a series of talks and panels during the months of November and December, that bring figures from the fields of art, technology and finance together into curated public conversations. ARQAAM runs from 14th November to 4th December 2021.For the full exhibition catalogue, to attend the events, and to access the collection, visit www.arqaam.xyz
For more on Wizara, visit www.wizara.io
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www.opensea.io/arqaam
