Reggie Watts Keynote Speaker for Hammer Museum’s ‘WTF NFT?’ Symposium This Weekend

Photo: Reggie Watts speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con. Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons.

Saturday, June 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m

Musician, comedian, writer and actor Reggie Watts will be the keynote speaker for the Hammer Museum’s ‘WTF NFT?’ free symposium this weekend.

The event will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m on Saturday.

“This free daylong event explores NFTs with expert panelists, from technologists and scholars to artists and advocates. Start with a primer on NFTs—what they are, how they work, and why you should care. Then hear from artists who are active in the NFT space discuss their work and the unique challenges they face in this new frontier. Other panels will address blockchain technologies, how individuals and collectives are creating new communities, and how museums and other institutions might navigate the shifting landscape,” event organizers said.

RSVP here: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2022/wtf-nft

Schedule of events

9:30–10 a.m.
NFT Primer: Introduction to the NFT landscape
WTF is an NFT? Hear from event organizers Esther Park, Miami-based arts programmer, and Nato Thompson, author, curator, and partner at Artwrld, as they kick off the day by introducing the ever-changing NFT landscape, from blockchain and fungible and non-fungible tokens to decentralized autonomous organizations and everything in between.

10–11:30 a.m.
Artists and the New Digital
The field of digital art has taken a profound shift with the introduction of blockchain technology. This panel offers an opportunity to hear directly from artists who are utilizing their skills to produce compelling projects in what is often described as “the space.” In describing their work, artists introduce new concepts in broadening communities such as tokenization, fractionalized ownership, generative art, utility, and other new mechanisms in this evolving field.

Panelists

Glenn Kaino, artist
Mieke Marple, artist
Paul Pfeiffer, artist
Sarah Zucker, artist
Nato Thompson, author, curator, and partner, Artwrld (moderator)

2–3:30 p.m.
Power Shifts: How Web3 is Shifting Power in Culture
As blockchain technology continues to grow and advance, everyday people have taken the reins of creating communities that define what is value and what is valuable in culture. This session explores the various ways power has shifted in the art world and how museums and institutions can leverage this brave new world to advance their importance in the cultural landscape.

Panelists