If you ask me I prefer online or offline experience? I’d say it depends. I am a picky and selective person according to most of my friends. I have a relevantly high bar for events. I care about experience curation at the event, which covers the arriving experience, venue, check-in experience, visitor’s journey map, setting of the event, music (VERY IMPORTANT) and sound system around the venue space, lighting, indoor smell, time management, people at the event, staff at the event and lots of other details.
NFT ART BERLIN AT KRAFTWERK
In the first place, I know if it is Kraftwerk, it couldn’t be a bad event. In its first life, the building was used to supply the people of Berlin with heating. Since then, it has been part of the techno scene and is now known to music fans and art enthusiasts alike.
In Real Life (IRL) NFT experience has always been on my top list of NFT applications. I went there with a medium level of expectation. I missed the onsite minting experience, so I can’t talk about it. After walking around to view a bunch of digital screens which showcase different digital art pieces, we were guided to the second floor.
Then, a very exceptional experience starts: all people are walking toward the light at the end of a bridge…like we are evacuating to another world, and the light is where the new world is, along with the pipe organ music…the event suddenly goes up to the next level. I assume the event organizer Bright Moments trying to convey a message through this experience design — we are stepping into a new era? NFT is ahead.
Everyone stopped in front of the big light bar, some sat down, some stood, some lay down. Everyone is quiet, watching the light turns slowly in a clockwise motion. We are witnessing TIME ⌚️ and LIGHT 💡.
That time was not waiting for me, but a highlight of the event. It’s like a ritual to worship time and light.
It is an art work by itself — Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass / Robert Wilson. It is also an NFT piece. “Since it was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach has become widely regarded as the cornerstone work of the American Avant Garde, and one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century. At the beginning of the final act, set against Glass’s sonic masterpiece, a single horizontal light bar rises until fully vertical, and then floats out of the frame. This is the moment that Wilson and Glass chose to tokenize as the first NFT of Bright Moments icon series.”
After that, CRYPTO BERLIN’s showtime:
Sometimes the magic of an event reveals when you make connections with people. I met someone at the event who happens to be a good friend of my mentor and life-long friend, and we lived in the same city for 10 years, we even found out that I actually attended his event 5 years ago. What a small world!
What I wish could be better at the IRL NFT event:
- More educational / new user friendly guide experience: for example, I took a friend of mine who never bought any crypto and NFT before, but came to the event with an interest to know more. If I didn’t explain her little by little at the event, she’d just see the event as a dope party.
- More friendly community experience, i.e. can there be a QR code for all the people who are there to join the event Discord channel or Telegram group?
- Offline-to-online experience: the huge LED screen showcasing each piece of CRYPTO BERLIN is super super cool. But, when I think about the Sotheby’s auction event, the smooth transaction experience is something missing at this IRL NFT event. Another BUT: maybe Bright Moments tried to avoid this commercial activity to keep this event more art?
- If there are only 10 IRL events, why not sell us NFT ticket of this event?:)
I want to quote @Phil.m.eth — one of the founding members of Bright Moments DAO as the ending of this article:
“This allows visitors to focus on the EXPERIENCE instead of the TECH. Better for collectors. Better for artists. If NFTs are going to succeed as an asset class, they need to do so on their own merit, outside of being “the new thing”. We’re here to make that happen.”
