NFTs have been around since 2014 but gained notoriety in 2021 when this novel technology broke through the mainstream. Since then, the NFT community and market has evolved rapidly with celebrities, major auction houses, art galleries, image agencies and institutions selling and marketing them.

So what exactly is an NFT? In this webinar we provided an overview of NFTs covering areas such as:

  • definitions
  • ownership rights
  • distribution
  • how you commercialise digital assets
  • the future digital asset licensing landscape

We were joined by expert speakers familiar with this emerging technology, the licensing industry and intellectual property rights.

We considered NFT’s in varied contexts including the technical side of blockchain and NFTs, and perspectives from Mark Waugh, Director Business Development DACS who focused on licensors. Bridgeman Artists’ Manager Aretha Campbell and Bridgeman Crypto artist Osinachi who considered the artists working and developing NFTs. We were also joined by Queen Mary University London PhD Candidate and lawyer Zeynap Kubra Kavcar Penbegullu, whose focus was around  the most common presumptions about NFTs and corrections of them from a legal and intellectual property law perspective.

Speakers

Mark Waugh, Director Business Development DACS

Mark Waugh is the Business Development Director at DACS. Before joining DACS in 2014 he worked extensively in Korea and Southeast Asia as Commissioner for emerging artfairs; Art Gwangju and G-Seoul 13 and as Associate Director of SUUM; Commissioning a number of projects in collaboration with Samsung Electronics including the media art focused award, The Samsung Art+ Prize and IOC commissions.

He is Chair of the International Curators Forum and previously Director of the iconic A Foundation in London and Liverpool, and Head of Visual Arts, South East Arts Council England. He has curated numerous group and solo exhibitions and contributed to publications, catalogues and magazines including most recently a chapter in the acclaimed 2017 book; Artists: Rethinking the Blockchain. He is also the author of the novels Bubble Entendre and Come.

LinkedIn Profile

Aretha Campbell, Senior Artists’ Manager, Bridgeman Images

Aretha Campbell is the senior artist manager for Bridgeman Studio. With 15 years experience working within the contemporary art world as a curator, gallerist and art advisor she is on hand to advise the sales team on how best to promote the work of the studio artists. Aretha is always on the look out for new artists to join Bridgeman Studio from all over the world making sure we have a diverse selection of artworks available to our clients.

LinkedIn Profile

Zeynap Kubra Kavcar Penbegullu, Queen Mary University London PhD Candidate and Lawyer

Zeynep Kubra Kavcar Penbegullu is a qualified Turkish lawyer registered at Istanbul Bar Association since 2017. She graduated from LLB (2016) and LLM in Private Law (2019) in Turkey. After she moved to London, she established her legal and business consultancy company in 2019. She has graduated from City, University of London International Commercial Law Master’s Degree in 2020 with Distinction. Currently, she is a PhD student at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, and awarded with the Herchel Smith Scholarship. Zeynep's research examines NFTs and the relationship with Intellectual Property Rights. Her thesis title is Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Relationship with Intellectual Property Rights.

LinkedIn Profile

Osinachi, Cryptoartist and Bridgeman Images Artist

Osinachi, (born Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe, 24 October 1991) is a self-taught digital artist whose work explores personal experiences within a technological environment.

Osinachi, who grew up in Aba, Nigeria, produces drawings using Microsoft Word, where he utilizes the basic limited design palette of the word processing software to create narrative illustrations.  Africa’s foremost cryptoartist, Osinachi‘s works are further registered in the blockchain and sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). His cryptoart is well sought after on platforms  SuperRareRaribleOpeanSeaR.A.R.E.Portion, and Makersplace. In 2018, he became the first-ever Nigerian artist to showcase artworks at the Ethereal Summit, a conference in New York that seeks to bridge the gap between technology and art through blockchain.

He was a finalist for the Bridgeman Studio Award 2019.

Website

When: Thursday 28 April 16:30 to 17:30 BST

Where: Zoom

Free to BAPLA members

Flexible fees for non-members

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