There will also be NFTs at the Venice Biennale: they will be at the Cameroon Pavilion

There will be a very special double debut at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale to be held from April 23 to November 27, 2022, namely the first time of Cameroon, which will have its own national pavilion (one part at the Liceo Artistico Guggenheim and another at Palazzo Ca’ Bernardo Molon), titled The Time of the Chimeras, and the debut of the NFTs in the major Venetian exhibition, who will make an appearance in the African country’s own pavilion, which features Armand Abanda Maye as commissioner and Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop and Sandro Orlandi Stagl as curators. Several artists from around the world are exhibiting (twenty-seven in all), including some Italians (Umberto Mariani, Matteo Mezzadri, Marco Bertin, Alessandro Zannier).

Just at Palazzo Ca’ Bernardo, as part of the Cameroon pavilion, there will be an NFT exhibition organized by the Global Crypto Art DAO collective, which will feature twenty artists from different countries (though not from Cameroon). The DAO collective, which was formed in December 2021 with various actors in the art system including members of the NFT community, artists, and professionals, will secure resources for the pavilion (which will come from private sponsors and buyers investing in NFT), since the government of Cameroon has not made resources available for the pavilion (although commissioner Armand Abanda Maye is an institutional figure, being director of arts promotion and development of the Cameroon Ministry of Art and Culture). The Time of Chimeras, reads a note released by DAO, “is an exhibition of digital, cryptographic and NFT art and creativity of the Metaverse open to the entire cryptographic art world as well as professionals and art enthusiasts from the physical world. This exhibition was founded by Global Crypto Art (GCA) DAO and created by artists, collectors, curators, art professionals and experts, and blockchain - NFT investors. With the official approval of the Venice Biennale Committee and the Cameroon Pavilion, GCA will have a better presence and wider influence in the world than a pure decentralized method that will attract the attention of people who are now in and out of the cryptoart world.”

For the exhibition at the Cameroon Pavilion, Italian curator Sandro Orlandi Stagl, in order to stay in line with the overall themes, wanted to enhance one of the most significant aspects of artistic creation: imagination, which has always been the basis of myth. Thus the title The Time of Chimeras intends to bring back into vogue the mythological animal that is a symbol of illusions, risky fantasies, unrealizable dreams and dystopian visions. “Chasing a Chimera seems like madness,” Orlandi Stagl points out, “but it is the only way to realize your impossible dreams, and artists have the power to challenge this madness and make us dream.” In addition to the cryptoart exhibition at the Ca’ Bernardo Palace, there will also be an exhibition of digital works at the Guggenheim High School where eight artists will alter: four Cameroonians (Francis Nathan Abiamba, Angéle Etoundi Essamba, Justine Gaga, Salifou Lindou) and four internationals (Shay Frisch, Umberto Mariani, Matteo Mezzadri and Jorge R. Pombo).

The pavilion, moreover, is open for donations: DAO has let it be known that a series of NFTs will be published that will be put up for sale and the proceeds used to fund the project ( benefits for buyers will include tickets to the Biennale, dinners, attendance at events and more). Artists participating in the exhibition have been asked to donate at least one work to be sold in NFT format at the end of the exhibition. Proceeds will be used to support the collective. And there is already curiosity around the exhibition.

Pictured is the Guggenheim High School in Venice, Italy.

There will also be NFTs at the Venice Biennale: they will be at the Cameroon Pavilion

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