SINGAPORE – The Republic’s art gallery and arts board will not be late in the race to keep pace with developments in the world of technology.
At the National Gallery of Singapore (NGS), an initiative to make art accessible to the public and instill a sense of ownership using blockchain technology is getting closer to reality.
Through NGS’ Technical Convergence Product Innovation Division called Y-Lab, a prototype platform has been developed with art technology company ArtWallStreet that can allow Singaporeans to redeem Non-fungible Art Tokens (NFTs) for free.
For trial run at the moment, the NFT vending machine contains artwork commissioned by NGS and is based on the work of Singaporean artist named TheNextMostFamousArtist.
“The prototype of the vending machine is ready for testing and is on display in the Y-Lab Showcase space in the National Gallery Singapore,” says ArtWallStreet CEO Arun Sugumaran, 39.
The company’s chief product officer, Alexander Abu Samra, 33, adds that the vending machine allows NFT to be redeemed simply by scanning a QR code. “Visitors do not need a crypto (currency) wallet prior to redemption and will only ask to log in or create an account via email,” he says.
“As an innovative museum, National Gallery Singapore continues to innovate and explore emerging technologies to explore what is possible in creating more opportunities to appreciate art among our visitors,” says NGS Deputy Director Kevin Lim, 45.
“All the artwork collection in the National Gallery of Singapore has been digitized,” says Sing Yu Jin, Senior Curator of NGS and Deputy Director (Corporate Research) Sing Yu Jin. However, primarily due to copyright restrictions, nearly 80 percent of the collection has been posted online to date on the online collections search portal and Roots.sg.
“The gallery is doing its best to make its collection accessible to the public by further enriching metadata and actively seeking permission from copyright holders.”